Billy Woods has one of teh highest batting averages in the game. Between his solo records like Hiding Places adn Maps, and his collaborative albums with Elucid as Armand hammer, he has multiple stone-cold classics. and, while his albums aren’t light-hearted, Golliwog represents his darkest work to date.
This isn’t typical horrorcore. Artists like Geto boys, Gravediggaz, and Insane Clown Posse aim for slasher aesthetics and shock tactics. But Billy Woods has crafted something more akin to an A24 film than a Blumhouse production.
The first track, “Jumpscare,” opens with the sound of a film reel spinning, a creepy music box, and the line: “Ragdoll playing dead. Rabid dog in the yard, car won’t start, it’s bees in your head.” It initially sets you up for typical horror gimmicks, but quickly descends into psychological torture. A cacophony of voices and screeching noises builds,and Woods delivers what feels like a mission statement:
“The English language is violence,I hotwired it. I got a hold of the master’s tools and got dialed in.”
Throughout the record, Woods and his producers create tension, not cheap scares. “Waterproof Mascara” transforms a woman’s sobs into a rhythmic motif. On “Pitchforks & Halos,” Kenny Segal conjures the aural equivalent of a serial killer’s POV. And “All These Worlds are yours,” produced by DJ Haram, feels closer to the early industrial sound of Throbbing Gristle than other tracks like “Golgotha,” which pairs boombap drums with New Orleans funeral horns.
This dense production complements lyrics that juxtapose the real-world horrors of oppression and colonialism with surreal scenes, like “Trapped a housefly in an upside-down pint glass and waited for it to die.” On “Corinthians,” Woods seamlessly transitions from boasting to warning about turning away from the genocide in Gaza:
If you never came back from the dead you can’t tell me shit
Twelve billion USD hovering over the Gaza Strip
You don’t wanna know what it cost to live
What it cost to hide behind eyelids
When your back turnt, secret cannibals lick they lips
Golliwog showcases some of Woods’ deftest lyricism, balancing confrontation with philosophy, horror with emotion. It’s available on Bandcamp and major streaming services, including Apple Music,Qobuz, Deezer, YouTube Music, and Spotify.
