Maps is a collaborative studio album by rapper Billy Woods and producer Kenny Segal. It was released through Backwoodz Studioz on May 5, 2023. The album was preceded by two singles: "Facetime", which was released on April 12, 2023, and "Soft Landing", which was released on May 3, 2023. The album features guest appearances from Elucid, Danny Brown, Aesop Rock, Quelle Chris, ShrapKnel, Benjamin Booker, and Samuel T. Herring.
Background and content
Maps is a concept album about Woods' experiences as a touring musician. Woods has described Maps as a "post-pandemic" album, as he was inspired to write it during the crowded touring schedule he undertook after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in North America and Europe. The album has also been characterized as a "travelogue", focusing less on any specific destination and moreso on the experience of rapidly and repeatedly traveling from one unfamiliar location to another. Maps portrays travel as an experience that can often lead to indignities and alienation, but that is also capable of providing escape and adventure. Woods has compared the album's narrative to that of the hero's journey, and emphasizes that its arc concludes with a return home. In addition to the album's focus on travel, some critics have identified Maps as showcasing Woods' reaction to his increasingly prominent status in the underground hip hop scene. Other reviewers observed that Maps shows Woods departing from the "political and historical" subject matter than had characterized his 2022 albums, Aethiopes and Church.
Maps is the second collaboration between Woods and Segal, following the 2019 album Hiding Places. The album was recorded in a gradual fashion: Woods has stated that he wrote approximately "70 percent" of Maps while traveling, and that he recorded around two-thirds of his verses on the road. Much of the remainder of the album was recorded in Los Angeles, partially at Segal's studio and partially at the studio of fellow producer The Alchemist.
The album cover, inspired by the design of airplane safety brochures, has been described as "depict[ing] Woods' unique brand of airplane etiquette".
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Maps received an average score of 90 based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Woods' writing on Maps has attained particular praise; it has been described as "exquisite" and as placing him "into the ranks of rap's great stylists and storytellers". His lyrics have been described as "packed with detail" and "bring[ing] people and places to life with quick, visceral strokes". Paul Simpson of AllMusic characterizes the album as "one of Woods' most accessible and relatable efforts, containing some of his clearest, most vivid narratives". Though the album was regarded as showcasing Woods' characteristic sense of dread, it has also been widely viewed as more lighthearted than much of Woods' other work; a Rolling Stone interview notes that Woods also incorporates humor into some tracks. The album's songs have been widely described as "vignettes" due to their short run times and emphasis on sense of place. Woods has also been identified as making repeated references to golden age hip hop throughout his lyrics. A more mixed appraisal of Woods' writing came from Mosi Reeves of Rolling Stone, who argued that Maps "doesn't pulse with the same passion as Aethiopes".
Segal's production on Maps was also received positively. The overall mood of the production has been described as reflecting Woods' "combination of comfort and anxiety"; it has also been regarded as "subdued" and "clean, expansive" production that allows Woods' lyrics to take the foreground. Other critics have described Segal's work on Maps as "globetrotting" and "jazzy", and noted that it featured "wilting sax lines and twinkling pianos" as major instruments. A HipHopDX review observed that the production juxtaposed "softly chiming guitars and flute samples" with "bracing drum patterns". Segal has been characterized as employing "clear melodies that invite the listener to lean in closer", but also as utilizing drum lines that "lurch sideways [rather than] falling into the old head-nod patterns". Segal's production was widely contrasted to that of Hiding Places, his previous collaboration with Woods; Maps has been regarded as showcasing a "less severe" and "less dissonant" style than its precursor.