@@byHexted I think billy woods whole body of work is better than most. I just bought this album in 2022 and his 2012 repressing of History Will Absolve Me. Think of him as a poet, it should be studied.
@@byHexted many authors write multiple great books in their lifetime with similar themes and settings and ideas, and though they all might be great they usually culminate into one masterpiece. a good example of this is the author Roberto Bolaño and his opus 2666. he has numerous novels that are quite similar to 2666, but none of them are as deep and unbelievable as 2666. the point is, a novel or album doesn’t need to necessarily do something differently than the creators other works to be taught and revered, it just needs to do those things much better than their other works. and as far as i’m concerned, Aethiopes achieves this in a similar manner of 2666
I absolutely loved every second of this review Professor Skye. I'm an English major in the last leg of my studies, and if I'm honest, I haven't been entirely sure what direction I've wanted to take my life in after I graduate. I've thought about going to grad school, law school, going into marketing at some bullshit company I only work for for the money-none of which are bad paths of course, but they have not grasped at me and said, "Hey! This is your calling!". But this album and your review of it has me thinking, "What if this is something I could bring to the Academy?" Because sure, it's important to dissect The Illiad and the Romantics and take from them what they've taught us, but when I think about the bards and poets of our era, it isn't some white guy locked in his Ivory tower. It's Woods, It's K.Dot, Earl Sweatshirt and many more who are driving the conscience of our era. Like, it's no surprise Kendrick's "Alright" is a protest chant for the Black Lives Matter movement. Nor does it surprise me that Mersault's murder of the Arab man pops up in "Versailles". I was JUMPING up and down when I heard that bar. These men and women are so important to American and world culture, and it just feels wrong that this work isn't being recognized for its literary genius. Maybe it's something I can work to help change.
@@professorskye We do appreciate it, very much so!! Thank you Prof0 Also what a kick it is to learn you've been playing billy woods for your kids in the car, I bet they think you've gone off the deep end!! 😂😂😂
billy woods’ 2019 solo project Hiding Places is also a collaboration with a single producer, Kenny Segal, lending itself to be another cohesive sounding album full of dark eerie drones, fuzzed out guitars, and massive bass hits. A highlight in Woods prolific and consistently great discography, the album is one of Wood’s most personal narratives discussing themes of childhood, U.S. imperialism, and isolation. Definitely recommend checking it out Prof. Skye!
Dour Candy and Known Unknowns were both (with the exception of two songs produced by Aesop Rock on two tracks of Known Unknowns) entirely produced by Blockhead.
All I’ll say is that Billy Woods should be appreciated as a great musician because beyond his musical aesthetic, he coalesces a lot of the greatest aspects of the Black intellectual musical and philosophical tradition. His work combines an ethnographic approach- similar to Pearl Primus, Katherine Dunham, and Alvin Ailey-to storytelling, combining the geopolitics and philosophy of “Black” people’s across several countries in order to deconstruct Blackness as a concept and a matter of being. His work exhibits a degree of substantive meta-commentary that I don’t believe most contemporaneous rappers actuate: other-ness, exoticism, colonialism, African separatism, the universality of the Black experience but it’s lack of fidelity in describing these peoples via exaggeration, defamation of Black art, the concept of savagery, indigeneity as a slur, royalty in the Black context, Africa, Jamaica, the blues and jazz, and the concept of the Black intellectual. His oeuvre is cavernous in depth but idiosyncratic in presentation and initially impenetrable.
Yeeeeeees billy woods!!!!!!!!! Love any attempt at analysis of this artists work. It's cryptic but direct and biting everything feels so personal. Hiding Places is one of my favourite albums and has been since it came out. Aethiopes is crazy as well, first time I heard Wharves I stopped dead in my tracks to appreciate the instrumental. His lyrics need to marinate with me though, they come from a place I'm not familiar with and take lots of listens to get all the layers and even then I keep finding new things
Yup, same here. The same thing happened with History Will Absolve Me and you also just grow with works like these. In a year time I will probably understand a lot more about this album than I do rn and that's great!
I think the Ock in the weed line is a reference to corner stores moreso than anything else. Also I was wondering if you noticed like the sonic progression. The earlier songs on the album sound very tribal, for lack of a better word, and as we progress we get songs that incorporate blues, then jazz, then reggae, then soul. To me that’s very chronological.. with The Doldrums being the sonic representation of the middle passage. Just some random ideas about the record….
Cannibal Tours is probably a reference to the 1988 documentary of the same name lambasting the way European and American tourists behave when visiting developing countries
Always a treat to hear you discuss woods, it always deepens my understanding of his work. One small thing that I love is woods keeps themes/motifs throughout his albums. The MF DOOM reference "Notice parables of three and every other inference" on Protoevangelium is the hook of the Armand Hammer song Parables. woods has a beautiful album called Hiding Places and there are descriptions of hiding on this album as you describe. The challenger line reminded me of the first line of Armand Hammer's Pommelhorse. Little things like these make me love woods even more, makes all his work feel connected in a way.
