Welcome to Rap Weekly 133: GOLLIWOG. Every Monday, we’ll take you into the world of rap and summarise the most exciting news, announcements and can’t-miss stories. Find out everything you need to know in one place. We only write about the best, so you get the best rap delicacies on a golden platter. We review the albums GOLLIWOG by billy woods, The Round Table by Knowledge the Pirate & Roc Marciano, Oh You Ain’t Know by Stack Skrilla, Pinball II by MIKE & Tony Seltzer, DOOM WAS RIGHT by Action Figure 973, I’ll Take The Blame by Mani Coolin. Also look forward to great music videos from Bones & Brevin Kim, Mary Sue and the Clementi Sound Appreciation Club, Bas, The Hics, Ab-Soul, The Musalini, Boldy James, MAXO KREAM or DENZEL CURRY. All this and much more in Rap Weekly.
NEWS OF THE WEEK
billy woods – GOLLIWOG review
The one and only billy woods returns two years after Maps (w/ Kenny Segal) with a new album. Nothing more needs to be written; nothing more needs to be read. One of the best — if not the best — rappers of our time channels two decades of experience into what may be his magnum opus. GOLLIWOG by billy woods is the most important rap album of the moment: an existential social horror that made us ashamed to be human beings. African zombies, the CIA, murderous AI, wars, demons, time-trapped cars, and a dying Frantz Fanon are just some of the participants in woods’ danse macabre. The album is based on a short story billy wrote when he was nine years old and showed to his mother. Her response: “Overly derivative and needed some work.” billy took those words to heart — and now presents the story in its monumental form.
GOLLIWOG is an album of darkness in its purest form — billy woods says Come and See (1985) and holds a mirror up to society, to the human race itself. Across eighteen tracks, you’ll encounter billy’s deeply bleak vision, as urgently radical as today’s capitalist world demands. With REVELATOR (2024), E L U C I D cried out from the heart of a bloodthirsty empire, “Wake” up!”—and now billy woods follows, seizing the attention of the awakened listener, forcing them to confront their actions, face the truth, and examine their conscience.
„I hide everything in the rhymes, that’s why I need it dark on stage,
Make no mistake“
billy woods raps on Make No Mistake — and all we can do is listen and feel ashamed. While the album is a grand horror story with sweeping societal reach, it is also deeply interwoven with billy’s personal testimony and traumas. The track Waterproof Mascara reflects on his departure from Zimbabwe, where billy left with his mother just months after his father died in a car accident.
„This system will take your ancestral traditions and twist ’em
Indigenous mountain villages makin’ coca paste
Still living hand to mouth, make no mistake“
These are more words from Make No Mistake. GOLLIWOG is resistance, a crash zone of repressive systems and ideologies — the essence of rap. billy also addresses the ongoing genocide in Gaza, perpetrated by Israel with the support of U.S. and Western funding and weaponry.
“Twelve billion USD hovering over the Gaza Strip. You don’t wanna know what it cost to live.“
He raps on Corinthians, while the West merely watches — “Scarecrow in a field, watching the spectacle.” A beat by EL-P and a guest verse from Despot: this track is a brutal sci-fi horror filled with murderous technologies — though sadly without the “sci-fi” label, as it merely describes reality. As Eyedea once said — Even Shadows Have Shadows (2001) — and in this spirit, billy woods and a host of other talented artists construct a vast, diverse narrative that remains incredibly cohesive. Producers The Alchemist, Kenny Segal, EL-P, Conductor Williams, Preservation, Messiah Musik, Sadhugold, Ant, Shabaka Hutchings, Steel Tipped Dove, DJ Haram, Willie Green, Jeff Markey, Saint Abdullah, Human Error Club, and guest artists E L U C I D, Cavalier, Bruiser Wolf, Despot, Al.Divino, and vocalist Yolanda Watson — GOLLIWOG is a story built by the best of the best.
The album closes with the phenomenal track Dislocated feat. E L U C I D, where the golliwog doll disappears: “You can’t come in here with me, I can’t be located,” and only a thought remains, beginning to spread through society, reminding the pain to all who have ever caused it to someone else. The origin of the thought cannot be found, nor can it be killed.
