billy woods

How did working with Elucid come about? 

Me and this cat, Uncommon Nasa, who had his own record label, used to collaborate on this, for a lack of a better word, festival at the time. It was really a one-day show. With lots of artists, we tried to get at least one person from out of town. And we’d do it every year in December. It was his idea. Uncommon Nasa, AKA Paul Loverro. Great dude. He had previously been a mix engineer at Def Jux, and then he just went out on his own.

Oh, I think I heard his name before. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so producer, rapper, good guy. One year he was like, “Oh, I got this cat, Elucid, who’s gonna be the headliner". And I was like, “Oh, I don’t know him,” but sure. Whatever you wanna do. 

When I first saw Elucid perform and then I was just like, “Oh, this shit is really dope.” And I went up to him after the show and it’s interesting because this was a point... Actually, there came a point in working with groups where I just felt a little bit burned by some of those collaborative projects, and not calling anyone out. Just things didn’t go right. Sometimes other people’s level of commitment was different than mine, or the way they wanted to proceed was different than what I had expected. And so it could be a little bit difficult. Hold on one second.

The label was in crisis, and I was working on what might’ve been my last solo record and I thought I’m not gonna get involved with another group but meeting Elucid and hearing him I was like, “This guy is really good. Okay, let’s at least do a feature together.” And he agreed to do the feature I was like, “Damn. This guy, he’s incredible.” He killed it, out-rapped me, and I was like, “Let’s do another one.” That feature gave my album a moment, not a huge one, but enough to pull us back from the edge.

Feeling like this could work, I asked him if he wanted to do a record together. I even had a name in mind for the project, and he said yes to both. It was a good sign because, in the past, I’d worked with people who were hesitant about embracing each other’s ideas. But from the get-go, there was none of that. We were both open to whatever, whether it was his idea or mine. If it’s good, let’s roll with it. No ego. And that’s how it all began.

How do you balance being a record label owner and an artist? Is there a lot of overlap in what you do as an artist and then as running Backwoodz? 

No, they require different things. But how I looked at it is... Man, I always had a day job. And I was doing this shit. So once the label got bigger, I just treated that like part of my day job.

One of the hardest lines in your most recent album. Where you were like, “I’m walking across the street holding my child’s little hands…”

Oh. I said, “I write when my baby’s asleep. I sit in the room in the dark. I listen to him breathe. I walk ’em to school, then the park. Hold they little hands when we cross the street. I think about my brothers that’s long gone and this was all they ever dreamed.”

Dude, listen, that was the hardest bar... That was the hardest bar on one of the hardest beats on that album. And I was telling this to Elucid too, is that when you guys write, I see what you’re writing. I literally saw the scene. I realized that there’s a lot of conversations in your music around relationships and family.

I think all of those things are true. And sometimes it’s funny because on the ‘Terror Management’ album, when I was writing ‘Hiding Places,’ I had the idea for the album. And then certain aspects of the album came true. 

[chuckle]

And certain things where you’re like, “Damn, I wrote that shit.” During writing that album it was the toughest year of my adult life, bar none. And I didn’t know that lots of those things were gonna happen when I went into writing it. And so many themes became part of the album. Although that album, I started off thinking, would have a lot to do about childhood. Then I ended up having a child. And it was still about both of those things. And made other layers that were in it. So I usually have ideas and themes that present themselves or come to me as I’m working, but there’s also the fact that sometimes life is happening. So life works its way into work, which is important to me. I feel like it’s not like I’m never gonna be stuck on some material that isn’t relevant to me at that moment in my life, because I can write a rhyme about anything.

Yeah, man. 

And then there’s something like the ‘Aethiops’ album where it was, of course, my personal life and other things wrapped in that. But that was definitely one where I came with more of trying to say, “Hey, I have this thesis, something that I might write an essay or academic work about instead I’m gonna make a piece of art about it. And hopefully, it’ll be dope and interesting and multifaceted.”

So, yeah, so the last thing I’ll ask probably is around working on ‘We Buy Diabetic Test Strips.’ For one, it’s an amazing album.

Thank you.

What was your process in making this particular album? Did you and Elucid have a vision of what you wanted to write or talk about? 

I think that there was a lot more discussion about how it would sound and who we were gonna bring onboard with this record, and it was about, “Okay, what’s the theme?” And as we worked, those things started to reveal themselves. So I felt like it was more concentration on, “How is this gonna sound? Who are we gonna bring on board? And we were also both coming from different places. I had my own things I wanted to try and do lyrically and conceptually coming off of working on several solo albums in row. 

I feel like with your music, there is a film quality to it, or... I don’t know. I think it would work well as a soundtrack...

That means a lot to me. I think that my roots, artistic roots a lot, are built around the idea of the narrative. And so that’s something that comes natural to me and that is important to me. And I want things, both on a small level and on a macro level to build, to grow and to come around to something. I’m not really into the idea of just making... Sometimes that’s cool, but if we’re just doing... If we’re doing an album, to me, it needs to cohere into something. Not just be my favorite songs and then I just put them there. Even if that was how I made it, then I would make it my job to find a way to make them cohere. Maybe I need to make a couple of other songs that tie everything together, whatever the case may be. So, yeah. I think that that’s a really important part of what we do. And I’m glad you said that ’cause I really hope that that element is there in every record. From...

I just love albums. I’ve read a... I can’t do singles. For me to be a fan of someone’s music, I have to listen to your whole album. Singles are cool for a playlist.

That’s fine. But I gotta hear some narrative... To your point, give me story arcs. You know what I’m saying?

Build a world and let me see what we’re doing here. It could be a small world. Maybe a whole lot doesn’t even happen. But I will still respond to that 100% of the time.

It’s been an absolute pleasure, dude. Hearing your passion, hearing your perspective, it definitely... Hearing you talk, hearing both of you guys talk, it’s almost like hearing the framework of your album. The framing of how these songs come together and hearing you speak around your journey, your life, your personal life. 

Thank you, man. Very good questions. Really appreciate you. Love to sit down and have a drink or smoke a smoke next time we’re in the same city.

Bet, for sure let’s do it!

To learn more about Armand Hammer and Backwoodz Studioz visit: Backwoodz Studioz and their Bandcamp page.

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