One thing that you don't mention specifically but that I think adds even more depth to the opening lies is that the gardener is the one who is sent to look for him when he is hiding in a high place, in the "sky". A gardener would be good at looking at what comes from the ground, him trying to find someone in the sky seems like the wrong man for the job. Amazing video, thank you for this and thank you to the people over at letterboxd' Kongi's Harvest page that recommended you. This is the type of discussion work like this deserves
El-P’s a Brooklyn native, just as a note. Breeze Brewin is an amazing artist you would enjoy looking into. Him, his brother and sister formed The Juggaknots in the mid 90s and have an underground classic titled Clear Blue Skies; even if you can’t check the whole project, that title track alone could be material for an entire video. Breeze was also the main character in Prince Paul’s A Prince Among Thieves album, which you may have heard? Hopefully, you have a little time to check Breeze out if you get a chance.
if you enjoy the bombardment of references and knowledge in this album i would really reccomend hiding places to you professor. Houthi is one of my favorites my interpretation of the song is really built on the lines "a labyrinth is not a maze" which is a fantastic analysis of first world government's intentional entrapment, resource stripping, and destabilization of countries and regions all over the world that leave their people in a labyrinth, not a maze.
revisiting this review after your recent moore mother review and hearing "where do you think the money came from" (4:12) was like a sleeper agent activation code lol
Also, if you like Preservation's production style, you will love his album 'Eastern Medicine, Western Illness'. He has an All-Star cast of artists on there including: Billy Woods, KA, Navy Blue, Mach-Hommy, Your Old Droog, and so many great rappers. All of the samples come directly from China via Hong Kong. Only a few compilation/ collaborative albums have really caught my fancy, but this is one that I come back to every now and then.
If I were to pick a definitive Woods album if you're looking to better understand him even further, I would without a doubt say "History Will Absolve Me." Still probably his best (aside from maybe Aethiopes), it was his first solo album after an 8 year break doing group stuff, and the cover features a picture of Mugabe to give a preview of the personal and radical nature of the content
Preservation and Ka did an Album together back in 2015, themed and named after the movie character Dr. Yen Lo. Dense bars as always, plus you have the comparison of Yen Lo brainwashing and manipulating people into being murderers, and the streets of BK, NY back in the 80s doing pretty much the same thing. I know you dont go back in time to check out older records of artists, but I didnt want to not leave this comment, because you appear to like both Preservation and Ka. Cheers from a german university student!
@@aiden359 been my nr.1 album since it dropped back in '18, only one to get close was Descendants of Cain two years later. Really speaks for an artist when your two favorite albums ever are made by the same one.
1:07:24 if i were to guess, it seems like it’s referencing a relationship with a woman and billy’s desire to keep seeing her as human via their emotional connection and to not change their perception of each other by turning each other into sexual objects to be exploited. that’s what it always sounded like to me. kind of a brilliant self reflection of his own vices, but maybe i’m projecting
I think billy woods art is influenced by theorists like Fred Moten/historians working in the wake of Cedric Robinson IE Robin DG Kelley. Said for sure, too. Motens book In The Break specifically reminds me of woods every time i go back to it. thanks for the thoughtful review, youre on of the only people on youtube equipped to even approach reviewing woods. i think youd get a lot out of his whole corpus
I think the line about watching the planet from orbit remorseless is a reference to kongi's harvest and how space is a metaphor for the opposite of progress
I got a feeling Billy has watched this Professor. Most people probably just review his music at a very surface level but you really get into it and try to understand it and something tells me he appreciates you very much for that. From watching your channel, I've learned so much about the music I love so much and with your help I feel like I understand it a lot better now. Thanks for all you do! 🙏
Great review Billy is way underappreciated scaffolds is one of my favorite songs. Check out Steel Tipped Doves Album "Call me when your Outside" he has a lot of cool Billy Woods verses on it. And STD doesn't have anywhere near the attention he should he is a nice guy and artful producer.
@@eoinfeee1309 Hell yeah, I really like Buddy Ryan and Simple Machines off that project he does like this spastic triplet effect and like some drop pitching that I really like on Buddy Ryan glitch effects that clean are hard to craft.
Really glad you touched on that “my accountant is…” bar. It was the most moving to me, for many personal reasons. Amazing review overall, can’t wait to dig into all the references that you dug up for us. Thanks!
The album cover is actually would drew me into wanting to listen to the album because I must admit I wasn't the biggest Billy Woods fan out there before, but just casually listened to him. Now listening to this album has made me a fan and he is in my top 5 dead or alive and I have been binging his music as well as the Armand Hammer albums. I love oil paintings from those early centuries as well as line drawings, lithographs, and Chromeo lithographs. Such deep historical, introspective, and meta lyricism. His music makes me want to study what he says even further and dissect everything as well as wishing I had came up with the barz!
Thank you so much for this. I am going to be honest, being Dutch (from the birthplace of Rembrandt, Leiden, and living in the city where the Mauritshuis is located, The Hague!) these are quite challenging rappers to understand, at least all of it. So, just a thank you for your analysis on these great poets. Btw, you should definitely visit Haarlem, one of the most beautiful cities in The Netherlands. Beautiful architecture, very historical, beautiful nature as well. Not a lot of ethnic diversity, but still a beautiful city. Cheers!
Let's not overlook the fact that he's on the track with his fellow "Indelible MC" which hadn't been on a track together for more than 20 years. You'll even notice EL-P make reference.
I'm so glad you convinced me to watch Kongi's Harvest, this was already one of my favorite albums and now I enjoy it even more, understanding all the context, especially for Haarlem. Love the reviews!
