The always-impressive Buffalo rap classicist Benny The Butcher releases a lot of music, but it sometimes comes out in unpredictable, haphazard ways. Last year, for instance, Benny and his Black Soprano Family crew released their Summertime Butch album. Benny also came out with the Buffalo Butch Vol. 1 EP, which had a Drake collab and which almost immediately disappeared from the internet. Now, Benny’s got a new seven-track project coming out on Friday. We’d usually call a seven-song project an EP, but the press release just says “project.”

At least officially, Benny The Butcher’s upcoming record Excelsior is his first solo joint since 2024’s much-lauded album Everybody Can’t Go. Excelsior, which is named after the New York state motto, has appearances from Styles P, Skyler Blatt, P.R.E.M.O., Sule, and Fuego Base, as well as production from people like Harry Fraud and Daringer. The lead single “Duffel Bag Hottie’s Revenge” features another underground rap workhorse: Boldy James, who somehow had time to record his verse for this amidst his schedule of releasing a new album every other week this year. (I have lost track of whether or not that’s an exaggeration.)

Benny The Butcher and Boldy James make obvious sense together, and they both sound dependably tough over a luxuriant horn loop from producer Nunchuk. Benny and Boldy shot the song’s video on the subway in Brooklyn, even though neither of them is from there. Below, check out that video and the Excelsior tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
01 “The Corner”
02 “I Am The Program” (Feat. P.R.E.M.O.)
03 “Sign Language”
04 “$ & Power” (Feat. Skyler Blatt)
05 “Duffle Bag Hottie’s Revenge” (Feat. Boldy James)
06 “Toxic” (Feat. Styles P)
07 “B$F” (Feat. Sule & Fuego Base)

Excelsior is out 5/2 on Black Soprano Family. Read our 2024 Benny The Butcher interview here.