Aethiopes by Billy Woods

Best Tracks: Smith and Cross, Asylum
Genre: Experimental Hip Hop
Year: 2022

Up until this album, I never considered myself a fan of Billy Woods. He has always been a really good rapper, and I like the dirty, introspective, vintage hip hop sound he does. Even still, most of his previous work didn’t really captivate me. It wasn’t until Brass in 2020 that I felt Billy Woods had become someone special. Then he did it again on Call me When You’re Outside by Steel Tipped Dove. Aethiopes is the third album to me that finally cements Billy Woods as one of the most creative rappers making music today.

Aethiopes takes the relaxed, acoustic feel of conventional of jazz rap and turns it into something dark and disturbing. “No Hard Feelings” caries this feeling even deeper, mixing what sounds like bagpipes with abrasive, dark synths. “Wharves” samples gamelan music, delving further into strange acoustics and instrumentation. Every song on this album flows into the next, taking the listener deeper and deeper. By “Sauvage”, the instrumentals consist of screeches, unusual percussion, and bass piano. At times, Aethiopes reminds me of songs like “The Walls & Windows” by Aceyalone, but Billy Woods goes even farther by including foreign instrumentation to create an unfamiliar environment for his excellent lyricism to marinate in.

“Versailles” and “Protoevangelium” work to slowly bring the listener out from Billy Woods’ dark abstractions, eventually climaxing with “Remorseless”. “Remorseless” feels like a chance to finally release all of the pent-up tension from the previous 9 tracks. The synth, gorgeous organ chords, and vocal samples make it easily my favourite track on the album. “Smith + Cross” feels like a coda, in Billy Woods’ textbook abstract hip hop style. As the track fades out, I am urged to start it over from the top. Aethiopes has quickly become one of my favourite albums in a long time, and I am super excited to see where Billy Woods goes from here.