I know you've heard it plenty but "Hiding Places" is so so worth the listen, it's also under a single producer (Kenny Segal who you may know from the group who produced that first R.A.P. Ferreira record) I really hope Billy keeps up the pattern of using single producers, even though I enjoy "History Will Absolve Me", "Hiding Places" and "Aethiopes" each having a single producer really helps Billy build such a strong and distinct atmosphere that makes the albums work as much as a whole piece rather than just collections of tracks. Billy's work demands such a uniquely ominous and surreal atmosphere it's so interesting to see these producers interpret how to bring that vibe to life for a whole record.
My father is a researcher/professor, even has a doctorate, but only my youngest sister seems to be following his prime. Me and my other sister chose to drop out and work blue collar and customer service jobs. Believe me when I say that it wasn't easy for our dad to accept that, which made it difficult for us to follow our path guiltfree
Protoevangelium seems to be about billy woods view on some people saying anything is black empowerment and also a critique on a lot of newer rappers, the 2nd verse however is a direct correlation to the song “parables” off of ‘Armand Hammer- Shrines’, but woods changes it to how when he died he got 3 wishes, and recounted on 3 times he wished for something and he got the wish he desired in his past I THINK
I interpreted the end of Woods’ verse on Sauavge as a statement about how they’re are geniuses and extraordinary Central American people/immigrants lives being completely wasted because of their original geographic location, race, and class dooming them to play the role of the cheap labor force no matter their abilites. Despite being these super, extraordinary people this does not allow them to overcome the socio economic barriers of global capitalism. They end up having immigrated over in search of the American Dream only to end up building “prefab duplexes” getting paid pennies and they themselves will never to be able to purchase a home like this. He then compares the explotation of this immigrant labor pool to human trafficking and the prison system (“Dept of Corrections”) in the U.S. and how they too use their prisoners as a cheap form of labor. Also, a lot of human trafficking occurs with Central Americans trying to immigrate to the U.S. and their “coyotes” kidnapping and selling them or gangs exploiting their vulnerability.
Professor, now that some time has passed I think it would be an AWESOME time for a retrospective review/analysis of “Protoevangelium”. You skipped over it in the review and truly I would LOVE to hear your take on the second verse- which really fit the theme and concept of the album a lot more than you gave credit for in this review. Totally understandable since woods raps so fast and fervent on it it’s easy to miss the message on first listen. But MAN that is a SONG.
I found this channel for the Bladee reviews and holy shit, never imagined to watch an aethiopes review. Such a killer record, prolly one of the best records of the decade
Amazing work as always! You should also check Sadistik x Kno - Bring Me Back When The World Is Cured. Sadistik is definitely top 5 lyricist ever in my opinion.
it's definitely the best rap album of the year so far. thanks for the deep dive, i'm lookin forward to listening again with the additional historical and cultural context. his LP with Moor Mother is super great, folks are right.
Wtf i spent the whole day listening to this album for the first time and I HAD TO search up so much of this album to not let this all go over my head… even then this album is so dense that it’ll take MONTHS to feel like I can kinda grasp most of what Billy is conveying and all the inner workings of these bars
Skye: (IF) you decide to review Ka and billy woods catalogue, I am convinced they'll be your favourite Emcee's. Literally 1. & 2. In my humble opinion as a writer and Emcee myself. They have the two best pens Hip Hop has EVER seen!
AVAA professor! I've been trying to get my mom to become a billy woods/Armand Hammer fan since she loves abstract hip hop, and for sure aligns with him politically in many ways.
Thank you so much for this analysis Professor. I would love to delve deeper into lyrics like you do but it takes so much research. I really respect what you do and this video has made me love this album and want to explore its themes even more!
Professor I am incredibly grateful for this review. The first listen of Aethiopes was incredibly frustrating because I knew this album had such great reception and was incredibly dense but I couldn’t gather much meaning from the tracks. Your track by track breakdown has help to uncover an album that provides an incredibly needed and accessible social commentary of the exploitation and commodification of dark-skinned men as a means of economic and social gain for the fair-skinned. I’m excited to continually listen to this album and gain more meaning from it through every listen.
Please do another billy woods album the depth and knowledge you give is very interesting for someone who just listens to the album and enjoys it for what it is
Loved this video!! Just a heads up - he doesn't really like being refered to as billy especially in interviews he generally prefers being refered to as woods (just in case you end up interviewing him or something). Keep up the amazing work and I still have that pray for hati record if you want it!
Thanks for the note, I really appreciate it. And dang, how did I miss that great offer. (In case anyone feels like I don't respond because I think I'm too cool for school, please note that my message blindness can sometimes apply to things I really want! :) )
THANK YOU! really great insight, and good awareness of yourself. always in for woods, and will second other people's recommendations for his Hiding Places record, but I will also throw in there that you should check out Ka. You desperately need to check out Ka, and I know you hear that about a lot of artists, so do what you will. Specifically I recommend Orpheus vs. The Sirens, Honor Killed the Samurai, and Descendants of Cain. all love, x.
A few small thoughts- 1. On “Christine”, I definitely think Mike Ladd is also shouting out Skippy Whites (record shop) on that line. 2. I loved the “pillars of salt” ref to Lot’s wife on “Remorseless” 3. billy woods has an earlier song “Gilgamesh” and the video plays out a hotel scene where he “towels the door”, I feel like that entire episode has stuck with him through his discography, with various mentions of this rendezvous on a number of levels. Thanks for your analysis. Excellent!
