Billy Woods | |
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| Born | c. 1978 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Origin | New York City, New York, U.S. |
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| Occupation | Rapper |
| Years active | 2002–present |
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| Member of | Armand Hammer |
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Billy Woods, stylized billy woods (born c. 1978), is an American rapper based in New York. He is the founder of the record label Backwoodz Studioz, and has been a member of Armand Hammer, Super Chron Flight Brothers, and the Reavers. Woods consistently obscures his face in publicity photos.
Billy Woods was born in Washington, D.C. circa 1978. His mother was an English literature professor from Jamaica, and his father was a Marxist intellectual from Zimbabwe; the two met while Woods' father was pursuing a Ph.D. in the United States. 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. Later in the 1980s, Woods' father died. In 1989, about a year and a half after his father's death, Woods and his mother returned to the United States and moved to Washington D.C. At other points in his childhood, Woods lived in Jamaica.
Woods first became interested in hip-hop shortly after his return to the United States, upon watching Do the Right Thing and hearing the music of Public Enemy. He briefly attended Howard University before getting involved in New York's hip-hop scene. Woods started making music himself in the late 1990s, writing his "first real rhyme" at a laundromat in Kennebunk, Maine in 1997.
"Billy Woods" is a pseudonym; he has not revealed his birth name. 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 and to avoid being associated with his family name.
Woods released his debut album Camouflage through his label Backwoodz Studioz in 2003. In the early years of his career, he was a protégé of Cannibal Ox's Vordul Mega. 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". He featured on the 2005 Backwoodz Studioz album Terror Firma. By the early 2010s, Super Chron Flight Brothers had split up, and Backwoodz Studioz had been largely unable to make a profit. Woods subsequently decided to complete another solo album, 2012's History Will Absolve Me, which he envisioned would be his final release before leaving the music industry. History Will Absolve Me proved more successful than Woods anticipated, revitalizing his career and becoming known as a cult classic of underground hip-hop.
In 2013, Woods released Dour Candy, which was entirely produced by Blockhead. He formed the duo Armand Hammer with American rapper Elucid, and released their debut mixtape, Half Measures, and debut album, Race Music, in 2013. In 2017, he released Known Unknowns. In 2019, he released a collaborative album with producer Kenny Segal, titled Hiding Places, as well as a solo album, Terror Management. 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 May 5, 2023. It was preceded by two singles, "Facetime", which was released on April 12, 2023, and featured the Baltimore singer Samuel T. Herring, and "Soft Landing", which was released May 3, 2023. In 2025, he released Golliwog.
In 2023, Woods published a children's book titled A is for Anarchist.
Woods founded Backwoodz Studioz in 2002 and initially ran it as a one-man operation inspired by the success of independent releases The Cold Vein and Operation: Doomsday. He released his debut album Camouflage through Backwoodz that same year, renting studio time from Caroline Records intern Anton Schlesinger. They developed a friendship and work relationship, eventually co-owning Backwoodz Studioz. As of 2023, Woods still runs A&R and executive produces for some of the artists on the label, but has been replaced as president by Schlesinger after the label has ballooned in size. A profile on Backwoodz Studioz published in Pitchfork pinpoints the release of History Will Absolve Me and the subsequent cult following garnered by that record as the turning point for the label. It was also around this time that they launched an online store, cutting out the previous middlemen needed for distribution, and signed Elucid, after he and Woods got introduced through fellow New York rapper Uncommon Nasa. In 2023 they signed a distribution deal with Fat Possum Records.
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