Bump J

Chicago rapper Bump J, born Terrance Boykin, began treating his rhymes with real focus only after losing his brother to a gang-related killing in 2001. He channeled that focus into membership in the city’s feared Goon Squad crew alongside the hard-edged talents Brainz Hustla and Sly Polaroid. Chicago producer Xtreme Beats reached out to Bump J in 2003 and opened doors to industry figures that included Phil Edwards, then managing Kanye West. Steady momentum led to an Atlantic Records contract and studio sessions with high-profile names such as Kanye West and TrackBoyz for what was slated to be his first full-length project, Nothing to Lose. The album never surfaced, however, once Bump J took part in a bank robbery in 2007. Facing a possible life sentence, he accepted a plea deal that brought a ten-year term in federal prison in 2009. Seven years later he walked free in April 2017 and immediately resumed recording. Because the long-delayed debut remained entangled in major-label clearances, he instead linked with producer Cardo—fresh from his extensive work on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN.—to craft new material.