I suggest you look into Billy Woods' background and his past work. His mother was an American university professor while his father was a Zimbabwean Marxist. He grew up in Zimbabwe so this African Marxist lens colors most of his music. It's most prolific in his previous album History Will Absolve Me. And it's funny how you picked up on the ocean theme, in Armand Hammer's album from 4 years ago named Rome, being lost in an ocean was also a recurring theme. You should check that album out too.

I think it is crucial to point out that the reason AI was so blatant about repeatedly saying "So we're talking about practice?" in reference to him missing it, is the reason he missed the practice. His best friend was shot and killed months before, and he was having a hard time coping with that as anyone would. The media expected him to keep up appearances and he refused. He still showed up to games but would miss practice due to literal grief and he was so exhausted by the constant badgering of the media that he went on the rant about practice. It is a simple reference but it is more than just AI saying "practice" for 5 minutes straight as it also serves as a commentary on how people of colour are often forced to just keep things moving when they deal with tragedy.. how the rest of the Western world just expects them to keep entertaining them no matter what.. even if it's just "practice". So when they reference a man so exhausted that he challenges that system directly.. it is more than just a small basketball reference.

Woods' lyrics tickle at my intellect, hovering beneath the surface of my mind, but occasionally breaking through in moments where I understand vividly exactly what he means. But Elucid always swims in the depths. I can see his distorted figure beneath surface but I can never fully make it out; I only know that I am entranced.

You should probably review Ka's music too, one the best lyricists of the underground, less abstract than Armand Hammer but more hard hitting and refined to me

To answer your questions, yes billy woods is always this good. And no he's not in grad school, he's the professor. All of his work is amazing, but Hiding Places and History Will Absolve Me are excellent entry points

I already heard a few new Armand Hammer listeners citing the difficult of differentiating billy woods from ELUCID, and I also dealt with this. But today I think they have so distinctive voices and flow, that I can't believe I had difficult separating them some day.

Finally billy woods gets a review from you. Listen to his project with moor mother that came out 3 months ago. It’s amazing. It’s called BRASS

Billy woods is def one of the absolute greats. He’s been making albums since the early 2000’s and is constantly delivering top tier music. He’s helped guys like aesop rock and El-p with production and verses, and well as having many side projects along with this one. He released an album with moor mother a few weeks ago that is absolutely banging, you should check it out!

glad you finally got to billy woods & ELUCID (quick note: his name is pronounced more like a mix of elusive and lucid, if that makes sense) and even more glad you liked this album so much. hope you check out some of their earlier work and especially billy's solo music, it's all about as good and definitely just as deep. also thought I'd mention billy's mother is an English literature teacher and his father was a Zimbabwean marxist activist, so you can pretty clearly see where a lot of the influence on his writing comes from. really fascinating rapper! if you want more Armand Hammer stuff, I'd recommend Shrines (almost a companion piece to this album in some ways) and Paraffin, but all of their work is worth a listen. if you want to get into billy woods' solo stuff, make sure to check out Hiding Places (produced by Kenny Segal) and History Will Absolve Me, I'd say those are his best albums.

I appreciate someone taking a dive in an Armand Hammer project. Haram is my favorite album so far this year. I’ve had it on repeat since it released. Armand Hammer has a pretty good discography too. They’re truly one of the few who makes timeless music. It’s crazy how you can revisit an album of theirs (recent or years past) and find something or noticed references you haven’t caught before. No one does it like billy and ELUCID. I’d recommend all their albums pretty much. My personal favorite album theirs is Paraffin. I have two more recommendations if you’re interested. One is “Orpheus and the Sirens”, by Hermit and the Recluse and the second is “To Pimp a Butterfly”, by Kendrick Lamar. Both albums are classics in my humble opinion.

