Chicago artist Moon Beby has quietly let loose two quality EPs this calendar year. With 23 dropping earlier this year, he recently followed it up with Only For a Season. Treated as a rough EP of demos, these thirteen songs (as well an an additional twelve that were released in the between time) showcase an artist honing in on his craft and his style. Prolific, lofi, ambient, dreamy, nd authentic, these are tracks to play once the sun goes down and the world is fast asleep. “Sequence of Events” demands some grass.
Last month, I spoke with New York rapper Billy Woods: the Backwoodz Studioz mastermind responsible for some of the best solo hip-hop albums of the decade. Like Dour Candy (2013), like Today, I Wrote Nothing (2015), like Known Unknowns (2017). Woods is also part of the duo Armand Hammer, a group which includes rapper/producer Elucid. The two returned full force at the end of last year with their third album Rome. Then Elucid released a solo album. Then the duo released three music videos as well as a vinyl-only album Paraffin, which dropped in July. Fingers crossed for a digital version down the road. I spoke with the prolific MC about his creative process, his work space, his music rotations, and much more.
How’s 2018 been treating you so far right now?
Honestly? It’s been terrible. Hopefully some good writing comes out of it because 2018 has been an unmitigated disaster thus far from the moment I opened my eyes on January 1st.
You’ve released solo albums in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Given this two year pace, can we expect your next in 2019?
I never noticed that pattern before and that’s a good question. I have some stuff I’m excited about but currently waiting for some collaborators to clear their calendars, so it’s hard to say. And I hate stopping the middle of a project to work on a different one because I feel like each thing needs to be it’s own chamber, I get worried they will be too similar. Maybe that’s something I need to let go of, who knows.
Your solo and collaborative albums are incredibly consistent. Do you build them up slowly? Or do you create in bulk and trim down the tracks?
Thank you. That’s a complicated question to answer because every one of them was made a bit differently. History Will Absolve Me had lots of producers but also involved a lot of recording and winnowing out the best tracks. It was really about me and engineer/producer/consigliere Willie Green locking in and working in a bit of a vacuum. Dour Candy and Known Unknowns are basically one-producer records, there wasn’t a lot of extra fat to trim, because Blockhead (nor Aesop for that matter) isn’t giving me tons beats at a time and not everything I get is going to fit what I’m looking for. I do still have a couple joints that didn’t make it onto Known Unknowns though, and bizarrely all of them were collaborative songs. Today, I Wrote Nothing was the quickest album I ever made and was a project where form and concept dictated everything. I recorded most of that at ELUCID’s spot and it was intentionally a very un-fiddled with project. I wanted something visceral and unedited, I made songs as long as I felt in the moment, no longer, I rewrote nothing. As for Armand Hammer; collaboration necessitates entirely different processes.
You have one of the most unique, freeflowing voices in hip-hop. What’s your writing process like
Honestly, it really depends a lot on the project but usually I find a beat and see where it takes me. Sometimes I just down ideas or concept or just a line that I think might take me somewhere and then come back to that list if I am looking for inspiration. I sit at my desk and smoke and drink tea and write and yell at my cats.
What does the future of Backwoodz Studioz entail?
Nothing is promised. I hope we can continue to build, expand our reach, keep putting out records and artwork that I am proud of.
What’s your workspace/studio space look like? What are some studio essentials?
My workspace is a wooden desk I brought to my current hideout in a semi-abandoned building in Crown Heights, awaiting the gentrifiers wrecking ball. I first got this desk off the streets of Brooklyn in the early 2000s and it’s beyond scuffed, it’s probably fair to say “battered”. On top of that are three books: a dog-eared James Baldwin biography, John Stockwell’s In Search of Enemies, and Homer’s Odyssey- which I have never actually read. There are haphazard piles of bills, random photos, a hard drive, a cup of tea, water, a watch Willie Green gave to me, a big thing full of pens, markers and scissors, some Harpers magazines, scraps of paper with notes on them and a notice from the gas company that I still owe them money from the old apartment. There is an ashtray with a spliff of that Uptown Haze in it. There is a small black cat looking out the window and an even smaller silver laptop. There is an Ironman CD in the case for Dizzee Rascal’s Boy In the Corner. I have no idea why it’s even out as I currently have no CD player. There is an untidy stack of more books and graphic novels and old comics all thrown together from the recent move that I should organize but haven’t. There is a document shredder and a Sunday edition of The New York Times from a week ago. There are two separate broken pairs of headphones.
If you were to empty your pockets, what would you find?
I have never had a wallet so, keys, cash, ID and bankcard, papers, loose change, some list of tasks written on a piece of paper and folded up in a back pocket a week ago.
Outside of your own music, what have you been listening to recently?
The Seattle spawned collective UNITY DIVERSITY FREEDOM are not for play but do yourself a favor and play all their releases. Consistently pushing the line of creativity in for lack of a more Based opinion, stagnant times. Underworld Dust Funk is a fitting acronym indeed. It is very fitting that UDF hails from Seattle. The northwest city has been the hunting grounds for like 50% of the world’s serial killers. Excellent dining choices due to it being a harbor city with an influx of (shoutout my filipinos!) immigrants. Class A drug epidemics out the frame. An of course, an amazing music scene empowered by its remoteness to bigger hubs. It is a beautiful and dark place that shines through in their music like looking through a monocular at a blood diamond, with blood on it.
And that duality can be felt on this aptly named EP, Paranormal Macktivity. A nice and nasty eight track posse comp curated and produced almost entirely by Khrist Koopa*with a co-production from Trowa Barton on just one track. I want my dark rap to have depth, texture, occult flourishes mixed with hood vernacular. This is it right here.
