billy woods & Kenny Segal - Maps
Hip Hop – Released May 5, 2023 – 17 songs, 44 mins
LUNDI
December was filled with endless lists of top songs and best albums from every publication under the sun and well, they got me, because I’m pretty sure I read them all. While I admire the extent of quality being produced year over year, I walked away mostly just feeling proud of TSR. Despite three of us working full time jobs and running this blog as a hobby, we really only missed one album of notable, across the board praise. That acclaim belongs to Billy Woods and Kenny Segal with their hip-hop record Maps. Before we dive into 2024 let’s give the album its due.
To critically break this album down is a challenge. While I have no problem with dissolving the technical merits of a record, it’s near impossible to say there’s no outside influence from seeing Maps top lists from respected publications. And if I did break this album down, I’d end up just rehashing what’s already on the internet because, whether external forces are at work or not, I find myself agreeing with nearly everything that came before. It’s a damn good album. That’s undeniable. So instead of copycatting the many critics that did this album justice already, I’d like to take this time to point out two qualities that personally make this one of the best rap albums I’ve heard in the last five years.
It is no secret that we here at TSR are very critical of the direction rap has taken. The current state of the genre is 90% trash. Mumbled, auto-tuned trash. But Billy Woods and Kenny Segal offer a record that feels much more an extension on the greatness that is 90’s/00’s rap than fitting in with the majority of artists that fill the hip-hop charts today. For that I am grateful. The beats are classy but fresh, and the flow is crisp. The overall clarity and understanding of the album sets it apart for me personally. Maybe the masses want to tune out the world and just need a good hook and a loud beat, but a shiny cover does little for me. I want to know all the inner workings and Maps pulls back the curtain to display a plentitude of nuances, relatable references, and sophistication to enjoy.
While Kenny Segal’s beats grab your attention from the get go, the lyrical display by Billy Woods is easily the best quality of this album. Pop culture is my bag and Maps has references in spades. Good Will Hunting, Anthony Bourdain, Deion Sanders to name a few. Rap hasn’t produced lyrics this well integrated with pop culture since Kanye was rapping about Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow. I want to relate to my music in some shape or form and Maps is the rare recent rap album able to do so. Each listen finds new, intriguing bars to dissect and enjoy. The wordplay is cheeky and fun, yet sharp and smart. Where so many rap albums leave me annoyed on first listen, Kenny and Billy have me hitting repeat. I can’t think of better personal praise than that.
Billy Woods and Kenny Segal’s Maps takes me back to the days when I enjoyed the hip-hop genre. It won’t replace any of the classics in my Spotify rotation but it’s a breath of fresh air in a genre that desperately needs a new direction.
Overall Rating: 8.2/10
Favourite Song: Soft Landing
ROZ
3, 2, 1 – and we’re back. I hope you missed us because we certainly missed you. The TSR crew has made it through 2023 and are just about ready to set their sights on 2024 for good — but first we have some unfinished business. This week’s review is the 2023 critical darling Maps by billy woods and Kenny Segal, one that generated a lot of buzz during year end and also one that we missed. A hip-hop album that serves as a personal diary for woods as he travels around the world performing his art, Maps ends up being not only that but much, much more.
“I take care of these words, Munchausen by proxy”, woods proclaims on Babylon by Bus. This is one rhyme out of a vast number of high-quality rhymes across the entirety of Maps, yet its brevity is what leads me to using it as the best example of billy woods’ skills as a wordsmith. If you don’t know what the term ‘Munchausen by proxy’ means, well, it’s very dark. To use it to basically say “my rapping is very good” seems almost impossible to imagine, but yet woods brings us there. Throughout the entirety of Maps, woods continues to weave a web of near-poetic phrases that combine self-reflection, humor, politics, and even history, going back as far as World War 2 to reference prominent historical figures such as Lenin and Stalin. The rhyming strategy and structure feels leagues above anything I have heard in a very long time, with Rapper Weed being the prime example of his artistic superpowers — some sort of ultra-coherent tongue twister gently placed over the tip-tapping of a drum groove and a whimsical piano riff. This is some high level stuff.
From a production standpoint, Kenny Segal, to me, is creating some of the most interesting beats in modern hip-hop. Throughout my listening experience I took the time to comb through the internet in order to see his workflow in action — not even for TSR, just for my own pure curiosity. The man is an absolute wizard, using innovative techniques that go well above and beyond what many in his class do or are capable of. This is a producer who will record on his piano, slice out only the residual echoes and delays, then use those sound to craft his chords and melodies. These kinds of techniques are not regularly used in hip-hop – hell a lot of these techniques aren’t used in any genres. It is apparent that his deep roots in multiple music scenes throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s have shaped his palette into a unique combination of styles and tastes, and the hip-hop scene is all the better for it. It’s fresh, it’s different, and combined with his chemistry with woods it elevates the album to a very high level.