Very late, but Talib Kweli's mother is Brenda M Greene, an English professor. There are also a lot of American rappers of recent African descent: Tyler, Aminé, Earl, Sheck Wes, Wale, and Nipsey Hussle off the top of my head.
26 minutes in and i forgot about Kongi’s Harvest when i was choosing a movie to watch tonight! Definitely gonna watch it as soon as possible. Aethiopes is already one of my favorite albums ever and im so happy to see a video this in depth about it! First time watching your channel and i really love how educated (duh i guess, a professor) you are, such as speaking about how bad the word exotic is. Gonna continue this video tomorrow since its 3am
Great Review, really opened my eyes to some stuff, especially the Mike Ladd bar. Incredible. But I will say, 5 African films in your whole life is TOO low. I'll recommend one that I thought was fantastic and is quite similar to the themes revolving around this album and also the context/perspective that surrounds billy woods when approaching this album. It's called ' I Am Not a Witch'. Really great film, let me know what you think.
Thank you for this informative review. Billy Woods is new to my musical radar. Man, have I missed out. When you spoke of Mike Ladd it took me back to his Welcome to the Afterfuture album and his Infesticons/Mejesticons era. I would definitely recommend taking a listen whenever you get a chance. Now, on to watch Kongi’s Harvest.
A video on Billy Woods -Hiding Places would be really entertaining for both of us. I feel like you'd very easily get lost in the story telling on that album as well.
When he talked about researching decolonization of Zimbabwe being more interesting, than any game I'd have plans to play in my spare time, I audibly said out loud: ''He probably doesn't know how good Elden Ring is''. 5 Seconds later: ''It's better than Elden Souls or whatever the hell it's called'' 😳😳😳
Daniel Lopatin's mother was actually a *music* teacher, if you can believe it. All four are some of my favorite artists. That's why "RIP Tracy" is one of the best songs.
Stop loss could be another Wall Street/stock reference too I think? It’s a setting where you can force a stock to sell once it falls below a price/threshold, preventing it to completely tank.
I wish there was a way to like triple like a video on youtube for special occasions and you have a limited number of triple likes or something idk. I wish there was some way to express how amazing this video is without me having to write this comment because I don't like having to word my thoughts but just wow. This video is amazing thank you for making it, I loved every second of it.
usually i'm not trying to stick around for a video this long, but this is probably my favorite review that you've done! very informative and engaging and i always appreciate your perspective! you should teach an online class, i would definitely enroll
Regardless of where you came from, its not at all racist for you to be aware of your lineage along with its history. However taking pride in the certain acts and practices that your ancestors were a part of can be a different story. Knowledge is power, peace.
If professors aren’t teaching billy woods lyrics in literature classes after this album drops then we’ve failed as a species
It will take time, but we will get there.
That implies this album did something his other ones haven’t and that isn’t true.
@@byHexted I think billy woods whole body of work is better than most. I just bought this album in 2022 and his 2012 repressing of History Will Absolve Me. Think of him as a poet, it should be studied.
@@byHexted "lyrics" implies more than this album. He just missed the apostrophe on Woods' name.
@@byHexted many authors write multiple great books in their lifetime with similar themes and settings and ideas, and though they all might be great they usually culminate into one masterpiece. a good example of this is the author Roberto Bolaño and his opus 2666. he has numerous novels that are quite similar to 2666, but none of them are as deep and unbelievable as 2666. the point is, a novel or album doesn’t need to necessarily do something differently than the creators other works to be taught and revered, it just needs to do those things much better than their other works. and as far as i’m concerned, Aethiopes achieves this in a similar manner of 2666
nah this is exactly how long a video on billy woods should be.
Great video, as a Nigerian I loved the Soyinka reference. Also the "S" in Soyinka is pronounced as "sh" so it sounds like "shoyinka"
This isnt a video, is a masterclass
I absolutely loved every second of this review Professor Skye. I'm an English major in the last leg of my studies, and if I'm honest, I haven't been entirely sure what direction I've wanted to take my life in after I graduate. I've thought about going to grad school, law school, going into marketing at some bullshit company I only work for for the money-none of which are bad paths of course, but they have not grasped at me and said, "Hey! This is your calling!". But this album and your review of it has me thinking, "What if this is something I could bring to the Academy?" Because sure, it's important to dissect The Illiad and the Romantics and take from them what they've taught us, but when I think about the bards and poets of our era, it isn't some white guy locked in his Ivory tower. It's Woods, It's K.Dot, Earl Sweatshirt and many more who are driving the conscience of our era. Like, it's no surprise Kendrick's "Alright" is a protest chant for the Black Lives Matter movement. Nor does it surprise me that Mersault's murder of the Arab man pops up in "Versailles". I was JUMPING up and down when I heard that bar. These men and women are so important to American and world culture, and it just feels wrong that this work isn't being recognized for its literary genius. Maybe it's something I can work to help change.
Please do!
I love these types of reviews for well thought out albums. You're doing a great service for fans like us Prof.
Glad that people appreciate it.
