Kolarič, Jožef. Vergleich von Heimat, natur- und umweltbezogenen Lexemen in den Songs Ein bisschen Frieden, 99 Luftballons und Fürstenfeld. Germanistische Forschungsfragen in Trnava II., Ústí nad Labem und Wroclaw / Georg Schuppener, Veronika Jičínská, Marcelina Kalasznik (Hgg.) Leipzig : Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2021, 137-152.   Kolarič, Jožef. “Billy Woods’s Literary Intertexts.” Text Matters No. 10. Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture. Łódź: University of Łódź, 2020, 182-193, https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/8667/8522.   Kolarič, Jožef. Homophobia in Rap. Words, Music and Gender. Kennedy V. und Gadpaille M. (Hgg.)  Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020, 119-132.   Kolarič, Jožef. Sprachkontaktphänomene in Songtexten von Curse. J. Demčišák, M. Hornáček Banášová (Hgg.) Germanistische Forschungsfragen in Trnava I., Ústí nad Labem und Wrocław I., Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag GmbH, 2020, 27-39.   Kolarič, Jožef. Übersicht von Ausgewählten Methoden für den Aufbau eines Koprus mit Rap-Songtexten. Sprachkompetenz als Bestandteil des lebenslangen Lernens/Language Competence as Part of Lifelong Learning. E. Poórová und S. Kotlebová (Hgg.), Trnava: Univerzita Sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave, 2020, 18-26.     Kolarič, Jožef. Generational Gap in Rap Music. Sprachkompetenz in der Wissenschaft/Language Competence in the Science: Sammelband wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten/Book of Scientific Articles. J. Keketiová, T. Eidenmüller und J. Levická (Hgg.), Trnava: Fakulta sociálnych vied, 2019, 101-106. Kolarič, Jožef. Literary Intertextuality in the Lyrics of GZA, MF DOOM, Aesop Rock and Billy Woods. XA Proceedings. Volume 2. A. Obrazović und M. Uremović (Hgg.), Zagreb: Klub studenata anglistike, 2019, 81-98, https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=322418. Weiss, Jeff. “Ameriška kultura je postala kultura rapa.” Interview by Jožef Kolarič. Razpotja No. 33., 2018, 86-90. Woods, Billy. ” Vse, kar napišem, je osebno.” Interview by Jožef Kolarič. Razpotja No. 30., 2017, 86-89. Kolarič, Jožef. Intertextuality and Allusion in Rap Lyrics. Inquis a Graduate Jounral of Literature in English Vol. 1, 2016, 14-26, https://inquisjournal.wordpress.com/recent-issue/. MA Theses: Kolarič, Jožef. Staatsapparat, Gesetzgebung und Gerichtsverfahren in Franz Kafkas Werken und deren Widerspiegelung in konstitutioneller Monarchie, föderaler Republik und Staatenverbun. Maribor, 2018, https://dk.um.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=70102&lang=slv. Kolarič, Jožef. Intertextuality of literature in Billy Woods`s Lyrics. Maribor, 2017, https://dk.um.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=68435&lang=slv.

 

I get tired of n***** talking about the “good old days”

When they still owe me money – Billy Woods in the song “Bill Cosby”

 

In the late 2000s to the early 2010s, rap was stagnating and it seemed that it was in a decline. But in 2012, a lot changed – it wasn’t since the early 2000s that so many quality rap records have been made in a single year, but none stood out more than Billy Woodsˈs History Will Absolve Me. The record was made after his group Super Chron Flight Brother disbanded. If we could explain the record in one word, it would be ‘anger’. The record’s beginning is built on that wreckage, and the disbandment of the group serves as the theme of the first song. Following the short intro song, the record presents precise criticism of the contemporary society as a whole. Nobody is safe from it, and it can be read as criticism of the US society; but calling it only that would do a disservice to the record, as it attacks Western institutions altogether.

What distinguishes Billy Woods is his consistency in using intertextuality and allusion in his songs. A common way he utilizes this is by combining historical figures with pop-culture on the song the Foringer:

Served hors-d’oeuvres, tricks up sleeves, the hoochie grins

But it ain’t no compromise I’m Ho Chi Minh, ruthless MC Ren

In the above line, he combines the historical figure Ho Chi Minh with MC Ren. Ho Chi Minh was the president of Vietnam from 1945 to 1969 and an influential communist leader in the 20^th century. MC Ren was a member of N.W.A. and was one of the group’s writers. The poetic persona combines those two figures with the adjective ‘ruthless’. This is an allusion to Ruthless Records, the label MC Reb was with. The second reference is to the ruthlessness of Ho Chi Minh in fighting Colonialism and his proficiency in the deployment of guerilla warfare.

Yet, there are also simpler concepts on the record, e.g. the song “Bill Cosby”. It describes a life of a middle-aged African-American, who is dissatisfied with his own life, an unhappy marriage, and his kids. He relieved his frustrations with drinking and television, but his story doesn’t get better, and as the song progresses, his life gets worse and worse until it ends with a disaster.

What makes this record great is that despite all the radical politics and social criticism it doesn’t lack self-awareness, as seen in the song “The Wake”:

I could go back tell myself everything I know

But me at 23 would probably shrug a shoulder

The poetic persona is aware of his personal short-comings and that in the past he made questionable decisions, which are now affecting his present life. Nevertheless, he agrees that even if he could go back in time, it would not change much. The record also doesn’t lack humor, as almost all songs contain funny lines or occurrences. This helps the record; otherwise, it would be too dark and bleak.

History Will Absolve Me still stands as one of the most important rap records that came out this decade. What is remarkable is that it manages to be overtly political without being preachy. Yes, we can argue that all rap is political, but there are a few overtly political rap records that are enjoyable to listen to. They tend to be preachy, condescending, and plain boring, but History Will Absolve Me is far from that. To this day, it is still the best Billy Woods’s record, and it stands as a blueprint for all of his following work. And all the layers of intertextuality in it make it a rewarding listing experience, which has a tremendous amount of replay value.