Lav's Music Corner

Review by Lavender: billy woods is simultaneously one of the most prolific and most acclaimed voices in the rap underground. Releasing multiple projects a year, pretty much every year, with a variety of collaborators, he seemingly never runs out of clever turns of phrase and stories to tell. While his talent is obvious, I've often expressed my issues with his prolific output, which often creates multiple solid records when one great record could have easily sufficed. That's not the case with GOLLIWOG , an album whose conceptual ambitions and frequent highlights feel like they come from another world than even some of the more acclaimed billy projects in recent years. It's why I can recommend the record full stop, even to those who haven't been as in love with billy woods as some critics, as I think it's his best album of this decade so far.  I went into GOLLIWOG already more excited than I would be for any old billy woods record. Much of that was because of the lea...

As we round the corner towards the end of the year it's time to start catching up on records that I didn't get a chance to review earlier before it's time to write my end of year lists. In this first set of more concise reviews we will cover a collection of hip hop records from 2020 by artists who made noise in their respective niches. Shrines - Armand Hammer On the newest collaboration from rapper Billy Woods and producer Elucid you really know what you're in for. The beats here work with a jazz rap fundamental but consistently push it into other worlds crafting some harsher and more abstract beats across the album than you may typically hear on a conscious rap project of the like. Billy Woods intoxicating and confrontational voice adds grit to some of the more narrative driven or politically charged moments on the album and guests like R.A.P Ferreira and Earl Sweatshirt make notable appearances. The only major problem I have with the record is Billy's constant sl...