Token of Appreciation

the take

After the disappointing project that was "Murder During Drug Traffic", I decided to give Boldy James another chance this year with another 2025 project (which as of June 29, 2025, he's released eight projects already, I think?). My original plan was to go through each album released in order to see if he has a streak of either consecutive hits or misses, but that didn't go as planned due to me skipping "Permanent Ink" for the time being. The expectations I had for Boldy James post-MMDT were quite low. Not were Boldy himself, but with his production choices. Thank goodness that Chuck Strangers' production fits Boldy much better than what was presented on MMDT. Here on "Token of Appreciation", Boldy returns true to form with his humorous yet witty lyricism. He sounds more comfortable and interested in rapping this time around, which is welcoming to hear. As for Chuck Strangers, while the production can get a bit... decent at times, for the most part, it's relaxed and atmospheric for the human ears to digest. Plus it helps that it's overall consistent for the entire runtime. Boldy James may be rushing to release projects at a rapid rate and at least one so far was disappointing, but "Token of Appreciation" is the first gem (as far as I know) that sticks out in his discography in 2025.