Can we get a throwback review to Ka - The Honor Killed the Samurai

Woods is amazing. But don't sleep on Elucid, his last project with the Lasso is also great, same goes for Save Yourself and Valley of Grace. You might also like his group Nostrum Grocers, with Rap Ferreira, since you liked bob's son so much. The rest of Armand Hammer's catalog is just as good as Haram, so just dive in. These two have been very consistent. As for solo Woods project, somebody already mentioned it, but the album with Moor Mother is a treat, I'd also recommend Dour Candy and Terror Management, for a change of pace in the type of production you usually hear him on. I don't know if he "went to grad school", Wikipedia only mentions him briefly studying at university before fully investing himself in hip hop. It's very possible that he may be independently researching and forming his own opinion on these matters. He's mentioned being a lifelong learner of history a few times in interviews.

Billy woods hasnt missed since 2012 I highly recommend all of his discog. Quelle chris and Earl Sweatshirt also have good discogs, if you're liking abstract hiphop there's so many great artists to check out, they are just very under the mainstream radar.

Incredible review. You should dig into the discography of Billy Woods . He’s had an amazing decade of work.

Definitely check out woods’ History Will Absolve Me record and Armand Hammer’s Paraffin. Two side notes, Elucid’s name is pronounced as elu-sid, woods is 43 and Elucid is 40

I fell in love with Armand Hammer the first time I heard Detol, a song from Paraffin, it's not that the preceding songs were not good, but Detol immediately catapulted itself into my greatest rap songs list because of how overwhelmingly beautiful it was. Billy Woods's verse on that had me in awe, it was one of the most brilliant and poetic verses I'd ever heard. Recently I had a realisation, two Armand Hammer albums from the release of Paraffin, it came to me that while I do get some of their bars, I don't understand an overwhelming amount of their content. I began to wonder why. Are they so poetic that it will take time to decode their use of words, or are they just using references I can't get. Watching your video has answered that question. I would have to do a lot of reading to be in a position to decipher how they word their messages. As my knowledge grows, I'm sure I'll understand more of what they say. Thanks for the analysis, it's sure to be a guiding light.

You saying "I don't know what he means by it but I understand it" sums up billy woods perfectly.

The rest of Billy Woods discography is this good. I'm pretty sure that last month's album Brass will blow your mind, as it did mine. Not sure if he's in Grad school or just well read. He is somewhat secretive about his identity; he blurs his face online.

This album is a legendary cross over between the best of rapping and the best of producing. So many layers to it intellectually and artistically. Which you helped clear up more. Thank you sir!

This album was absolutely fantastic. I haven’t been this mind blown by a new record like this in a long time. It’s teetering on the edge of a masterwork imo.

Man honestly idk how you can’t tell them apart but billy woods has the second amazing verse in stonefruit, and gods feet is billy woods singing I highly suggest reading the lyrics which have which rapper is rapping on them bc once you listen to billy woods solo stuff it’ll be very clear who’s rapping

so i do an absurdly long (14+ hour) drive twice a year and this album is playing. it's 5 am and the sun isn't up yet, but people are going to their blue collar jobs via the freeway, and billy woods' verse on stonefruit kicks in. now, a thing you can do with this album is you can let it play and kind of zone out just vibing to the production of it all, but my attention kicks back in and i wonder to myself "oh shit, is there something wrong with me? am i having an auditory hallucination right now?" due to the tonal whiplash his verse's lyrical content provides in its sort of psychedelic posthumous context. I start to panic a little, but the realization that i'm actually listening to a person's lyrics strung together and rapped out on a track kicks in and I get goosebumps. the kind of goosebumps that feel like it starts from your fingertips and freezes all the way to your very core and back out, in waves. anyway, cool stuff.

Definitely check out BRASS, the LP billy woods did with Moor mother. Entire histories are trapped in that thing.

you are epic at reviews. love your unique in depth perspective. you managed to have me listen to you for 45 mins.

thanks for reviewing a truly wide range of styles, nick cave to benny. check out hiding places by billy woods.

El-u-kid? It's Elucid as in Elucidate. E-loose-id. Cool review I enjoyed it and I love the album.

So good. I got really excited when you made the connection between the “kill the cop in your thoughts” line and the album cover, that’s something I realized before watching that made me really interested in this album and watching this review. I’m still trying to figure out how to listen to and understand E L U C I D’s rapping. I’ll definitely get there at some point given how much i hear him in woods’ work

Thank you again. Enjoyed each second.

