Listen to “Furies” by Moor Mother / billy woods
On “Furies,” Moor Mother and billy woods work in sync. After teaming up earlier this year for the Armand Hammer posse cut “Ramesses II,” they forge a more meaningful connection this time, as a pair of radicals unraveling Western myths. Moor Mother has flexed her witch rap muscles quite a bit this year, and here she’s operating on an even higher plane. Her voice fractures as she raps about ancient mathematical astronomy, Mennonites, and displaced peoples existing amid unrest; she sounds out of time but never off balance. “I just want to make it right/Fly like LeBron in the night/Supersonic flight/But they don’t want me to shine/They don’t want me to shine/Because I remind ‘em of the fight,” she raps, seemingly unshakeable.
Matching her stride for stride, or rather contour for contour, woods is like a rambling evangelist unburdening himself through freeform raps. It feels like two sages astral projecting into the same head space and sharing a lucid dream. His rhymes have a surreality to them; their patterns are constantly shifting beneath your feet like quicksand: “The night hides in caves and holes, whispering/She answer, open robe, black body glistening, like she swallowed the sun/Shook it off like a fever run its course, and what did I want,” he raps. The hand-drum rhythms and snake-charmer flutes build out the illusory state; it’s like being transported to an alternate universe where they’ve been a team for years.