THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Billy Woods’ Golliwog is the musical equivalent of a black carnival pitched in a muddy field overnight, with empty rides whirring and clattering in the dark. The New York rapper’s first album in two years, it is another triumph in his oeuvre, as layered and compelling as anything he has ever done.
Golliwog was preceded by 2023’s Maps, his second collaboration with producer Kenny Segal. But that nimble travelogue has little in common with this, despite the fact that Segal shows up a couple times in the credits. Unlike its forebears, Golliwog is a haunting collection that weaves horror, humor, surrealism and Afropessimism into a cinematic tapestry, aided and abetted by a murderer’s row of producers. African zombies, time traveling trap cars, malevolent ragdolls and a dying Frantz Fanon are just a few of the revelers in woods’ danse macabre.
Golliwog features production from Segal, The Alchemist, EL-P, Conductor Williams, Preservation, Messiah Musik, Sadhugold, Ant, Shabaka Hutchings, Steel Tipped Dove, DJ Haram, Willie Green, Jeff Markey, Saint Abdullah and L.A. experimental jazz trio Human Error Club. Meanwhile, Woods is joined on the mic by labelmates Elucid and Cavalier, along with rappers Bruiser Wolf, Despot, Al.Divino and singer-songwriter Yolanda Watson.”