@@professorskye We do appreciate it, very much so!! Thank you Prof0
Also what a kick it is to learn you've been playing billy woods for your kids in the car, I bet they think you've gone off the deep end!! 😂😂😂
@@24karatHAMSTER ikr
@@professorskye also, illy woods mother was jamaican. Just had to clarify that. Last point, negritude started out in Haiti, my guy lol 🤦🏽♂️
billy woods’ 2019 solo project Hiding Places is also a collaboration with a single producer, Kenny Segal, lending itself to be another cohesive sounding album full of dark eerie drones, fuzzed out guitars, and massive bass hits. A highlight in Woods prolific and consistently great discography, the album is one of Wood’s most personal narratives discussing themes of childhood, U.S. imperialism, and isolation. Definitely recommend checking it out Prof. Skye!
do it sir, do it. hiding places is nuts
Dour Candy and Known Unknowns were both (with the exception of two songs produced by Aesop Rock on two tracks of Known Unknowns) entirely produced by Blockhead.
Hiding places is my current favorite album.
catch me in traffic losing my mind to Speak Gently
All I’ll say is that Billy Woods should be appreciated as a great musician because beyond his musical aesthetic, he coalesces a lot of the greatest aspects of the Black intellectual musical and philosophical tradition. His work combines an ethnographic approach- similar to Pearl Primus, Katherine Dunham, and Alvin Ailey-to storytelling, combining the geopolitics and philosophy of “Black” people’s across several countries in order to deconstruct Blackness as a concept and a matter of being. His work exhibits a degree of substantive meta-commentary that I don’t believe most contemporaneous rappers actuate: other-ness, exoticism, colonialism, African separatism, the universality of the Black experience but it’s lack of fidelity in describing these peoples via exaggeration, defamation of Black art, the concept of savagery, indigeneity as a slur, royalty in the Black context, Africa, Jamaica, the blues and jazz, and the concept of the Black intellectual. His oeuvre is cavernous in depth but idiosyncratic in presentation and initially impenetrable.
His work hit a really personal for me, I feel like he is a voice for the poor and forgotten. Also would love an essay on Lee Scratch Perry.
Return of the super ape 👌
That's a good way to put it. I think that's why his work speak to me as well. Thanks for commenting
Yeeeeeees billy woods!!!!!!!!!
Love any attempt at analysis of this artists work. It's cryptic but direct and biting everything feels so personal. Hiding Places is one of my favourite albums and has been since it came out. Aethiopes is crazy as well, first time I heard Wharves I stopped dead in my tracks to appreciate the instrumental. His lyrics need to marinate with me though, they come from a place I'm not familiar with and take lots of listens to get all the layers and even then I keep finding new things
Yup, same here. The same thing happened with History Will Absolve Me and you also just grow with works like these. In a year time I will probably understand a lot more about this album than I do rn and that's great!
I think the Ock in the weed line is a reference to corner stores moreso than anything else. Also I was wondering if you noticed like the sonic progression. The earlier songs on the album sound very tribal, for lack of a better word, and as we progress we get songs that incorporate blues, then jazz, then reggae, then soul. To me that’s very chronological.. with The Doldrums being the sonic representation of the middle passage. Just some random ideas about the record….
Cannibal Tours is probably a reference to the 1988 documentary of the same name lambasting the way European and American tourists behave when visiting developing countries
Always a treat to hear you discuss woods, it always deepens my understanding of his work. One small thing that I love is woods keeps themes/motifs throughout his albums. The MF DOOM reference "Notice parables of three and every other inference" on Protoevangelium is the hook of the Armand Hammer song Parables. woods has a beautiful album called Hiding Places and there are descriptions of hiding on this album as you describe. The challenger line reminded me of the first line of Armand Hammer's Pommelhorse. Little things like these make me love woods even more, makes all his work feel connected in a way.
Woodsverse
At 1:11:30 I interpreted that line about “glass eyes” as teary eyed and never even considered the physical glass eyes. Incredible stuff.
im so glad you found billy woods man. just saw him live last week and he is electric and intense in person
One thing that you don't mention specifically but that I think adds even more depth to the opening lies is that the gardener is the one who is sent to look for him when he is hiding in a high place, in the "sky". A gardener would be good at looking at what comes from the ground, him trying to find someone in the sky seems like the wrong man for the job.
Amazing video, thank you for this and thank you to the people over at letterboxd' Kongi's Harvest page that recommended you. This is the type of discussion work like this deserves
El-P’s a Brooklyn native, just as a note.
Breeze Brewin is an amazing artist you would enjoy looking into. Him, his brother and sister formed The Juggaknots in the mid 90s and have an underground classic titled Clear Blue Skies; even if you can’t check the whole project, that title track alone could be material for an entire video.
Breeze was also the main character in Prince Paul’s A Prince Among Thieves album, which you may have heard? Hopefully, you have a little time to check Breeze out if you get a chance.
id definitely reccomend checking out Hiding Places and History Will Absolve Me. Both fantastic and cohesive albums with intense themes
if you enjoy the bombardment of references and knowledge in this album i would really reccomend hiding places to you professor. Houthi is one of my favorites my interpretation of the song is really built on the lines "a labyrinth is not a maze" which is a fantastic analysis of first world government's intentional entrapment, resource stripping, and destabilization of countries and regions all over the world that leave their people in a labyrinth, not a maze.
revisiting this review after your recent moore mother review and hearing "where do you think the money came from" (4:12) was like a sleeper agent activation code lol
This is exactly the kind of in-depth discussion of woods' music that I've been craving. Thank you. I hope you review all of his projects in time.
