Village Underground, Shoreditch
“Could you explain what you’re doing there?”
The hip-hop pairing reached a harmonious fever pitch in East London, recounting the latest trials and tribulations on the road documented in their latest LP, Maps.
Fumbling with a new invention, the playback of this recorded conversation from yesteryear eerily resonates through the shadowed walls of Shoreditch’s Village Underground. For the amassed sold-out crowd tonight, they listen attentively, in desperate wait for one of the most enigmatic yet enticing rappers of the current underground, Billy Woods. Backed by the unorthodox producer Kenny Segal, the duo have grown collectively to new heights through the recent release of Maps - a deep dive into Woods’ psyche.
Suddenly, a pair of silhouettes emerge on stage and enter the sweltering summer’s night - one exuding stuttery beats, glistening melodies akin to Kenny Beats, the other brooding with a tenaciously poetic delivery reminiscent of Earl Sweatshirt. Whilst ‘Kenwood Speakers’ ushers about tonight’s proceedings, much of the duo’s prior work garners equal applause from the crowd: galvanising vociferous screams of “motherfucker, you promised!”; hypnotised by the concocted sampling and illustrious lyricism within ‘Houthi’.
The pair’s debut album from 2019, Hiding Places, offers a brief reminder of the transfixing collaborative effect of Woods and Segal - effortlessly complementing each other’s approach. Whether it be a smattering of stringent guitar riffs of the former or the cushioned and transcendental sampling of the latter, the undeniably engrossing world conjured by these two characters remain unique in hip-hop’s highly saturated market, contrasted with this revisionist gateway into the roots’ dynamic past.
Delving deeper into the psyche of Woods, his (purposefully) silhouetted effect proves pertinent, removing focus of his facade and forcing us to surge further into this introspective soul on display tonight. With the rapper reciting the dire, psychological effect of touring schedules through ‘Soft Landing’ (“Head in the loud clouds, both feet on the fuckin pavement”), the constant interruptions of flight attendant announcements prove jarring, displacing the collective experience from the cordoned walls of this East London crucible.
Woods is soon accompanied on-stage, however, by Future Islands frontman, Samuel T. Herring, offering two equally distinct deliveries weaving in and out of this dizzying recital of homesickness, loneliness and solitude on the road. “Strangely I feel right at home on my own” becomes the conclusive mantra of the collaborative track ‘FaceTime’ which Herring offers with a comparatively lighter, perhaps underwhelming approach than his forthright counterpart alongside him, we're ultimately drifted back into the stifling summer’s heat of the outer world.
Whilst Woods vocally approved of the enigmatic lighting arrangement for tonight’s performance (“You got a full-time job if you want it”), the mysterious duo impressively crafted their own public dissection of such touring accounts and strenuous livelihoods. For there’s no need to explain what was achieved here tonight: both Billy Woods and Kenny Segal offered a tumultuous yet tantalising chemistry with one another, forever proving transfixing and entrancing to (somewhat) witness in the flesh.
7.5/10
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal's latest LP, Maps, is out now via Fat Possum Records and can be found below.
Photos are courtesy of Ken Dai whose work can be found here.