New York, NY

Whether founding a record label, writing a children’s book, or forming rap supergroups, billy woods has an experimental, entrepreneurial touch that has influenced the world of underground hip-hop for decades.  

billy woods introduced himself to the world in 2003 with his lo-fi rap mix tape Camouflage. Released on his DIY record label Backwoodz Studioz, this album featured extensive collaboration with Vordul Mega of Cannibal Ox. His first fully solo record, The Chalice, came one year later, and it’s been all gas no brakes ever since. He’s released nine solo albums to date, his most recent being 2025’s Golliwog, a menacing batch of abstract hip-hop that earned rave reviews from Exclaim! and The Guardian. 

On top of his prolific solo efforts, billy is one-half of the rap duo Armand Hammer with ELUCID, with which he’s dropped seven studio albums and numerous mix-tapes of East coast-flavoured rhymes. Not to be outdone, he also records as Super Chron Flight Brothers with Priviledge, and is a member of rap supergroup, The Reavers. 

Being the son of a Marxist intellectual from Zimbabwe and a Jamaican English teacher, it comes as no surprise that billy’s writing is dense and literary. The narrative complexity of his rhymes are matched by the unconventional, uncompromising approach he has to production. This is an artist who is unafraid of the more confrontational sides of songwriting. 

With a deep discography and an increasingly rare sense of integrity in his craft, billy woods is a true original, with a bumpin’ live show that is not to be missed.