New York rapper billy woods has reunited with Los Angeles producer Kenny Segal for a new song titled “FaceTime.” It’s the first single from their upcoming collaborative album, Maps. The project is scheduled for release on May 5.
“I started writing this song at a festival in Tucson in 2023,” woods revealed in a press release. He added: “I was staying in this old classic Southwestern hotel in the center of town, and the festival was actually taking place inside and directly outside the hotel. I had been on the road for a long while at that point, and the song had been brewing inside me, but I got it written during the two days I was there. Then I finished it and recorded it at Kenny’s when I got to LA. Both of us know Sam and once I finished it I just knew his voice would be perfect. I also knew that with as much as he has been on the road over the years, Sam would be able to bring some personal experience to the collaboration”
The First Single From “Maps”
The Sam that woods is referring to is Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands. Of working on the song, Herring said in the press release: “It was late summer 2022 and most days I was stuck in my hotel room wondering what was happening with my life. All of that being on the road and living remotely, feeling alienated, alone, missing people back home, but also feeling at home living that way—I understood it deeply…. That song is my life and I was living in it.” Herring previously featured on billy woods’ 2017 track “Illegal Tints” under the moniker, Hemlock Ernst. He also worked with Segal on the album, Back at the House, in 2019.
Maps will be billy woods and Kenny Segal’s second collaborative album, following 2019’s critically acclaimed, Hiding Places. Across the tracklist for Maps, the two team up with Danny Brown, Quelle Chris, Aesop Rock, Elucid, and more.
In the press release, woods also reflects on his experiences working with Segal throughout his career: “Kenny and I made more songs together before Hiding Places than we did after. I think we only collaborated once over the last four years and although we didn’t talk about it, I think we wanted to let that energy build again. Neither of us wanted to make Hiding Places 2. We needed to go on other journeys, artistic and otherwise, to come back and do something fresh.” Check out “Facetime” below.
Quotable Lyrics:
Continental breakfast, stick and weave, tuck and roll
I can’t take you with me, but I be on your phone
[Via]