Also, if you like Preservation's production style, you will love his album 'Eastern Medicine, Western Illness'. He has an All-Star cast of artists on there including: Billy Woods, KA, Navy Blue, Mach-Hommy, Your Old Droog, and so many great rappers. All of the samples come directly from China via Hong Kong. Only a few compilation/ collaborative albums have really caught my fancy, but this is one that I come back to every now and then.
Absolutely love the billy woods reviews. Always a million directions to look afterwards and the music gets so much better
If I were to pick a definitive Woods album if you're looking to better understand him even further, I would without a doubt say "History Will Absolve Me." Still probably his best (aside from maybe Aethiopes), it was his first solo album after an 8 year break doing group stuff, and the cover features a picture of Mugabe to give a preview of the personal and radical nature of the content
Preservation and Ka did an Album together back in 2015, themed and named after the movie character Dr. Yen Lo. Dense bars as always, plus you have the comparison of Yen Lo brainwashing and manipulating people into being murderers, and the streets of BK, NY back in the 80s doing pretty much the same thing. I know you dont go back in time to check out older records of artists, but I didnt want to not leave this comment, because you appear to like both Preservation and Ka.
Cheers from a german university student!
Wow I literally went back to check if Orpheus vs the sirens was produced by preservation. I was just a couple albums off lol!
Animoss produced that one. Ka’s best imo
@@aiden359 been my nr.1 album since it dropped back in '18, only one to get close was Descendants of Cain two years later.
Really speaks for an artist when your two favorite albums ever are made by the same one.
Man that was the only thing missing from this album was a Ka feature.
@@bruhmomentum8052 great album
1:07:24 if i were to guess, it seems like it’s referencing a relationship with a woman and billy’s desire to keep seeing her as human via their emotional connection and to not change their perception of each other by turning each other into sexual objects to be exploited. that’s what it always sounded like to me. kind of a brilliant self reflection of his own vices, but maybe i’m projecting
I think billy woods art is influenced by theorists like Fred Moten/historians working in the wake of Cedric Robinson IE Robin DG Kelley. Said for sure, too. Motens book In The Break specifically reminds me of woods every time i go back to it. thanks for the thoughtful review, youre on of the only people on youtube equipped to even approach reviewing woods. i think youd get a lot out of his whole corpus
I think the line about watching the planet from orbit remorseless is a reference to kongi's harvest and how space is a metaphor for the opposite of progress
I got a feeling Billy has watched this Professor. Most people probably just review his music at a very surface level but you really get into it and try to understand it and something tells me he appreciates you very much for that. From watching your channel, I've learned so much about the music I love so much and with your help I feel like I understand it a lot better now. Thanks for all you do! 🙏
Great review Billy is way underappreciated scaffolds is one of my favorite songs. Check out Steel Tipped Doves Album "Call me when your Outside" he has a lot of cool Billy Woods verses on it. And STD doesn't have anywhere near the attention he should he is a nice guy and artful producer.
"Where can I buy an NFT of an extra 60 seconds?" NFT is one of my favourite tracks ever
@@eoinfeee1309 Hell yeah, I really like Buddy Ryan and Simple Machines off that project he does like this spastic triplet effect and like some drop pitching that I really like on Buddy Ryan glitch effects that clean are hard to craft.
Loved that project, so weird how little attention it got!
woods actually executive produced that album !
Really glad you touched on that “my accountant is…” bar. It was the most moving to me, for many personal reasons.
Amazing review overall, can’t wait to dig into all the references that you dug up for us. Thanks!
Hi Professor,
Great and very insight review of this work by billy woods. I learned a lot!
One note - El-P is an NY lad
Thanks for reviewing this professor! Can't wait to hear your thoughts
The album cover is actually would drew me into wanting to listen to the album because I must admit I wasn't the biggest Billy Woods fan out there before, but just casually listened to him. Now listening to this album has made me a fan and he is in my top 5 dead or alive and I have been binging his music as well as the Armand Hammer albums. I love oil paintings from those early centuries as well as line drawings, lithographs, and Chromeo lithographs.
Such deep historical, introspective, and meta lyricism. His music makes me want to study what he says even further and dissect everything as well as wishing I had came up with the barz!
Thank you so much for this. I am going to be honest, being Dutch (from the birthplace of Rembrandt, Leiden, and living in the city where the Mauritshuis is located, The Hague!) these are quite challenging rappers to understand, at least all of it. So, just a thank you for your analysis on these great poets. Btw, you should definitely visit Haarlem, one of the most beautiful cities in The Netherlands. Beautiful architecture, very historical, beautiful nature as well. Not a lot of ethnic diversity, but still a beautiful city. Cheers!
Would love to go to Haarlem some day and to the rest of Holland. I really love looking at Rembrandts in person.
Breeze Brewin is from the Juggaknots. Another group worth checking out.
Let's not overlook the fact that he's on the track with his fellow "Indelible MC" which hadn't been on a track together for more than 20 years. You'll even notice EL-P make reference.
Love and respect professor you really are inspiring me to become the best version of my self
Anytime I need help understanding an album, I know Prof Skye has got my back! Your analysis on this one was MUCH appreciated :)
Thank you for this Skye, I really appreciate all the effort you put into these and I always love your analysis!
I very much so preferred your break down of the album over the actual album.
I'm so glad you convinced me to watch Kongi's Harvest, this was already one of my favorite albums and now I enjoy it even more, understanding all the context, especially for Haarlem. Love the reviews!