NEWS
Trainspotting
Rome Streetz is undoubtedly one of the best rappers of today. His album Hatton Garden Holdup (w/ Daringer) from last year confirmed his status once again. We traveled all the way from the Czech Republic to Warsaw just to see the duo perform the album live, and we can confirm that it’s a show you absolutely must see. After Rome Streetz checked off his album with Daringer, his gaze turned to another legendary producer from the Griselda label — the one and only Conductor Williams. A few months ago, the artists confirmed that the album was finished and would be worth the wait. Last week, we finally got the release date, set for May 30th. The joint album will be titled Trainspotting, and you can check out the truly original trailer. The preview is set in 2055, with the artists reminiscing about the creation of the album, which is now considered a classic. The trailer strikes a perfect balance of perspective and humor and builds tension and anticipation.
God Does Like Ugly
JID set off a wave of speculation and emotions when he dropped the official trailer for his upcoming album, God Does Like Ugly, on YouTube. The trailer evokes a dark, almost post-apocalyptic sci-fi scene, as if reality is collapsing only to be reborn according to the rapper’s rules. After the deep and layered album The Forever Story, JID is coming into a much rawer, more restless mode. It seems like he’s building a new world around himself — a world that is gritty, unforgiving, but entirely his own. It’s no longer about refining the past but about constructing the future on his own terms. And that’s with pain, pressure, and scars. The trailer feels like a confession of chaos, yet there’s a strong hand guiding it. JID may not want to save the world, but he definitely wants to recreate it his way.
Coldest Combo Ever
Naming their album Coldest Combo Ever certainly takes courage. However, the artists al.divino and Estee Nack, along with producer Grubby Pawz, can definitely pull it off. Estee Nack and al.divino have released numerous modern classics together; albums like Abrakadabra, Alakazam!, and The Door have helped redefine contemporary underground rap. Their last joint project, Triple Black Diamonds 2, was released in 2022, and since then, both artists have solidified their positions in the scene. After almost three years of anticipation, their next collaborative album is finally here. Coldest Combo Ever promises controlled chaos, absolute madness from start to finish, and the hardest rap of today. The album is available exclusively for purchase on jackpotrecords.vip, and the vinyl will be released soon.
QUICK NEWS
- LIFEOFTHOM released a great LIVE IN STUDIO version of the single READY OR NOT.
- André 3000 surprised once again by releasing a solo piano EP, 7 piano sketches.
- Defcee & Parallel Thought have announced a joint album, Other Blues, set to be released on June 6. Check out the lead single, Casket Races.
- DJ Muggs released a dusted edition of the modern classic Death & The Magician, his collaborative album with Rome Streetz.
- A new episode of Offstage with Okayplayer gives you a glimpse into the creative process of producer ewonee. This is a must-watch video.
BEST ALBUMS
Knowledge the Pirate & Roc Marciano – The Round Table review
The new collaborative album by Knowledge the Pirate and Roc Marciano, The Round Table, is a rap session of bosses, where wrongs are not settled quietly but in the rhythm of precise verses, grimy loops, and a velvety murderous atmosphere. The album sounds like a recording from an era when everything was more expensive, relationships more dangerous, and luxury sinfully beautiful. From the first track, Eating Etiquette, you’re drawn into a world where the rules of etiquette are written with a gun and a cigar. Pirate raps with the calm of someone who has survived more than usual and knows that silence is golden—unless, of course, there’s the right beat. Marciano provides minimalist loops that don’t overwhelm but sink into the blood, like blood into the tablecloth that lies on this round table. The track The Outfit, featuring Marciano himself, is the heart of the album. It feels like a moment where words turn into imagery. The tale of a quiet, luxurious criminal existence carries the poetry of the old mafia as well as the ugliness of reality, where every wrong move could be the last. There’s no weak spot on the album—every track has something to say. Magic & Kareem, Addicted to Danger, and Forks and Knives offer the poetry of a hard life with the smile of someone who hasn’t laughed in years. The album is rebellious, elegant, and cold but still human. On the album, Pirate doesn’t come off as a gangster from a movie but as a veteran of the underworld, someone who survived and now tells stories in images that burn and caress. Marciano, as a producer, stays true to his signature style: subtle loops, grainy beats, and decadent grooves. His soundscape feels more like a soundtrack to elegance than a party banger. Exactly what Pirate needs. Together, the duo sounds like two old mafia men sitting at a bar, watching the chaos around them, knowing that their time never ended.
