Audiopile Review: After a string of collaborative albums crafted alongside a sole producer—Maps with Kenny Segal, Church with Messiah Musik on the boards, and the Preservation-helmed Aethiopes—billy woods calls on what feels like the whole Backwoodz crew to mount one of the most impressively dense and masterful rap records of the 21st century. As erudite, referential and acerbic as ever, woods’ stacked poetry and linguistic prowess is especially fiery and lacerating throughout GOLLIWOG, the acid-tongued delivery hitting harder compared to the relaxed feel of Maps. Presenting a red-stringed board of Haitian folklore and African horror legends, woods feverishly juxtaposes mythologies against scenes pulled from the frontlines of late stage capitalism at home and the slow-motion nightmare of American exceptionalism shipped abroad. While there have been fair comparisons to horrorcore as a foundational element of GOLLIWOG, long-time listeners are already well familiar with the bleak afro-pessimism that’s been integral to woods’ craft, running like an electric current through albums like Terror Management, Hiding Places, Brass or even Armand Hammer’s Rome. But unlike most of horrorcore, woods isn’t interested in lame shock tactics, instead, his words sketch an unnerving collage of modern colonialism, never-ending war, systemic racism, and evil landlords (aren’t they all?), knowing full well that unvarnished reality will always be more terrifying. As woods’ stature has grown, so does his pull for in-demand producers. The lineup is a shockingly impressive cast of the who’s who of underground hip-hop production, including The Alchemist, Conductor Williams, EL-P and Ant, not to mention in-house producers Kenny Segal, Steel Tipped Dove and Preservation stepping up with some of the most esoteric and inventive beats we’ve heard from the Backwoodz mainstays. Despite the wide swathe of producers, each still coming with their own signature styles, the beat selection is a web of dark psychedelia and stark soundtracking, woods’ zig-zaging across smeared VHS horror scores, glitched noir-jazz, woozy sampledelia, and sandblasted industrial pummel. If you happened to have just gotten on board with woods via his breakthrough Maps, GOLLIWOG might seem daunting, but don’t let that dissuade you from engaging with its dark puzzles. And for long-time fans, well, this is another 10/10 from one of the most brilliant minds in hip-hop.

***

GOLLIWOG is billy woods’ first album in two years, preceded by 2023’s Maps, his second collaboration with producer Kenny Segal. That nimble travelogue has little in common with woods’ newest work, despite the fact that Segal shows up a couple times in the credits. GOLLIWOG is a haunting collection that weaves horror, humor, surrealism and Afropessimism into a cinematic tapestry, aided and abetted by a murderer’s row of producers. African zombies, time traveling trap cars, malevolent ragdolls and a dying Frantz Fanon are just a few of the revelers in woods’ danse macabre.

GOLLIWOG features production from The Alchemist, Kenny Segal, EL-P, Conductor Williams, Preservation, Messiah Musik, Sadhugold, Ant (Atmosphere), Shabaka Hutchings, Steel Tipped Dove, DJ Haram, Willie Green, Jeff Markey, Saint Abdullah, and LA-based experimental jazz trio Human Error Club. Meanwhile, woods is joined on the mic by Backwoodz labelmates ELUCID and Cavalier, along with rappers Bruiser Wolf, Despot, Al.Divino, and singer-songwriter Yolanda Watson.

GOLLIWOG is another triumph in the woods oeuvre, as layered and compelling as anything he has ever done. A black carnival pitched in a muddy field overnight, empty rides whirring and clattering in the dar