BOLDY JAMES & NICHOLAS CRAVEN SHARE NEW COLLAB ALBUM CRIMINALLY ATTACHED – OUT NOW VIA ROC NATION DISTRIBUTION

On the heels of back to back singles “No Blemishes” and “Infrared Dot Com”, prolific Detroit rapper Boldy James and Canadian producer Nicholas Craven have released their fourth collab album Criminally Attached – out now via Roc Nation Distribution, along with an accompanying music video for “No Blemishes”. Recorded entirely in Detroit across two concentrated weeks, with most songs completed in five focused days, Criminally Attached is a 10-track display of Boldy James and Nicholas Craven‘s documented chemistry. The writing across Criminally Attached reflects a turbulent period of ongoing recovery for Boldy James, addressing the challenges of fatherhood, and heightened awareness of media attention. The title’s theme of attachment speaks to responsibility to family, ties to neighborhood histories, and the discipline required to maintain stability while working at such a relentless volume.

Both Nicholas Craven and Boldy James emphasize that this is their most lived-in project, created in tandem with living everyday life. As Criminally Attached arrives, Boldy James and Nicholas Craven stamp their place as the go-to duo for cohesive, no-waste projects, documenting Detroit’s realities with clarity. Their catalog now traces a clear arc from 2019’s first exchanges to a durable creative brotherhood, with Criminally Attached positioned as their most precise statement to date.

Boldy James and Nicholas Craven are a Detroit-to-Quebec rapper–producer duo known for clockwork consistency and telling real-life narratives through focused production. The duo’s partnership began when Nicholas Craven, a longtime listener since My 1st Chemistry Set, reached out in 2021. Their first collaborative single, “Yzerman”, was featured on Craven’s Craven N3, leading to an in-person session in Montreal following an Action Bronson show where they recorded “Death & Taxes”. Within weeks, Craven began traveling back and forth to Detroit; from those early sessions came Fair Exchange, No Robbery, recorded over several days and released independently. Their process emphasizes patience and trust. Craven composes hundreds of beats per year, organizes them chronologically (amassing a library in the thousands), and typically begins sessions by playing the newest material. Boldy James writes methodically, keeping a consistent line of storytelling without appearing repetitive. What distinguishes the duo is the steadiness of their collaborative process — long-form writing and chronological beat-making that build connected storylines across individual projects rather than isolated studio moments. As their collaborative relationship deepened, Craven began flying to Detroit every two months — totalling roughly twenty trips over three years — staying for week-long stretches with Boldy’s circle. That immersion informed their next releases: Penalty of Leadership, focused on rehabilitation, and Late to My Own Funeral, which combined stripped-down production with autobiographical writing. Throughout his relentless release schedule, Boldy James has prioritized a small producer core: The Alchemist, Harry Fraud, Nicholas Craven, and cousin Chuck Inglish.

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