Stack Skrilla & Yuno – Oh You Ain’t Know review
The album Oh You Ain’t Know by New York rapper Stack Skrilla and producer Yuno doesn’t hit you right away. It doesn’t grab you with a bombastic beat or an instant hit. This is rap for the moments when you’re feeling down, unsure of what’s next, and you need to hear that you’re not the only one on the edge. No glitz, no ego trip. Just truth, raw like the morning after a sleepless night. Stack Skrilla is an introvert among the loudmouths of rap. Not that he has nothing to say—in fact, it’s quite the opposite. He just does it differently. In the track Never Settled, he whispers so much pain, hope, and questions in your ear that it almost feels hard to breathe. Stack doesn’t scream that he wants more. He breathes it out, because otherwise, he’d suffocate. He lives in a city where dreams are choked by concrete, but still, he tries to keep them alive. He talks about buying an apartment as a life goal, but not because he wants to flex—it’s because he wants peace. His own space. A piece of the world where he won’t have to survive. Yuno provided him with beats that don’t scream at the world but hold your hand. Melancholic loops, soft drums, no unnecessary effects. This is music that lets the words breathe. Minimalism that feels like dim light in a room full of thoughts. Almost every beat sounds like unfinished tea—bitter-sweet but intimately familiar. The album even includes brief moments of silence, skits, intros, outros, as if Stack is confiding in you bit by bit, like it’s done in therapy. He doesn’t unload everything at once. He builds trust, both in himself and in you. And when the track In My Mode or Autobiography hits, he gives you a dose of what it means to live in internal conflict but not give up. Unfortunately, no music video was released for the album, but we’ve included the video for the track EXTRA FRIES.
MIKE & Tony Seltzer – Pinball II review
The second flipper, but no arcade fun. Pinball II is like a broken machine in a nonstop bar, flashing, making noise, but if you look closely, you’ll see it’s more than just about the score. MIKE is still that quiet observer in the corner of the room, whispering heavy thoughts, trauma, disappointment, and paranoia to his listeners. Tony Seltzer has locked him into a sound that pulses with life. The beats are harder than what we’re used to from MIKE, they’re alive, energized, and sometimes even club-ready. Tracks like Prezzy or Splat! pound with synthetic noise, distorted bass, and wild breaks. Tony Seltzer builds a production under MIKE that makes you nod your head, even though his lyrics freeze you. And that contrast is the essence of the whole album—heartbeats through drums, trauma through 808s. MIKE speaks on this album like someone who’s walked through the fog and knows it could all return at any time. The features are spot-on: Earl Sweatshirt doesn’t disappoint on Jumanji, bringing his notorious philosophical darkness; Lunchbox and Sideshow add their distinct energies but never break the atmosphere. And Niontay on Shaq & Kobe hits the perfect harmony—he and MIKE are like a duo watching each other’s backs even in war. Pinball II is a well-balanced project: MIKE doesn’t lose his soul, and Tony adds the tempo. It’s an album about survival in a faster world—still heavy, but more likely to make you move. Not for chilling, but for waking up. Not for escaping, but for returning.
