Boldy James has been grinding in the rap game for a very long time. The Detroit native is back after a brief hiatus and is putting in work with his latest project with DJ Butter called Art of Rock Climbing.

In his interview with HipHopDX, James acknowledges that he's kind of out of the loop with how young kids are consuming rap music, but he's slowly adjusting. "That’s the hard part, the adjustment stage to like what’s going on from the two year hiatus, from the time I first took the break," he said. "'Cause a lot can change in music within those 700-some-odd days, that’s a lot of artists, that’s a lot of work been came and went. So I’m just trying to let my work be recognized and see if people still respect my craft.”

When asked about rap's generational gap, James said that he hopes to bridge the gap so both young and old rap fans can enjoy the music. “[The older generation] might not be able to pick up on the latest slang and all the s--- that the young boys talking at the time, but the s--- indirectly come from people before ‘em, they just take twist s---, alter s---, it’s a different translation,” he said. “So to be up on the new slang and to be able to tap into the same frequency that the young boys is on, it’s like a skill. To be quick enough to pick up on all this game because the game change very day, so if you ain’t really a player, then you’re not gonna understand the audibles that are being made. Gotta be a student of the game all around the board.”

In the meantime, James is appreciative to have his mentor Nas in his corner. “Stay working because it’s easy for the attention to be shifted somewhere else,” he says of what the rap icon has taught him. “You just gotta stay working and try to stay as relevant as you can. Because rappers, it’s so easy to forget about them and move on to the next new hot n----, so you just gotta strike while the iron’s hot and you gotta stay consistent with it.”

Watch Boldy James' "Do It" Video

More From TheBoombox