Honestly, I love this type of breakdown and analyst. Now not only do I have an improved appreciation, but now I have book suggestions and homework (that I actually want to do!) Thanks Prof! Subscribed!

Dude your channel is growing. Congrats!

I find it interesting that you compare this album to the ocean because I immediately thought the same thing when listening to it. Billy Woods and Armand Hammer albums always a paint a unique setting for me. If you get the chance, I would recommend you check out Billy's album with the poet Moor Mother which truly sounds like being lost in the Catacombs and is a bit more varied production with some even more haunting and evil lyrics and imagery. Lyrics from Moor Mother like

How did I not know you reviewed this?! Of course the French professor reviews the record that references a book by my favorite philosopher, Guattari. Really great review as always!

This is amazing, all of billy's, elucid's and armand hammer's albums deserve your analysis, as does uncommon nasa's written at night and quelle chris' being you is great...

If you want to hear even more I really really strongly recommend you check out Billy’s song “The Man Who Would Be King”. He might be my favorite rapper ever and the writing on that song is just on another level entirely.

Love and appreciate this review and breakdown.

Thoughtful review! The vibrant storytelling is even stronger on Hiding Places, which was my AOTY

I listened to this album a while ago can’t remember anything from it but I love these reviews man it’s like your talking to me and I feel like your just being yourself

you really ought to have a bigger audience man. Your reviews are so intelligent and thought out (something that is desperately needed in yt music criticism right now)

If anyone is excited by this album as I am (this, along with BRASS and the king vision ultra/Armani album has reinvigorated my thirst for rap!), I have some further listening: Atoms Family, Supreme Being Unit, Bigg Jus, Rubberroom, the first Infections album, Omid's Beneath the Surface comp, Shape Shifters "planet of the shapes", araknophobix, Komadose, Antipop Consortium, Darkleaf "F the People", Savan DePaul "acid rain 2", Acid Reign, Sebutones

great video man, stonefruit actually contains verses from both ELUCID and woods. woods is the second verse.

Really loved the in-depth analysis.

If you don't already know, also check-out Busdriver(FR/BLCK/PR), Kill the Vultures, Dälek, Aesop Rock, Dessa, Shabazz Palaces and Clipping if you want more fine-arthouse rap. It's a terribly underrated genre, with so much more potential than most people will ever comprehend, and if you're like me, and those academic endeavors just fail to compute, a library card and a few playlists constructed by these artists' music can keep your gray matter consistently wriggling.

Thank you for the insight into this album, from the videos ive watched of yours, your always good at the lyric analysis. If you gave BRASS by Billy Woods and Moor Mother a chance, i think you would really enjoy it

thanks for the review!

man check these albums out! Deca - The Way Through Deca - Snakes and Birds Cambatta - Camballah Cambatta - Lunar Solar Duality Killah Priest - Rocket to Nebula and also these songs Cambatta - Battamedov Cambatta - Kovid 24

you should give billy woods hiding places a breakdown! so good, and kenny segal on the beats is amazing

You should do a break down of Armand Hammer- Rome. It’s eerie how the album came out in 2018 and they almost predicted the things that have happened in the past two years.

In Indian Summer the mowing grass theme is a metaphor for having to sell weed to survive for many minorities, just another layer to the whole verse.

Curly Castro’s album “Little Robert Hutton” is also a very good album from Backwoodz Studioz (billy woods’ label). Took me a couple listens to get into it but it has some similar themes and even has billy woods on a track.

If you want the money you spend on music to actually go to the artists, you should buy it from Bandcamp. In particular the 1st friday of every month. Thats when Bandcamp gives all profits to artists. Any merchandise that's sold, from shirts, casettes, cds, digital files, to LPs and whatever else. I always try to order some records on the first. It's really awesome for the artist to be fully compensated for what they create.

The best music review channel on youtube strikes again. Big ups to the professor!

