Billy Woods: History Will Absolve Me

I keep going back to this album. I don't know what to say about it. If you're down, you already know you are. If you already weren't, you're probably still not.

Yep, this is excellent. I still give Gift of Gab the slight edge for AOTY running right now, but I could see this album taking the spot in the future.

Best tracks:

The Wake
Blue Dream
Body of Work
The Man Who Would Be King
A Mis Enemigos (High Tide)
Bill Cosby
Duck Hunt
Human Resources

still havernt heard this but just based on snippets its one of the albums i refuse to listen to until I buy it, which will happen soon

Parker I see why you are really feeling this. He has a Killah Priest/MF Grimm vibe going. I can dig some of those trks.

The Wake is the best track this year. Possibly the last few years, but definitely this year.

Honest to Bob, I consider myself a pretty open-minded dude but I just spun this on Spotify and I just don't understand how anybody can be into this kind of music. The majority of it hardly even resembles music. It sounds like someone expanded the Beatles' Revolution 9 or the 2nd half of The Roots' The Water into a whole album. The lyrics and subject matter were dope but the flow must be an acquired taste and I would bet that it would sound much better over Wu-type production. I didn't hate all of it, I did actually enjoy exactly four songs (in order of preference): Duck Hunt, The Wake, Body of Work, and Human Resources. The rest of it is just not for me. I don't even understand what frame of mind you have to be in to enjoy these types of beats. It sounds like the soundtrack to a bad acid trip.

Parker, Trotter, and Half...can you explain what it is that you guys find appealing? I know people just like what they like but this one is puzzling to me.

Billy Woods as an artist, a musical artist. If youre not fimiliar with the Backwoodz sound you might not get it. Ive been a fan of the movement for awhile. First you haveta pay attention to Billy's uncanny wordplay. Dude is clever--

I hate when niggaz talk about the good 'ol days when they still owe me money

This album here is heavy material, Billy Woodz ait compromising for nobody. But if you haven't gotten into the SuperChronFlightBros albums it will be hard for one to digest this one. In his rapgroup Billy is paired with Privilege--a rapper with a much softer vocal tone, and more swift wordplay. I actually like Privilege a tad bit more than Billy.

I suggest you checkout some SCFBros. http://backwoodzstudioz.com <----Theres 2 free SCFbros album available for download on their label

Wanduras wrote:

Honest to Bob, I consider myself a pretty open-minded dude but I just spun this on Spotify and I just don't understand how anybody can be into this kind of music. The majority of it hardly even resembles music. It sounds like someone expanded the Beatles' Revolution 9 or the 2nd half of The Roots' The Water into a whole album. The lyrics and subject matter were dope but the flow must be an acquired taste and I would bet that it would sound much better over Wu-type production. I didn't hate all of it, I did actually enjoy exactly four songs (in order of preference): Duck Hunt, The Wake, Body of Work, and Human Resources. The rest of it is just not for me. I don't even understand what frame of mind you have to be in to enjoy these types of beats. It sounds like the soundtrack to a bad acid trip.

Parker, Trotter, and Half...can you explain what it is that you guys find appealing? I know people just like what they like but this one is puzzling to me.

Well I guess it's hard to explain. I'm just curious though, when you say it "hardly resembles music" and sounds like "the Beatles' Revolution 9" are you just exaggerating to make a point or do you actually think that? I personally don't think this album is very challenging in any way. Sure, some of the beats are strange, but at the end of the day they still resemble hip hop pretty closely. Billy Woods is not that challenging of an MC either, but that's my opinion once again. I'm actually really surprised that you find this album so hard to listen to. I'm not saying you have to like it, and it's cool that you actually discussed the music, which rarely happens on here. I'm just surprised is all.

I guess for me it's just Billy's unique voice and flow, his interesting use of metaphors and pop culture references, and of course I enjoy the beats he raps over. I guess I might find them easier to digest because I listen to genres like electronic, post-rock/punk, jazz etc. It must just be "different strokes for different folks" I guess. But props for actually listening to it and giving your opinion on it, as opposed to not listening to it "by default".

