New York underground rapper Billy Woods is currently promoting his upcoming album Golliwog, which he announced last month and drops in a couple of weeks. Following up the release of the lead single, “Misery,” Woods shares the menacing “Blk Zmby,” which continues his interrogation of some of the myths, stereotypes, and tropes used to define and undermine the lives of Black Americans throughout the country’s harrowing history.
Produced by Steel Tipped Dove, the cacophonous beat impresses the uneasy mood of a horror film over the proceedings, while Woods unpacks the ills of capitalism and modern society with a tongue-twisting, metaphor-ridden verse. “Walking dead, no way, brother,” he raps. “The uninterred hopped in Range’s rover / You already know that chauffeur gold, Mercedes is a go / Did a harvest, whether House Atreides or Harkonnens, that oil gotta flow.”
Woods explainined the inspiration behind Golliwog, which is named after a type of doll, in the press release for the album, setting the stage for a thoughtful sort of horror story in the vein of Get Out or Lovecraft Country. “When I was nine years old, I wrote a story about an evil golliwog,” he said. “My mother read it and told me it was overly derivative and needed some work. Here we are.”
Listen to Billy Woods’ “Blk Zmby” above.
Golliwog is out 5/9 on Backwoodz Studioz.
