BJ The Chicago Kid already has one of the best R&B albums of the year in In My Mind — and one of the most indelible choruses in “Church” — but the incredibly soulful singer-songwriter isn’t done with this year just yet. As a bit of an early Christmas gift, BJ dropped The Lost Files: Cuffing Season, nine free tracks of soul revivalism that you can stream below.
According to BJ, the mixtape came about entirely by accident and The Lost Files — including the previously heard Marvin Gaye tribute “Uncle Marvin” — were exactly what the title implies. In an interview with Saint Heron, he explained how the mixtape came to be.
“What’s crazy is, I’d lost a hard drive in moving from a previous location and I couldn’t find this hard drive for years. And I worked on these songs with producers Dre & Vidal, Uncle Chuck, Harold Lilly [and] Dammo Farmer. It’s been so many guys I’ve had that connection with, and I think we were making some different music than what we’re making now. But in moving, I found this old hard drive that over time I was just like “Yo, let me listen to these records and see what’s on here.” Because I know what I was looking for [though] it’s not even what we’re actually using on there. I was looking for something else that I’m still looking for. [laughs] I couldn’t even find what I was looking for. But I found this, and finding these songs just reignited that fire. It reminded me of songs that I grew up on. Everything from Mint Condition down to Usher, to R. Kelly, to Dave Hollister. Everything. It reminded me of that feeling. And we had to find a way to give it you guys. I just thank God that I found this drive necause we put so much time into making this music. Whether it was twelve years ago, two years ago, or one day ago, I feel like the effort and the time that we put into the music is worth being heard…
The Lost Files: Cuffing Season is just attributed to everything I grew up on. It’s the link, the missing link that I lost on that hard drive that I thank God I found, and I just really hope you guys enjoy it. I just want to say that real music lives forever. Timeless music.”
Stream the mixtape below and don’t miss his excellent video for “Cupid.”