@Trotter, I feel kinda dumb that I didn't know this dude was from Super Chron. Not that I'm a huge fan of that group but I was thinking that he sounded a little familiar. I spun a couple of their albums a while back when I started seeing them mentioned on here. I tried out Indonesia first cuz Cape Verde hadn't come out yet (people were anticipating it) and it was alright. But then I remember someone had posted the video for B More and that got me into Cape Verde, which I liked a lot more. Both were much easier to listen to than HWAM, IMO, while still a little weird by conventional standards.

@Half, I was def exaggerating just to make a point, with the point being that most of the beats sounded like noise more than music to me. It just doesn't sound pleasing to my ears. It makes sense that you like it if you're into those other genres you mentioned. Except for some older Jazz, I don't really fuck with any of those.

Overall, as I said in my original review, the spittin was on point, I just couldn't get into the beats and the flow didn't sound good on them, IMO. And I'm not the type of person that can ignore the beats in favor of dope rapping. It's the same reason I don't listen to a lot of other rappers that are considered excellent lyricists. It might sound ignorant to you guys but the shit has to "sound good" to me.

Wanduras wrote:

@Trotter, I feel kinda dumb that I didn't know this dude was from Super Chron. Not that I'm a huge fan of that group but I was thinking that he sounded a little familiar. I spun a couple of their albums a while back when I started seeing them mentioned on here. I tried out Indonesia first cuz Cape Verde hadn't come out yet (people were anticipating it) and it was alright. But then I remember someone had posted the video for B More and that got me into Cape Verde, which I liked a lot more. Both were much easier to listen to than HWAM, IMO, while still a little weird by conventional standards.

@Half, I was def exaggerating just to make a point, with the point being that most of the beats sounded like noise more than music to me. It just doesn't sound pleasing to my ears. It makes sense that you like it if you're into those other genres you mentioned. Except for some older Jazz, I don't really fuck with any of those.

Overall, as I said in my original review, the spittin was on point, I just couldn't get into the beats and the flow didn't sound good on them, IMO. And I'm not the type of person that can ignore the beats in favor of dope rapping. It's the same reason I don't listen to a lot of other rappers that are considered excellent lyricists. It might sound ignorant to you guys but the shit has to "sound good" to me.

I totally agree about the "sound good" thing. I used to give beats more precedence than the work of the MC when evaluating hip hop albums, but now I evaluate based on a 50/50 split. I guess I just like different types of beats. This convo is eerily reminiscent of the Darkest Cloud/Monster discussion.

I don't think I necessarily evaluate albums on the same split every time. In this case with Billy Woods, the beats are just way too out there for me to be able to enjoy the lyrics/flow. However, in the case of guys like DOOM, while I do enjoy his production, his spittin def carries more weight with me. Even on songs where the beat is subpar, he can carry the song for me. On the other end of that argument, there is prob waaay more cats that have dope production that keeps me interested. And sometimes it's a combination where the right type of beat finds the perfect flow and it all "sounds really good". I recently mentioned in the Recent Spins thread that I bumped a couple Sir Michael Rocks mixtapes. That dude is average at best on the mic, but his flow is perfect for his production and the final product ends up being dope to me.

A lot of times I just like hearing something that I've never heard before. The tracks Woods chose for this album, just like lots of Backwoodz's music, are some of the most original and creative sounds in hip-hop right now.

Add that to the fact that he's rhyming on subjects that I tend to research on my own. I don't think anyone else is really tackling Global Economics on the level Billy is. No emcee, that is.

I also think he brings a different approach toward racism and popular media as propaganda tool.

I definitely feel he represents my point of view on at least a few matters.

But don't get me wrong, just like Cape Verde, Emergency Powers, Bloodlust 1&2, Indonesia, I listen to this album pretty much in amazement at the production.

I meant Guilty Party and Bloodlust 2. Never heard Bloodlust 1.

I would say Billy's Camouflage album is better than this

Dang! Trotter wrote:

I would say Billy's Camouflage album is better than this

Eh, maybe. Barely. Bond's production on that is quite creative at times, which I can respect but it also results in some weak beats. Also Vordul Mega pretty much made Lil B's career irrelevant with his contributions to the album. You know, that "I can't tell if this guy wrote this shit or is going off the dome" style? Vordul Mega was rockin' that on almost every track he spit on, which for Vordul is sometimes a compliment because you know he had skill before. Lil B on the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote most of his shit (not a compliment).

I always thought Kool Keith came up with that LIL B style first. That album MATHEW seems like it was all off the top of his dome