Action Figure 973 – DOOM WAS RIGHT review
Action Figure 973 is a rapper and producer from Belleville, New Jersey, who never takes off his mask, blending references to wrestling, punchline-packed bars, and street slang into his music. He’s kept his official debut album under wraps for a long time, but last week we finally got to hear it. How else could a masked rapper officially step onto the scene but by paying tribute to the greatest masked rapper of them all? Rap as a superpower: the masked villain Action Figure 973 pays homage to a legend with his debut album—DOOM WAS RIGHT. The album is a manifesto of the philosophy to present music for the music itself, not for the person or entity behind it. The face doesn’t matter; it’s the skills behind the mic that count, and in this case, also behind the beats. Yes, Action Figure 973 produced his debut entirely himself. However, he’s not alone in this mission; featured rappers Vega7 The Ronin, Bloo Azul, and EricTheRed13 bring their own spark of magic to the project. DOOM WAS RIGHT is an album that builds upon MF DOOM’s legacy, creating its own world. It doesn’t get lost in nostalgia but continues the mission. Unfortunately, there’s no official music video for the album, but we’ve got a video for the track Rap Is Crap to keep you in the loop.
Mani Coolin – I’ll Take The Blame review
Mani Coolin, a rapper from Los Angeles, began his rap career before even turning twenty. He released his first mixtape, Something Perfect, in 2011 and immediately drew attention. Over the course of his career, he’s released multiple projects, each one reflecting his growth both as a person and as an MC. His latest album, I’ll Take The Blame, marks a moment of full artistic realization. As the title suggests, I’ll Take The Blame is a candid, soulful statement from an artist living under constant pressure yet facing obstacles head-on. The first tones of the opening track, Keep Calling, set the mood for the entire album. You can expect beautiful, soulful beats that give space for Mani’s stories, filled with responsibility, deep thoughts, personal growth, and tireless hustle. The album features guests like 3wayslim, Casey Veggies, Monday Night, Niko G4, and Maxo—artists whose introspective lyrics match Coolin’s, making them a perfect fit for the album. As heard in the track Nothing to Prove: “They think this shit is a song, but this is really how I live.” This line encapsulates the essence of the album perfectly.
DOPE ALBUMS
The five albums above aren’t the only ones you need to hear. We’ve handpicked ten more dope records that no one should sleep on. Give every one of these projects a shot — they all deserve your time.
Nuse Tyrant – Hangman
Chairman Chow – RUN ‘N GUN
junclassic & SQ – Ante Meridiem Cats
Maze Overlay – Vintage Lord
Footsie & Strategy – Theatre Of Dreams
E-Fluent & Reckonize Real – Broken King’s III
PEP57 – IT ALMOST COST ME MY FREEDOM!
Sauce Heist – Money Blood & Loyalty
Berner & Mando – Timeless
Motman & Micall Parknsun – The Revenge Of The SiXth
BEST MUSIC VIDEOS
CelebrityDeathmatch by Bones & Brevin Kim is a hypnotic banger that sneaks into your memory with sly persistence.
Minesweeper by Mary Sue and the Clementi Sound Appreciation Club gets the job done flawlessly, signaling that the upcoming album is going to be something truly special.
Bas and The Hics are building anticipation for their joint album in grand style: the music video for the track Norbit (feat. Ab-Soul) is exceptional.
The Musalini and DJ.Fresh have taken it to the next level: the video for Players Ball ft. Silent Snipers, Planet Asia is an epic story unfolding across multiple locations.
Ovrkast. comes with a clear message: I’M ON. The album While The Iron Is Hot is set to be released on May 30.
DOPE VIDEOS
Our list of must-see music videos doesn’t stop at the top five. We’ve selected ten more fire clips you need to check out. Show some love to all the artists below — they truly deserve the spotlight.
TRAPMAT SAVIOR – BACK2BUSINESS (Directed by Mobb)
UFO Fev – RAZOR KEYS (Prod. Vanderslice) (Dir. Akin Films NYC)
Horace Gaither – New Black Jockey ft. Otez & Hendo Houdini
Boldy James & Real Bad Man – Burn In Hell
Maxo Kream x Denzel Curry – Triggaman
Sauce Heist – Mo Paper Mo Gunz (Prod. HeyCam)
Killah Priest – The Walking Life ft. Solo Gemz
BA Pace – Snake N Dog (Prod. by YUNGMORPHEUS)
That’s a wrap on today’s news roundup. What caught your attention the most? Hit us up on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok or Bluesky We’ll be back next Monday with another dose of the Rap Weekly and fresh heat from the scene — don’t miss it!
