Billy Woods’ Golliwog is a horrorcore masterpiece for the A24 crowd
Billy Woods has one of the highest batting averages in the game. Between his solo records like Hiding places And Cardsand his collaborative albums with Elucid as Armand Hammer, the man has several classics to his credit. And, while no one will ever claim that Woods’ albums were lighthearted (they’re not party records), Golliwog represents its darkest yet.
This isn’t your typical horror record. Others, like Geto Boys, Gravediggaz and Insane Clown Posse, opt for a slasher aesthetic and shock tactics. But what Billy Woods created is more A24 than Blumhouse.
Of course, the first track is called “Jumpscare,” and it opens with the sound of a film reel spinning, followed by a creepy music box and the line: “Ragdoll playing dead. Mad dog in the yard, the car won’t start, it’s bees in your head.” This prepares you for the typical horror movie gimmick. But in the end, it’s psychological torture. A cacophony of voices forms a bed for unidentifiable screaming noises, and Woods drops what sounds like a mission statement:
“The English language is violence, I hardwired it. I got my hands on the master’s tools and connected.”
Throughout the record, Woods looks to his producers to create not cheap scares, but tension, to make the listener uncomfortable. “Waterproof Mascara” transforms a woman’s sobs into a rhythmic pattern. On “Pitchforks & Halos,” Kenny Segal evokes the sonic equivalent of a POV shot of a serial killer. And the DJ Haram-produced “All These Worlds are Yours” has more in common with Throbbing Gristle’s industrial debut than with some of the record’s other tracks, like “Golgotha” which pairs boombap drums with New Orleans funeral horns.
This dense, sometimes scattered production is paired with lines that juxtapose the real-life horrors of oppression and colonialism, with scenes that seem lifted directly from Bring it back: “I trapped a housefly in an upside-down pint glass and waited for it to die.” And later, Woods seamlessly moves from boasting to warning people to turn their backs on the “Corinthians” genocide in Gaza:
If you never came back from the dead you can’t tell me shit
Twelve billion USD hovers over the Gaza Strip
You don’t want to know what it costs to live
What it costs to hide behind your eyelids
When you turn your back, secret cannibals lick their lips
The record features some of Woods’ most skillful lyricism, balancing confrontation with philosophy, horror and emotion. Billy Woods Golliwog is available on Bandcamp and most major streaming services, including Apple Music, Qobuz, Deezer, YouTube Music and Spotify.