“Alchemist samples saxophones the best in hip hop” ALC’s nice but u gotta check out August Fanon trust

A cool layer to Armand Hammer records is how they're very self-referential; woods' line "when you look back in history make sure I'm absolved," in addition to being an incredible line that ties in with what you discussed, references his breakout 2012 solo album "History Will Absolve Me." The more you listen to them, the more you'll pick up on these self-references, which are great. Wanted to point out too that on the last song "Stonefruit," Elucid sings the whole time, but woods actually raps that one verse-it's not all Elucid. That verse is absolutely incredible, was a little disappointed you didn't discuss it, with the Gothic imagery and how the song's kinda all about the fetishization of flesh and the inadequacies of the physical form. It's somewhat similar to his verses on "Red Dust," the last song on his album "Hiding Places," which is probably my favorite song and album by him. Make sure to check those out-absolutely mind-blowing work, as all his stuff is. Thanks for this review-I picked up on a lotta philosophy references on this album that otherwise would've gone way over my head.

Woods is one of the best writers to ever make rap music. His knowledge is so deep and it really shows in his music. His discography is extremely large and varied. He’s been rapping since 2003. Haram is amazing and it probably wouldn’t be in my top 5 woods projects. I’d definitely recommend his album Hiding Places, it got a lot of attention when it dropped in 2019. The best Armand Hammer album to me is Paraffin, it’s the perfect blend of abrasiveness and tranquility. Woods is amazing as always on that but I actually think Elucid stole the show. There’s so much to both their discographies it’s hard to sum up without hearing it

10:55 You can find tons of backward samples specially during the 2000 indie rap era. But the most obvious example would be "The Pharcydes - Drop" produced by Jay Dee, I suppose.

Professor, would love to hear a conversation between you & Billy woods!

When They Look Back in History make sure I'm absolved is also a callback to his 2012 album, which is my favorite by him. A Brilliant album which is a must listen!! Check it out you'll love it!

Guess what (kinda) uses the same hi hat technique as scaffolds… One of the biggest hip hop songs ever… shook ones pt2. Just a cool thing I picked up on. Great vid & keep up the great work!! Edit: not the beginning but comes later

checkout The Reavers - "Terror Firma" the first project Billy Woods released with his crew in 2005

1st Time Viewer - Love the Channel

Way back in 2013, when Armand Hammer debuted with Race Music (which holds up to this day, and I highly recommend), I also caught the baking soda reference, but I was also really thrown off by the old-fashioned name, Armand. It turns out that part is a reference to the old magnate of Occidental Petroleum, and so you've got themes of the international oil market being juxtaposed with themes of the international drug trade, and (due to Hammer's dealings in the former Soviet Union) a degree of capitalism vs. socialism in there as well. I also kinda feel like there's a way to read it as a typical rap-duo name, Arm & Hammer, with perhaps Woods representing Arm and Elucid representing Hammer, but they instead morph into a single entity because of the spelling. Maybe even playing on the use of 'hammer' as slang for a firearm. This is all to say that these guys can do more with a name and title than most writers can do with a novel. One other thing-- the lawn-mowing anecdote in Indian Summer has a double-entendre in every line. "I used to cut grass" could refer to certain parts of the harvesting and production of cannabis, "mowers overheating" becomes about drug-related gang violence, and "stinking of gas" refers to the so-called diesel smell. Woods has a way of referring to crime, and especially drug crime, in a way that weaves it into the experience of poverty rather than glorifying or vilifying it, and I've always found it totally unique in music.

Great break down brother

Hiding places one of my favorites. History will absolve me my favorite woods album

Re 36:56 It’s more likely that ‘off the pig’ means eating/taking the pig. Therefore, by internalizing this pig/cop, you fail to take real action and instead offer ‘figs’ (unhelpful platitudes). Chicharonnes is a good made with pork, and the song’s metaphor for internalized discipline/power dynamics.

Please please PLEASE dive into Hiding Places by Billy Woods if he clicks with you this heavy. I feel like you’d enjoy that one, and would love to hear your thoughts! Much love

There were a lot of backward sounds in the production of Kendrick's Damn which all played in to the theme.