I know you've heard it plenty but "Hiding Places" is so so worth the listen, it's also under a single producer (Kenny Segal who you may know from the group who produced that first R.A.P. Ferreira record)
I really hope Billy keeps up the pattern of using single producers, even though I enjoy "History Will Absolve Me", "Hiding Places" and "Aethiopes" each having a single producer really helps Billy build such a strong and distinct atmosphere that makes the albums work as much as a whole piece rather than just collections of tracks.
Billy's work demands such a uniquely ominous and surreal atmosphere it's so interesting to see these producers interpret how to bring that vibe to life for a whole record.
People sleep on r.a.p. Fierra to his last two albums have been great to. Especially purple moonlight pages.
My father is a researcher/professor, even has a doctorate, but only my youngest sister seems to be following his prime. Me and my other sister chose to drop out and work blue collar and customer service jobs. Believe me when I say that it wasn't easy for our dad to accept that, which made it difficult for us to follow our path guiltfree
Nice video dude! You're absolutely right about taking ArtHistory!
Bet you didn't know about the billy woods bladee pipeline.
Protoevangelium seems to be about billy woods view on some people saying anything is black empowerment and also a critique on a lot of newer rappers, the 2nd verse however is a direct correlation to the song “parables” off of ‘Armand Hammer- Shrines’, but woods changes it to how when he died he got 3 wishes, and recounted on 3 times he wished for something and he got the wish he desired in his past I THINK
another bob marley reference with “who the cap fit / want more” as well
@@gregorytylerdavis that’s dope especially since it’s the Shinehead track
I interpreted the end of Woods’ verse on Sauavge as a statement about how they’re are geniuses and extraordinary Central American people/immigrants lives being completely wasted because of their original geographic location, race, and class dooming them to play the role of the cheap labor force no matter their abilites. Despite being these super, extraordinary people this does not allow them to overcome the socio economic barriers of global capitalism. They end up having immigrated over in search of the American Dream only to end up building “prefab duplexes” getting paid pennies and they themselves will never to be able to purchase a home like this. He then compares the explotation of this immigrant labor pool to human trafficking and the prison system (“Dept of Corrections”) in the U.S. and how they too use their prisoners as a cheap form of labor. Also, a lot of human trafficking occurs with Central Americans trying to immigrate to the U.S. and their “coyotes” kidnapping and selling them or gangs exploiting their vulnerability.
Thank you for providing tuition free courses!
Found this album through my professor who assigned listening to the whole thing on the first week last semester. Loved this video very insightful
Let's gooo, was hoping you'd review this album
Professor, now that some time has passed I think it would be an AWESOME time for a retrospective review/analysis of “Protoevangelium”. You skipped over it in the review and truly I would LOVE to hear your take on the second verse- which really fit the theme and concept of the album a lot more than you gave credit for in this review. Totally understandable since woods raps so fast and fervent on it it’s easy to miss the message on first listen. But MAN that is a SONG.
I found this channel for the Bladee reviews and holy shit, never imagined to watch an aethiopes review. Such a killer record, prolly one of the best records of the decade
The fuzz focus in the background is just fine prof
Amazing work as always! You should also check Sadistik x Kno - Bring Me Back When The World Is Cured. Sadistik is definitely top 5 lyricist ever in my opinion.
it's definitely the best rap album of the year so far. thanks for the deep dive, i'm lookin forward to listening again with the additional historical and cultural context.
his LP with Moor Mother is super great, folks are right.
Been waiting for this review! Thanks professor
Haven't heard this one yet, but really interested. My favorite Billy Woods records are Hiding Places and Brass, both worth a listen.
Aethiopes is like the two mixed together
@@felixcarter836 yes, similar sounds, listened this yesterday after watching this. Hopefully can get this on vinyl at some point.
Wtf i spent the whole day listening to this album for the first time and I HAD TO search up so much of this album to not let this all go over my head… even then this album is so dense that it’ll take MONTHS to feel like I can kinda grasp most of what Billy is conveying and all the inner workings of these bars
Skye: (IF) you decide to review Ka and billy woods catalogue, I am convinced they'll be your favourite Emcee's. Literally 1. & 2. In my humble opinion as a writer and Emcee myself. They have the two best pens Hip Hop has EVER seen!
Coming back 10 months after my initial watch, and "Oops, he did a slavery" is still such a funny bar. I would buy that in mug form
AVAA professor! I've been trying to get my mom to become a billy woods/Armand Hammer fan since she loves abstract hip hop, and for sure aligns with him politically in many ways.
Preservation did a great album with Ka. It's called Days With Dr. Yen Lo.
Such a great album.
Thank you so much for this analysis Professor. I would love to delve deeper into lyrics like you do but it takes so much research. I really respect what you do and this video has made me love this album and want to explore its themes even more!
Professor I am incredibly grateful for this review. The first listen of Aethiopes was incredibly frustrating because I knew this album had such great reception and was incredibly dense but I couldn’t gather much meaning from the tracks.
Your track by track breakdown has help to uncover an album that provides an incredibly needed and accessible social commentary of the exploitation and commodification of dark-skinned men as a means of economic and social gain for the fair-skinned. I’m excited to continually listen to this album and gain more meaning from it through every listen.
