TWENTY YEARS, TEN ALBUMS, AND THOUSANDS OF BARS LATER, MAPS IS THE FLAGRANT TESTAMENT OF A MAN WHO STILL HAS A LOT TO SAY.
WORDS: Benny Sun
September 30, 2023
If there’s anything billy woods isn’t afraid to do, it’s talk. For a man who refuses to show his face in press, interviews with woods profile him as a strikingly open artist. Through the small collection of immense conversations with the rapper, a great amount of information can be gathered. He was raised on a diet of Dr. Suess, Charles Dickens, Beverly Cleary, and hundreds of other children’s and young adult literature. He hates runny eggs and loves Judy Blume’s menstruation classic “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” He’s a fan of the blogger Caltrops Press, who wrote a piece on his 2022 record Aethiopes he largely respects. Reflecting on these interviews, two things are clear: billy woods may have the largest scope of knowledge of any human being alive, and he’s willing to talk your ear off about any of it.
Combined, it explains many of the rapper’s inclinations throughout his music and career. Since the onset of the pandemic, woods has released five records, three in the last 13 months alone. Across his collaborations with NYC rapper E L U C I D as Armand Hammer and various underground production heavyweights, any record billy woods takes part of makes it clear that this is a man with much to say. And while he insists on delivering his message through stuttered flows and hyper-conceptual lyricism over haunting beats, Maps is evidence his message hasn’t been lost in translation.
Reuniting with producer enigma Kenny Segal, after their excellent 2019 full-length collaboration Hiding Places, Maps is a testament to twenty years of musical excellence. Every lyric is intentional, every bar is astonishing. References fly across tracks like “Soft Landing,” which name-drops broadcast legend David Attenborough, football star Joe Burrow, and 50s writer William Borrough II in a single 16 bar verse, alongside Prodigy’s “Keep It Thoro,” and The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Suicidal Thoughts” and “Everyday Struggle.” It’s hard to imagine a world where these monumental citations don’t feel forced, but every thread is connected by the needle of billy woods’ conceptuality.
woods has a talent to find rhythm and melody where there’s none, and establish prose within barbaric themes (and occasionally vice versa). “Rapper Weed” is a track discussing little else but its namesake topic, but lyrics like “Aromatherapy in the stu’ with lavender diffused in the booth / Tupac with the prеssed juice and therapy Tuеsdays at 2” provide the entire track with a sense of grandeur. And though tracks like “NYC Tapwater” explore woods’ complicated love-hate relationship with the city he calls home, a la Gil Scott-Heron, bars like “One sip of New York City tapwater, I’m back dialed in” and “Where I used to cop at, now it’s a Blue & Cream (I see you Jeff)” force a chuckle.
Don’t let 500 words of singular enamor trick you though, Kenny Segal’s miraculous production is as central to this record as woods is. Segal’s unique approach to beat-making ensures a challenging listen, as every presumption you hold to hip hop is shattered in the span of 44 minutes. A huff of the foreign percussion on intro “Kenwood Speakers,” a juxtaposing breath of supple guitars and dramatic drums on “Soft Landing,” and a rip of straight avant-jazz on “Blue Smoke” make for a dizzying listen. Segal’s swirling style consistently fights for attention, begging you to fall into its unnatural world of jagged drums and ghastly switches.
Even as you settle into the intoxicating edge of Maps, the record refuses complacency. The tracklist moves from idea to idea like a Taylor Swift private jet moves state to state. The paced maximalism of “Babylon by Bus” plummets towards the tedious horns of “Year Zero,” before arriving at the Griselda-reminiscent piano runs of “FaceTime.” The cautious serenity of “Agriculture” may feel far from the animation of “Waiting Room,” but the magic of Maps keeps its cornucopia of ideas glued together at all times. Simply, the number of ideas and perspectives the record provides is staggering.
Though uncompromising, Maps poises itself to be woods’ most accessible record yet. Lead single “FaceTime” features the closest thing to a pop chorus billy woods will ever approach, and features by Danny Brown and Aesop Rock promote the record as a must-listen for anyone tapped into the dark and dusty world of underground hip hop. Not to be mistaken for a compromise on woods’ end, these features enter the world of woods and Segal, not the other way around. Features from common collaborators boast unreal chemistry, no matter if it’s woods’ Backwoodz Studioz signees ShrapKnel trading bars amongst one another, or a verse from partner-in-crime E L U C I D.
In discussing Maps, Brian Eno’s famous quote regarding the debut Velvet Underground record comes to mind: “The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.” Rappers like billy woods and producers like Kenny Segal may not get the attention they deserve until it’s too late, but records like Maps are a testament to the strength of the obscure and the respect of the unknown. woods may not be chasing the Maybach life of Rick Ross and Kenny Segal won’t go on to be the next Timbaland. But their willingness to push the envelope of our understanding of music will leave them in the same breath as the Lou Reeds, Juan Atkins, and frankly, the billy woods of modern music.
You can find billy woods and Kenny Segal’s new record ‘Maps’ here. The duo will be at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn on June 1 for their Maps World Tour. You can purchase tickets here.
Grade: A