Starting off wit a bang, on Checklist, the currently incarcerated (free the guy) Dizzi Slick delivers jail phone recorded lyrics a la Godfather Buried Alive era Shyne that Khrist built an ominous beat around after that personally reminds me of the Tales From the Darkside intro so I’m locked in. On Sneak & GeekBB Sun spills west coast playerlistics next to the recently recruited but always underground elite, AJ Suede who matches his energy and also mastered the whole album.
Martis Unruly runs up next on Soothsayer with the Suede God dripping real screwface summoning incantations. Then BB Sun charges up back to back on Like a Baby and Going Shopping that both have Bay Area/Detroit slick talk notes but that is a universal street mackin’ ass style and it still sounds original and very UDF. Martis Unruly continues the kinetic energy of Paranormal Macktivity with Black Chad and No thy Self. Dizzi closes out the tape with Illegal, a track that could open a Seattle crime series similar to The Wire. Set in South Park? Pigeon Hill? Rainier Valley? I don’t know but I’d watch that show off the rip. Sheeeeit, I’d write/direct and produce it my damned self.
Tampa rapper Big Baby aka Big Baby Scumbag dropped the single “Lucky Charm” earlier this Spring and it’s been on repeat. Now that it’s finally getting warmer outside, this is the perfect track for a backyard function, a top-down drive, or a rooftop indulgence. Complete with wild VHS visuals courtesy of DogXanax, the Drip-133 produced track is one that will stay in your head well into summer.
Rapper Key! spent a large part of 2018 teasing his collaborative album with producer Kenny Beats. The finalized album is 777, a 15 song run through of thumping intensity and electric bounce. Tracks like “Move” and “Toronto” demand to be played on loop at maximum volume. To top it off, Key! provided the visuals for the tracks “Hater” (directed by JimmyRegular) and “Kelly Price Freestyle” (shot by Miggy). The complete package makes 777 one of the most exciting hip-hop releases of 2018.
Milwaukee artist Kenny Hoopla has been building up one hell of a profile with a steady supply of angsty and hypnotic singles. Linking up with producer taxpurposes (the two have a batch of tracks available to the public), the new single “Sickness” might be the pair’s finest yet. If you need more from Kenny Hoopla and taxpurposes, be sure to check out their video for “Waves”, which dropped last summer.
On ‘Revenge’ this Virginian rapper’s latest, Lil Percy sounds like he just woke up, sparked up and couldn’t help but go off about the bullshit permeating his atmosphere and his M.O. is flexing. He rises above, dismissing all the obstacles in his way with exhales of legato flows, and Percy isn’t just blowing smoke. Take a ride on this very airy and dynamically punchy roller coaster of intoxicated confidence v.s. introspection, and don’t let the clouds get in your eye, Percy isn’t some old weed rapper, he’s got an energy that’s uniquely chill but far from a mumble.
It’s been said that the best form of Revenge is Success, and while nothing is guaranteed in this life, Percy is gonna get to the top at some point. Paralleled with the progression that the album takes as a whole is his idea of success in self expression and the ability he sees within himself to make his own way and not waste anymore time with fake love and friends or foes. He has his eyes on the prize and he’s locked in.
If “Revenge” were a hot sauce, and it definitely is some flames, it would be a “creeper” … starts off with plenty of flavor and insight into the tracks ahead but it definitely builds as it goes along, keeping you intrigued and feeling like you can’t get enough. With only 12 tracks averaging less than two and half minutes each, you reach the albums last song and aptly titled “Ending” before you know it. This is a great pre-game or after party soundtrack, not anything to sleep to but would suit you well if stuck in stand still traffic with a little time and angst on your hands and visions of achieving your wildest dreams or having the best possible time trying.
This single was featured three weeks ago by LOST APPEAL on their exclusive sound cloud page – you should definitely give them a follow.
They did a nice interview with Percy last year as well.
Go and get a copy of the limited CD release over at Blackhouse Records webstore or stream the album via any major streaming service now!
Dallas producer tnght/tmrw has been holding my attention since he was in the duo OurSkeletonBones. After making the switch to solo music, he has continued to impress with his late night grooves: a blend of lush instrumentals and autotuned cruisers. Most recently, he produced for vocalist FlexinFab on the single “Everything U Do”.
The lively track was preceded by the single “Duality.” It’s a 2-and-a-half minute instrumental that takes to the clouds, orbits the globe, and comes back down for a truly cosmic experience. An atmospheric body trip, the wordless single demands more than one listen.
Prior to “Duality’, tnght/tmrw released a booming edit to Pinks’s 2000 track “Most Girls.” Loose instrumentals, exclusive singles, and Pink remixes? Yes, it all works within the world of the eclectic producer. The fourth and final piece that he’s released this calendar year is “Facetime”, where he spotlights both his production skills and his vocal skills, making it perhaps my favorite of this high quality bunch. Press play and lose your head for a day.
Rapper OmenXIII and producer Purpdogg joined forces to release the ten track project, Underworld. A dark and haunted auditory experience, the project is a punch in the face, a kick in the gut. Guttural and evil as hell, it’s something to play to concern your family members. Listen to this as you kidnap your enemies, as you set a car on fire, as you pregame your seance.
Earlier this year, we talked about the collaborative heat between UK rapper Kelvo and US producer Joe Nora. The two are back for another hazy hit, “Moneyman.” Feeling like a cloud of loud, this is one to turn on when you get home from work and need to relax. About as chill as it gets. CloudRap2k18. Keep an eye out for more from Kelvo, who is prepping his tape, and Nora, who is prepping like five projects.