God I love this channel
Talib kweli's mom was an English professor too. His lyricism is amazing, you should check him out
I am Zimbabwean and I love Billy Woods
10:31 that pause was really important to let people realize the word you said, thats cool
Please do another billy woods album the depth and knowledge you give is very interesting for someone who just listens to the album and enjoys it for what it is
Loved this video!! Just a heads up - he doesn't really like being refered to as billy especially in interviews he generally prefers being refered to as woods (just in case you end up interviewing him or something). Keep up the amazing work and I still have that pray for hati record if you want it!
Thanks for the note, I really appreciate it. And dang, how did I miss that great offer. (In case anyone feels like I don't respond because I think I'm too cool for school, please note that my message blindness can sometimes apply to things I really want! :) )
@@professorskye no worries! I've dm'd you on Instagram about it :)
i love how passionate you are about music
What a phenomenal review. Thanks Professor!
Deepest review, I've ever seen! GJ and thank you for it!
I’ve been waiting for this one 🔥🔥🔥
THANK YOU! really great insight, and good awareness of yourself. always in for woods, and will second other people's recommendations for his Hiding Places record, but I will also throw in there that you should check out Ka. You desperately need to check out Ka, and I know you hear that about a lot of artists, so do what you will. Specifically I recommend Orpheus vs. The Sirens, Honor Killed the Samurai, and Descendants of Cain.
all love, x.
AMAZING review. Thank you for all your work on it. Was really excited to hear your take on it.
A few small thoughts- 1. On “Christine”, I definitely think Mike Ladd is also shouting out Skippy Whites (record shop) on that line. 2. I loved the “pillars of salt” ref to Lot’s wife on “Remorseless” 3. billy woods has an earlier song “Gilgamesh” and the video plays out a hotel scene where he “towels the door”, I feel like that entire episode has stuck with him through his discography, with various mentions of this rendezvous on a number of levels. Thanks for your analysis. Excellent!
This review turned me into a modern African history nerd. Been reading about Ethiopia and Zimbabwe non stop for weeks now
Absolutely brilliant album. Thanks for the hard work put into this.
I just wanted to thank you for trying to break down what Billy is doing with this album. You should come out to the shows!
Brilliant review Professor, had been waiting on this one
Very late, but Talib Kweli's mother is Brenda M Greene, an English professor. There are also a lot of American rappers of recent African descent: Tyler, Aminé, Earl, Sheck Wes, Wale, and Nipsey Hussle off the top of my head.
26 minutes in and i forgot about Kongi’s Harvest when i was choosing a movie to watch tonight! Definitely gonna watch it as soon as possible.
Aethiopes is already one of my favorite albums ever and im so happy to see a video this in depth about it! First time watching your channel and i really love how educated (duh i guess, a professor) you are, such as speaking about how bad the word exotic is. Gonna continue this video tomorrow since its 3am
Update: i loved this video and watched until the end. I learned a lot from the video just like from the album
Such a great review, thanks so much for all your hard work as always. You never to deliver incredible vids
Great Review, really opened my eyes to some stuff, especially the Mike Ladd bar. Incredible. But I will say, 5 African films in your whole life is TOO low. I'll recommend one that I thought was fantastic and is quite similar to the themes revolving around this album and also the context/perspective that surrounds billy woods when approaching this album. It's called ' I Am Not a Witch'. Really great film, let me know what you think.
Thank you for this informative review. Billy Woods is new to my musical radar. Man, have I missed out. When you spoke of Mike Ladd it took me back to his Welcome to the Afterfuture album and his Infesticons/Mejesticons era. I would definitely recommend taking a listen whenever you get a chance. Now, on to watch Kongi’s Harvest.
A video on Billy Woods -Hiding Places would be really entertaining for both of us. I feel like you'd very easily get lost in the story telling on that album as well.
When he talked about researching decolonization of Zimbabwe being more interesting, than any game I'd have plans to play in my spare time, I audibly said out loud: ''He probably doesn't know how good Elden Ring is''.
5 Seconds later: ''It's better than Elden Souls or whatever the hell it's called'' 😳😳😳
Daniel Lopatin's mother was actually a *music* teacher, if you can believe it. All four are some of my favorite artists. That's why "RIP Tracy" is one of the best songs.
Really beautiful think piece, thank you skye, U gave us plenty of homework 📚 🙏🏾
Stop loss could be another Wall Street/stock reference too I think? It’s a setting where you can force a stock to sell once it falls below a price/threshold, preventing it to completely tank.
This album was beautiful and you've convinced me to watch the movie.
Thank you for everything you've done professor Skye
& woods of course
Great video as usual, you kinda made my head spin so I'll probably re-watch in a week or so
I wish there was a way to like triple like a video on youtube for special occasions and you have a limited number of triple likes or something idk. I wish there was some way to express how amazing this video is without me having to write this comment because I don't like having to word my thoughts but just wow. This video is amazing thank you for making it, I loved every second of it.
usually i'm not trying to stick around for a video this long, but this is probably my favorite review that you've done! very informative and engaging and i always appreciate your perspective! you should teach an online class, i would definitely enroll
Great review and analyses. Thanks for doing all the legwork for us! But let’s not have academia write the book on Woods.
I would love to attend one of your classes one day. Your lecturing style is wonderful and you’re also a fellow WNY resident! Fantastic video
That Mike Ladd line analysis is very compelling
Regardless of where you came from, its not at all racist for you to be aware of your lineage along with its history. However taking pride in the certain acts and practices that your ancestors were a part of can be a different story. Knowledge is power, peace.
Excellent and educational. Thank you sir for this analysis