From beginning to end, Maps barely falters. Segal throws everything but the kitchen sink and woods knocks each new track out of the park, one after the other, with ease. From the controlled chaotic jazz stylings of Blue Smoke to the ominous Aphex Twin samples used on Hangman, the boys rarely miss. In fact, the only criticism I have of this album is its ambitious 17 song scope that seems to slightly peter out near the end. That, and maybe taking off a feature or two – I’m looking at you, ShrapKnel. You sound just a little too much like Tyler, the Creator for me to not feel as though you’re just doing a Tyler impression. Otherwise I rarely broke out of the immersion that Maps set up so nicely for me, proving that the year end buzz has been very much warranted.
A mesmerizing mixture of innovative off-kilter production and clever wordplay. billy woods is a diamond in the rough on the current scene, with this effort showcasing the seemingly unlimited wit, substance, and chemistry that the duo on Maps provides.
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Favourite Song: Hangman
REID
Happy New Year to the dedicated followers of Too Sweet Reviews. After a focus on the best of 2023 content and a refreshing break from the writing grind, we begin the new year with one we missed. Maps by billy woods and Kenny Segal was released in May to universal acclaim. The New York rapper and LA producer/DJ elevated their game to new heights, appearing consistently on year end lists from music critics. With a relatively slow January, the boys and I decided to give this one a shot to get the juices flowing for 2024.
As a first-time listener of billy woods, the thing that really stood out to me is his unique style. TSR has several rap/hip hop album reviews under our belt but nothing quite like this. billy’s vocabulary and writing ability is on another level. I quickly realized a detailed review would require following the lyrics line by line to truly consume the concepts. Doing so left me even more impressed and at times, confused. I punched several listens prior to educating myself on billy’s background and one of my early notes reads ‘this guy is either cultured as f*ck or is consistently using a rozthesaurus’. While I still won’t rule out the latter, the former assumption was correct as billy’s parents are from Jamaica and Zimbabwe. With that background and a life in music, it’s fitting he and Segal crafted an album based on their travelling adventures. Here’s some of the memorable lines to give a taste of the creativity.
‘Fly like gold on Africans. Cover my tracks on backronyms. If the tracks slaps, in the back, you can almost hear the black cackling. When it’s my time, no need to pass the hat, just throw me in when the fire good and crackling.’ (Rapper Weed)
‘Before Nowitzki’s blonde phase, mic hand caught a callus. Dallas overseas kick with Detlef was a Maverick’ and ‘Muchhausen by proxy, somehow beat the tox screen.’ (Babylon by Bus). Shout out to the Better Call Saul reference in there as well.
Danny Brown’s voice is interesting… to say the least. I’ve seen heaps of praise on his own 2023 album. Shout outs to movies Good Will Hunting and Cool Runnings along with Kanye’s Can’t Tell Me Nothin’ and the broken ice cream machine and a twenty pack McNuggets in less than two minutes is too good to ignore.
I’ll wrap it up with this one from Soundcheck - ‘Every victory pyrrhic, every live show forget the lyric.’ Webster’s dictionary defines a pyrrhic victory as ‘a victory not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it.’ This record is so damn insightful and dripping with introspection. Furthermore, you must be a genius to remember all these rhymes.
Kenny Segal is another first for me on Maps. The veteran musician lays the musical foundation for billy’s meandering thoughts, boasting a toolkit with variety. The constant is heavy bass and pacing percussion. From there he mixes it up with tasteful, chic soundscapes with range. Highlights include the touches of jazz and piano-led tunes.
All that praise doesn’t come without a blemish. Despite the compelling instrumental mix from Segal, billy’s flow seems to stay the same and I don’t see this as a ‘sum of its parts’ scenario. Oftentimes there’s a disconnect between the two and while it may be his style, there’s an expectation for the rapper to make it jive. To hit the beats with those syllables. While this could be viewed as a subjective thought, I feel the same rap style over forty-four-minutes makes it feel longer and takes away from the overall listening experience.
Maps is not any old rap album and billy woods’ style is certainly an acquired taste. Sift through the layers of this record to uncover his off-the-charts ingenuity. Backed by the production of Segal, the hype is well deserved.
Overall Rating: 7.8/10
Favourite Song: Waiting Around