With Church, Billy Woods delivers another brilliant album in 2022.

Collaborating with producer Messiah Musik, Billy Woods serves up 13 tracks in his classic cryptic, unsettling, and complex style.

By John Turnham

From the very start of Church, it is clear that as always, Billy Woods has a lot on his mind. Throughout the nearly 37 minutes of runtime, Woods packs each of the 12 songs with themes of loss, failed relationships, violence, oppression, and even unpacks his fears for the end of the world.

By collaborating with longtime producer Messiah Musik, there is an audible familiarity and chemistry between the two. Overtop of Messiah Musik’s unnerving, guttural beats, Woods’ voice sounds like it is truly at home. The mixture of vocal loops, samples, hazy percussion along with the occasional saxophone and string instrument all work together to create a dystopian atmosphere that envelopes the listener.

From the very first track, titled “Paraquat”, we are greeted with a grimey, unsettling beat and Woods wastes no time in setting up themes of suffering and failure in creating healthy relationships. Woods compares his efforts with women to “Harden on the Rockets,” and also to “Harden on the Thunder,” two teams that basketball superstar James Harden failed to find sustained success with. 

Woods also begins with multiple historical references, a hallmark of his music that is noticeable in nearly every song he writes. Nature is also used very thoughtfully on Church. Often nature is used metaphorically, and in this case, the toxic herbicide paraquat is used as a destructive force in Woods’ experiences.

Track two, “Artichoke” and track three, “Swampwater” continue to develop these ideas. Woods repeats, “the weed’s overgrown” on the hook of “Artichoke”, using a double entendre to describe the state of the community he is or used to be a part of. “Embarrassed child go looking for handguns” is another piercing lyric, illustrating the dynamic of violence he has experienced within this community. “Swampwater” features a disorienting beat, with hazy percussion and a chopped up saxophone riff. On this track, Woods lays out a possible course of events and the circumstances that the end of the world will present - a scenario that if we are being perfectly honest, is ever more likely to happen as the days go by.

The following tracks titled, “Fever Grass,” “Fuchsia & Green,” and “Classical Music,” delve deeper into the established themes of Church. The song “Classical Music” is notable among these three as having some of the sharpest bars on the whole LP. Featured artist Akai Solo raps, “these streets grisly, bare with us, that’s that cold play.” Woods also expands on his feelings around some of his failed past relationships, with the hook consisting of the lyrics, “Eighty-Eight keys I played the piece till it fell to pieces, chasing ghosts, chasing ghosts”. Woods feels as though he has done everything he can, but still is not good enough to sustain a relationship. He explains how lost he feels, feeling like a “Spanish galleon, sunken in place,” and the fact that he is a disappointment to all those around him. 

On track 7, titled “Cossack Wedding”, Woods paints the picture of a post nuclear disaster Chernobyl, using the disaster as a metaphor for another failed past relationship. An “alienation zone” has been created, but Woods “falls for it every time,” admitting his own weakness in failing to leave his partner. After his “betrothed fled to the forest, hid in the pines,” Woods writes that, “In the morning my pillow smell of pine cones,” cleverly connecting his inability to leave this person. It is these multi-layered metaphorical narratives that make Woods one of a kind as a writer. Not only are the lyrics representative of a post apocalyptic world, but the production is as well. Deep sub bass and a droning vocal sample instill a sluggish, spooky vibe.

Track 8 represents a break in the heavy narrative based songs, with Woods and featured rapper Fat Ray painting a picture of the life of a gangster. On the second half of the track, once Fat Ray begins his verse, the production switches from a booming, key filled beat, to, coincidentally, a beat with the same sample from Woods’ song “No Hard Feelings” that appeared on his first LP of 2022, the critically acclaimed Aethiopes. 

Track 9 begins with a recording of a few nameless men, some of them complaining about the cannabis strain that one of the guys loyally smokes, before Billy begins rattling off descriptions of a vivid scene. Woods describes entering a girl’s apartment, painting a picture of jazz music, 1970’s Egyptian rugs, french doors and incense. This track seems to ease the weight of an undeniably heavy album, but Woods’ mastery of imagery is ever present.

Now, it is with track 10, “Pollo Rico,” that Woods delivers emotional knockout blows. Woods is truly expressing the theme of worthlessness better and more intensely than ever before on “Pollo Rico.” Woods starts by expressing feelings of being an understudy, drinking alone in a packed bar, and getting stabbed in the dark. On the hook Woods develops the narrative of visiting someone in the hospital, talking about sneaking in champagne, pollo rico, yuca fries and even a cannabis vape for the person to enjoy. On verse two, Woods continues the depressing sentiments in outlining the ill treatment of returning soldiers, survivors guilt and the burning of piled up bodies. This song epitomizes the sorrow that he and others may feel on a day to day basis. Woods tries to imagine a better life after death, yearningly stating, “I hope it’s nothing but love in paradise.”

The next song “All Jokes Aside,” continues on the same, crushing foot. A simple beat with some airy piano, deep reaching bass, a hazy drum kit and smokey saxophone runs throughout the song as Woods regales us of past experiences. He illustrates using boiling water to bathe and his home smelling like Raid. Woods then admits to enjoying the ride, presumably meaning the experiences of a past time, and how much he misses his old friends. On the final hook, Woods repeats the lines, “All jokes aside, I enjoyed the ride, I miss my guys, took the church and put it in the sky,” until he is nearly crying. The emotion that he delivers the final lines with is immense, and is undoubtedly a stand out moment on the record.

The final track “Magdalene,” sees Billy collaborating with his longtime Armand Hammer partner Elucid for the second time on Church. The track starts with a grand, godly beat featuring a group vocal line, electric guitar and catchy baseline. Elucid starts things off with a confident, braggadocious verse detailing his day to day activity in the city. Woods wraps the album up with bringing a definitive conclusion to his relationship. Woods crafts a story of driving to a lover who is currently in an abusive relationship with another man. Woods makes his way to his lover before being ghosted multiple times while driving, leading to him committing vehicular suicide. The final track ends the LP’s narrative in a fitting and equally depressing way to the majority of the present material.

When walking away from this album, it is evident that Woods is not only at an elite level in every metric of rap, but his ability to craft an authentic, compelling, and emotional experience is at an elite level throughout the music industry as a whole.