New York rapper Billy Woods, a regular on end-of-year lists, joined forces with Californian producer Kenny Segal in 2023 to offer the unique and surprising Maps. Maps is a very unique experience that may seem difficult to decipher at first listen, since Woods’ particular cadence might turn off some hip hop fans. Yet when you’re used to the way he raps, his ability to travel between different tempos is more of a strength than a weakness. Segal understood this too, throwing him various instrumentals, some more experimental, others more relaxed, to which Woods responded on every occasion. Segal takes Woods’ normally rather eccentric universe and expands it to different extremes resulting in an ambitious project that continues to reinvent itself and which is easy to pick up on different subtleties with each listen. Maps is among the top publications of this year thanks to its versatility as well as its complexity.
To see the complete list, click here!
