Bump J • "Party, Pack & Fly"
While Chicago as a city has been thrust to the forefront of the hip-hop world at large with a top-down slate of talent that runs from Kanye through to Vic & Chance and deeper still, one face in particular has been missing from the sizzle and pop of the last near decade. Back in the latter half of the first decade of the Millennium Bump J was the pre-eminent rising voice of the city before landing behind bars for his alleged part in a 2007 bank robbery. Sentenced to a 10 year sentence, new surfaced earlier this year that he was on his way out and earlier tonight Fake Shore Drive premiered the first new single from Bump since 2008, "Party, Pack & Fly".
As Barber tells it in the debut, the quality isn't quite what we have come to expect, but everything else seems to be there, the intangibles don't seem to have been lost and all this single does is stoke the flames for what's to come upon his full release. Word is fairly grey on precisely where Bump currently is, but if this track is any indication, music appears to be at the forefront of his mind as he steps back into the free world. That, and of course the endless parties coast to coast he's bound to find his way to as friends and fans alike toast to a hero returned. Get into the music above.