Billy Woods

Last updated
Billy Woods
Bornc. 1978
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Origin New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupation Rapper
Years active2002–present
Labels
Member of Armand Hammer
Formerly of
  • Super Chron Flight Brothers
  • The Reavers
Signature
Billy Woods sig.svg

Billy Woods (born c. 1978) [1] [2] (stylized as billy woods) is an American rapper based in New York. [3] He is the founder of the record label Backwoodz Studioz, [4] and has been a member of Armand Hammer, [5] Super Chron Flight Brothers, [6] and The Reavers. [7]

Contents

Early life

Billy Woods was born in Washington, D.C. [8] His mother was an English literature professor from Jamaica, [5] and his father was a Marxist intellectual from Zimbabwe; the two met while Woods' father was pursuing a Ph.D. in the United States. [9] During the Zimbabwe War of Independence, Woods' father lived in "political exile", but in 1980 the family moved to Zimbabwe and Woods' father entered the Zimbabwean government. [10] [11] [12] Later in the 1980s, Woods' father died. [8] Around a year and a half later, in 1989, Woods and his mother returned to the United States and moved to Washington D.C. [2] [10] [12] Woods briefly attended Howard University before getting involved in New York's hip-hop scene. [8] He started making music in the late 1990s, [13] writing his "first real rhyme" at a laundromat in Kennebunk, Maine in 1997. [10]

"Billy Woods" is a pseudonym; he has not revealed his birth name. [14] In an interview with Jacobin , Woods explained that his pursuit of anonymity was rooted in several reasons, including his desires to remain a private individual [11] and to avoid being associated with his family name. [12]

Career

Woods founded the record label Backwoodz Studioz in 2003, inspired by the success of independent releases The Cold Vein and Operation: Doomsday , and released his debut album Camouflage through Backwoodz that same year. [8] [15] In the early years of his career, he was a protégé of Cannibal Ox's Vordul Mega. [16] Throughout the 2000s, the majority of Woods' output was released through the duo Super Chron Flight Brothers, which comprised him and fellow rapper Priviledge. Woods describes his work with Super Chron Flight brothers as emphasizing "the comedy and tragedy angle". [9] By the early 2010s, Super Chron Flight Brothers had split up, [9] and Backwoodz Studioz had been largely unable to make a profit. [15] Woods subsequently decided to complete another solo album, 2012's History Will Absolve Me; [17] [18] Woods intended for it to be his final release before leaving the music industry. [9] [19] History Will Absolve Me proved more successful than Woods anticipated, revitalizing Woods' career and attaining a reputation as a cult classic of underground hip hop. [19]

In 2013, Woods released Dour Candy, which was entirely produced by Blockhead. [20] [21] In 2017, he released Known Unknowns. [22] It was included on Rolling Stone 's "15 Great Albums You Probably Didn't Hear in 2017" list. [23] In 2019, he released a collaborative album with producer Kenny Segal, titled Hiding Places , [24] as well as a solo album, Terror Management. [25] 2020 brought Brass, a collaborative album with Moor Mother. Woods released Aethiopes and Church in 2022. On 27 March 2023, Woods announced his second collaboration with the producer Kenny Segal titled Maps . The album was released on 5 May 2023. It was preceded by two singles, "Facetime", which was released on 12 April 2023 and featured the Baltimore singer Samuel T. Herring, [26] and "Soft Landing", which was released 3 May 2023.

In 2023, Woods published a children's book titled A is for Anarchist. [11] [27]

Woods consistently obscures his face in publicity photos. [11] [28] [29]

Discography

Studio albums

Solo

  • Camouflage (2003)
  • The Chalice (2004)
  • History Will Absolve Me (2012)
  • Dour Candy (2013)
  • Today, I Wrote Nothing (2015)
  • Known Unknowns (2017)
  • Terror Management (2019)
  • Aethiopes (2022) [30]
  • Golliwog (2025)

with The Reavers

  • Terror Firma (2005)

with Super Chron Flight Brothers

  • Emergency Powers: The World Tour (2007)
  • Indonesia (2009)
  • Cape Verde (2010)

with Armand Hammer

with Kenny Segal

with Messiah Musik

  • Church (2022)

