SAMPLEDELUCID and Sebb Bash stripped it back to two turntables and a microphone
I Guess U Had To Be There is a rapper-producer record in the oldest sense, with billy woods, Breeze Brewin, Estee Nack and Shabaka Hutchings passing through.
Backwoodz opens its write-up for I Guess U Had To Be There with a phrase that has been rap shorthand for forty years: two turntables and a microphone. The point is that the format is not a limitation. One rapper, one producer, no committee — the setup that produced Madvillainy, Liquid Swords, Dr. Octagonecologyst and Hell Hath No Fury.
ELUCID, half of Armand Hammer, has spent the last few years making some of the least predictable rap music in New York. Sebb Bash is the veteran producer here, and the label describes the pairing as sounding fresh enough to have been made tomorrow while still working on a 1989 sound system.
Guests, used sparingly
The features are real names but they stay in their lane: billy woods, Breeze Brewin, Estee Nack, Mattie, and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings. Backwoodz is explicit that this is a two-man show, and the tracklist backs it up — most songs carry no guest at all.
Tracklist
- First Light (feat. Mattie)
- Cantata
- Hands n Feet (feat. Estee Nack)
- Make Me Wise
- Coonspeak
- Equiano (feat. Shabaka Hutchings)
- The Lorax (feat. billy woods)
- Fainting Goats (feat. Breeze Brewin)
- I Say
- Self
- Visitation
- Place
- Alive
- Herbals
What to listen for
Sebb Bash keeps shifting the ground — the beats flip and reset underneath the verses — and ELUCID rides the movement instead of fighting it. If you are new to his writing, the same approach that works for woods' lyrics works here: stop trying to decode every line on the first pass and follow the images.
Vinyl, cassette and digital details are on the Backwoodz release page (opens in a new tab).