34:09 that's a reference to Billy wood's album history will absolve me

review cambatta and sadistik. you will love them

Squeegee is my favorite track I’d like to hear your thoughts on it👍

Don't feel bad, I never heard of them. But this album I found gold. I went back and listened to their past albums and its amazing.

I dont think either mc went to college? Regardless, they just be in the streets and aware and their library card game is strong. I dint think there's anything academic about their music at all. If you look at the scope of hip hop over the years you'll see that knowledge reigns Supreme

how can you say that about inspectah deck? great review tho

If you like that Oceanic vibe, def gotta peep “The Water[s]” by Mick Jenkins

34:08 one of billys albums was called history will absolve me

Subscribed, you gotta check BRASS, collab album between woods and moor mother. The chicharrones "is you off the pigs" can also be interpreted as going vegan or vegetarian (haram) (chicharrones is a fried pork Latin American dish). Also off the pigs as in you recognize the injustice of the system in two ways, the human suffering enforced by the pigs, or the animal suffering enforced by our omnivorous diet, I think quelle is much more worried about the former and is making fun of woke people who care more about pigs than people

Radiohead - Daydreaming, uses backwards production to beautiful haunting effect

BIlly woods is fantastic. Also one of the main things that stuck out to me was specifically black caribbean immigrant culture it was everywhere on this album.

clever fellas ain’t they prof AVAA

Please review brass by moor mother and belly woods!

Hiding places by Billy woods

"hole in Indiana jones fedora" is also such a good pun - it also sounds like "for dora", another explorer

They're cut from a different cloth with the semi-gloss.......

Review some Mach-Hommy

Billy Woods is indeed college educated and my editor friend was actually bidding to publish a book he’s working on so look out for that if you want more billy woods but in longer and more articulate form

I'd argue that the opening line in Chicharrones about "but you got to kill the cop in your head, still saying pause" is a reference to Althusser's idea of repressive state apparatuses and ideological state apparatuses by utilizing rhe idea of cops with homophobic ideology and the interconnectedness of homophobia and capitalism as discussed in Gayle Rubin's The Traffic In Women

You should check out billy woods. mother moor . brass. it a Dope album......

You gotta check out Billy Woods Hiding Places album

i’m very interested to see how this relates to foucault

Woods really is a professor

1:31 Alchemist has said that he doesnt really like sleeping. He just breaths making music

The Stonefuit chorus is my favorite thing to sing during drunken shower sessions. My tiles provide great acoustics.

If you liked this you will certainly like everything else from billy woods and Armand Hammer. My personal favorite AH record is Paraffin, I'd love to see you review any of their previous work. Great video!

Holy hell, glad to see you review Armand Hammer, and one of my favorite albums to boot. I've been getting into Critical Theory a lot, not to the grad school extent sadly so my understanding is generally baseline, but i honestly missed quite a few of these references so having them pointed out only adds to the already massive impact of this album. The deeper i dive into Critical Theory, the more i appreciate Armand Hammer. These guys have this kind of consistency all throughout their discography too, Shrines is a really good Armand Hammer album, and Rome as well, and I highly recommend delving into solo work, especially Wood's work. Kenny Segal also used some backwards sounds to frame his beats, and Woods' Hiding Places has a lot of examples of that. I'd love to see you review some more of their projects, If only to highlight the more obscure grad school level references that I sometimes tend to miss xD

didnt Al' put out something with Boldy James and then just released his own thing? on top of the rest?

6:51 scaffolds

Today I wrote nothing, my history will absolve me and hiding places are all masterpieces to me by billy woods not to mention all the other Armand hammer projects and the moor mother project

I'm gonna be honest...you really know your stuff

being absolved is a call back to billy woods past album, history will absolve me, a call back to the fidel castro book

I feel like Chicharonnes is a lot more connected to Deleuze with the whole 'killing the fascist inside you' being at the fore front of Capitalism and Schizophrenia

A sample assembled of a cymbal.. Damn