Brian Ennals and Blockhead Announce Boatshoes, Share New Single “Aldente”

Brian Ennals has teamed with Blockhead for Boatshoes, a new collaborative album arriving July 17 on Phantom Limb. The pair are coming off different corners of the underground, but the first listen suggests the fit is immediate. Lead single “Aldente” is out now.

Ennals is best known for his Baltimore duo with producer Infinity Knives, whose abstract DIY rap record A City Drowned In God’s Black Tears was widely treated in some internet circles as one of last year’s best rap albums. Blockhead, meanwhile, has spent roughly 25 years as a steady New York underground presence, first as a frequent Aesop Rock collaborator and then as a producer with a long list of arty rap credits. His 2023 track “Now That’s What I Call A Posse Cut Vol. 56” featured Bruiser Wolf, Danny Brown, billy woods, and Despot.

Boatshoes features guest turns from Fatboi Sharif, ShrapKnel, and Defcee. In a press release, Ennals said Blockhead’s résumé set a standard from the start. “This is a dude that’s made albums with Aesop Rock and billy woods, so I was aware there was a level of quality I had to reach,” he said. “Not to toot my own horn, I think I did… It’s the most fun rapping I’ve had in a long time. Block’s productions were funky as fuck, almost pop, but still totally totally rap. They didn’t sound like anything I’d ever heard.”

Blockhead echoed that point in his own statement. “Brian met the challenges of writing to beats like this at every turn,” he said. “We ended up with an album that sounds nothing like anything we have done before. And when you’ve been doing this as long as I have, that’s a rare accomplishment.”

“Aldente” gives a first clear look at what that means in practice. Blockhead’s beat is layered and heavy on harmonica, while Ennals repeatedly works in the hook from Baltimore rapper 2Pac’s “Hail Mary.” As the release notes, the full album also includes another installment in Blockhead’s “Now That’s What I Call A Posse Cut” series.

Tracklist:

01 “Aldente”
02 “Roll Call”
03 “Pass The Yayo”
04 “Bareback”
05 “Let It Burn (Like Usher)”
06 “Yellow School Buses” (feat. Mike Mayo & Defcee)
07 “Wet Noodle”
08 “Signed Sealed Delivered”
09 “Soy Boy”
10 “Now That’s What I Call A Posse Cut Vol. 87” (feat. Fatboi Sharif, Shrapknel, & DeathIRL)
11 “Smirnoff, Via A Straw”
12 “Shyne”
13 “Wonderwall”