with Moor Mother

Compilation albums

Mixtapes

Singles

Guest appearances

Bibliography

References

  1. Lipez, Zachary (March 26, 2021). "Armand Hammer adds the Alchemist to make for an even more intriguing brand of underground rap". Washington Post. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Buford, Jayson (May 4, 2023). "billy woods Makes Himself at Home". Vice . Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  3. Gillespie, Blake (April 20, 2012). "Nothing To Something: billy woods on overcoming writer's block". Impose . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  4. Faierman, Leonardo (November 9, 2017). "An Introduction to the Dystopian Hip-Hop of Backwoodz Studioz". Bandcamp Daily . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Diamond, Samuel (April 24, 2015). "billy woods "But one day it will be gone."". Tiny Mix Tapes . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  6. Tardio, Andres (August 30, 2010). "Super Chron Flight Brothers - Cape Verde". HipHopDX . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  7. Brown, Marisa. "Reavers - Biography". AllMusic . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Mlynar, Phillip (May 31, 2017). "Billy Woods Is The Underground Rapper Chekhov Would Listen To". The Village Voice . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Nguyen, Dean Van (January 9, 2013). "Time Goes By: Interview with Billy Woods". Nerdtorious. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 Biswas, Joel (November 15, 2018). "Hope in a Hopeless Situation: An Interview With Billy Woods". Passion of the Weiss. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  11. 1 2 3 4 LeJarde, Arielle Lana (2022-11-22). "billy woods would rather you be a little uncomfortable". BKMAG. Retrieved 2025-06-24.
  12. 1 2 3 Aramyan, Armen (February 16, 2025). "billy woods: "My Music Is Radical, in Its Own Way"". Jacobin . Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  13. Lipez, Zachary (June 28, 2013). "Billy Woods and Blockhead's Collaborative Album, 'Dour Candy,' is an Invigorating Hangover". Noisey . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  14. Terich, Jeff (2022-04-10). "billy woods : Aethiopes | Album review". Treble. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  15. 1 2 Malone, Anthony (May 3, 2023). "Underground Rap Hero Billy Woods on Coming Full Circle". Rolling Stone . Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  16. Reeves, Mosi (May 4, 2023). "billy woods' 'Maps' is the Kind of Album That's Designed to Get You Lost". Rolling Stone . Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  17. Bozzer, Mark (April 10, 2012). "Billy Woods: History Will Absolve Me". Exclaim! . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  18. McCurry, Francisco (May 8, 2012). "Billy Woods – History Will Absolve Me". Potholes in My Blog. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  19. 1 2 Van Nguyen, Dean (April 11, 2022). "billy woods: Aethiopes Album Review". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  20. Ellison, Kyle (August 21, 2013). "Champion Sound #14: Ka, Starlito, Billy Woods". Drowned in Sound . Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  21. Patrin, Nate (August 14, 2013). "Billy Woods: Dour Candy". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  22. Thompson, Paul (October 6, 2017). "billy woods Is at the Forefront of Rap's Avant-Garde". Noisey . Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  23. Reeves, Mosi (December 19, 2017). "15 Great Albums You Probably Didn't Hear in 2017: Billy Woods, 'Known Unknowns'". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  24. Breihan, Tom (March 29, 2019). "Stream billy woods & Kenny Segal's New Album Hiding Places". Stereogum . Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  25. Carmichael, Rodney (December 11, 2019). "9 Afro Dystopian Rap Albums As Dark And Droll As 2019". NPR . Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  26. Breihan, Tom (27 March 2023). "billy woods & Kenny Segal Announce New Collaborative Album Maps". Stereogum .
  27. Heller, Steven (April 26, 2023). "The Daily Heller: D is for Depression". Print Magazine .
  28. Chick, Stevie (8 May 2023). "David Attenborough, weed and 'American apartheid': the awesome mind of rapper Billy Woods". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  29. Reeves, Mosi (4 May 2023). "billy woods' 'Maps' is the Kind of Album That's Designed to Get You Lost". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  30. "BILLY WOODS: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE". Backwoodz Studioz. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  31. "BRASS from Moor Mother & billy woods". Backwoodz Studioz. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  32. "Your Old Droog announces new album, shares "Meteor Man" featuring Lil Ugly Mane and billy woods". The FADER. 15 November 2021.
  33. "Doseone, Steel Tipped Dove & Billy Woods - Wasteland Embrace". Tidal.com. January 10, 2025. Retrieved June 8, 2025.