Maps, Nate

First listen, writing live. So far, the texture is exactly what one would expect from a buzzy quasi-indie rap success story, which billy woods unquestionably is at this point. The guy has popped up in several projects both high-and medium-profile in 2023, carrying a style what could potentially be ID'd as "gangster rap filtered through MF Doom," which feels true enough to New York City even if it isn't as revolutionary as those who seem to buzz off it might suggest. We have Joey Bada$$ at home, etc.

"Soundcheck" is on now and assuming that Kenny Segal doesn't buck from the jazzy stuttering snare production that has marked the first three tracks, the production on this thing is luxurious but unremarkable, like a boutique hotel with ten-room outposts in 20 different American cities. It's a confident work that will not challenge either listener or performer, and if there is criticism to level against it, it's the kind of criticism that one would level against a warm bath, so let's not.

What can be said for Maps, roughly half-way through "Rapper Weed," is that it feels of a piece and of a place. Not being familiar with the specifics but having enough textual understanding to follow the movements of national and regional rap in the last 20 years or so, an attentive listener could place this record in conversation with the micro-movements that emerged in NYC's last two decades of notable "thinking rap" performers. Black on Both Sides, Flatbush Zombies, "Huzzah," LONG.LIVE.A$AP, None Shall Pass, Blue Chips 2. Put it another way: You put Aesop Rock, Sam Herring, and E L U C I D (twice) on your record, there are only so many ways the thing is going to sound. Don't hold it against future generations trying to produce their own version of Madvillany, that record is amazing.

Maps is not responsible for its success and the bifurcation and fracturing of music culture makes it impossible to meaningfully contextualize its relative impact. This, like nearly every other music released commercially in 2023, cannot compete with Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, or whatever is happening in K-pop. It was never meant to, even in a time when SoundScan numbers might have meant something, but in an era when signal cannot be measured, all that remains is noise and among those who follow the genre, Maps has been sufficiently noisy. That it sounds exactly as expected is an indictment on someone, but it's hard to say who.

"Year Zero" is over now and that was the best song on the thing so far. Jazz gives away for a rounded-off El-P futurebuzz beat. woods's over-wordy chest talk finds a queasy rhythm and sounds better for it. Danny Brown is back like skinny white girls, and has been rhyming with incredible aplomb over beats like this over a decade. Hard to say if it's better for its departure from the rest of the album or if it kicks ass in any context, but only time will tell. Either way, there goes the album's second moment worth repeating (credit to the hazy lounge beat on "Soft Landing," which was the first).

Getting a little harder to hang with this thing. Were this writing the kind of thing that would have to be published somewhere for money and edited down to a 100-word blurb, the line would be that "Maps settles into itself in its back-half, languishing in its lush pop-jazz production and woods's assured baritone boasts," but since we just bloggin', baby, let us instead say that this album is becoming increasingly repetitive. Not everything has to be a path carved through unexplored terrain, but we can call a bike ride around the already-gentrified art district what it is. Feels like we're both running out of ideas now. Leave it here; if this is the best we can do, we're not doing good enough, but if we're just taking a lap through what the "real hip hop" perverts of neo New York are catching a high off, Maps is a fine way to pass the time. woods knows we have GPS on our phones though, right?