Appreciating the poetry in billy woods' lyrics

[alonso ramoran]

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]

Stood pooled in porch light
Cut my shadow off with a dull knife
Whispered in its ear, then sent it off into the night
Set the trap for the mice, the rats
Whatever's in the pipes
Corner of your eye, the edge of the white
That's where I live, I'm set for life
Braise the tripe, never stir the rice twice
Belly roasted, pancetta on a fine dice
Your wife said, "Haram," but we already fell from quite a height
This what happen, left to his own device
You'd be embarrassed to know the price (It wasn't much)
The bag was light, the rags was still tied tight
There was no particular gripe, I seent it all crescendo
Stepped over son when it was my turn at the window
Backwoodz single, change on plexiglass
Yeah, that's my jingle

[Chorus]

Careful what you ask for, you just might get it
Mom showed us where she kept our passports hidden
Careful what you ask for, you just might get it
Better yet, he keep a couple passports wit' him

[Verse 2]

Told my ex-wife where I stashed it, just in case
She paused, then she said, "Okay”
Couldn't think of much else to say, a labyrinth is not a maze
That's okay, but that's not the Haze
J.D. Salinger, just stay away
Miss Havisham at the drapes
Naked to the waist, aged like grapes
Guttering candles, throw shade while we ate
All you heard was knife and fork on the plate
Grainy home movies of him home-rollin' doobies
Pagliacci, how they piled in the fuckin' hooptie
Loopy smile, I ran through the town like Houthi
Wave cap under the kufi, the tea was loose-leaf
Listen, it's all news to me, I'm new in these parts
Pardon the God, I'm just visitin' my niece
Somewhere in the buildin', someone, somewhere makin' beats, muffled
Cover the mouths of children when you hear the beast, shuffle
To another door, somethin' scuttled along the floor
Belt buckle whip you raw, stood up all night
Every plan had a flaw
Pried every board from the floor
Pride before fall but he felt sure
Both hands wrapped in gauze
Stole fire from God, your Lord
And I'm just wonderin' what she was thinkin' when she paused
What she was thinkin' when she paused

[Chorus]

Careful what you ask for, you just might get it
Moms showed us where she kept our passports hidden
Careful what you ask for (Ask for, ask for)

---

billy woods' ability to use references while still appealing to the listener's emotions with imagery and cool turns of phrases makes for such engaging listens. He's been on heavy rotation recently lol

[alonso ramoran]

Haarlem

[Part 1]

[Intro: billy woods]
Swimmin' in palm oil out here

[Verse 1: billy woods]
King of all blacks, I eat human hearts
I let things fall apart, motorcars rustin' in the garage
Granadillas wild in the yard, vines climbin' burglar bars
The roof fell in, on God, it's full of stars
I swam in the dark, sun fled, the moon large
Fire leap from Perry's Black Ark
Slash and burn, the past is never far
Reaching with chopped arms, lopped hands, no spare parts
The band played "Those Were the Days," I watched 'em hang
I ate red red in the stadium stands
From crumbling balustrades, I watched 'em dance
Like drill rappers

[Interlude]
You have your price
It's rather high
How high?
Gallows high

[Verse 2: billy woods]
They grew fat in famine
Our mortarless fortresses lie abandoned
Alien monoliths still standin', pantin'
Super Ape, put a candle in a skull for a lantern
Light a dutch in Haarlem, Amsterdam, steps of a mansion
Speaking Afrikaans, British accent, I want mine from back when
Thebe said the wind get the ashes in the end, bruv
The guerrillas severed every inoculated limb, left 'em with stubs
Ziggurats on the Nile, bought the house and tore it down
All your yesterdays in one neat pile

[Outro]
The will of the state is supreme
Destiny has entrusted in our hands the will of the state
The will of the state is supreme
Destiny has entrusted in our hands the will of the state
The will of the state is supreme
Destiny has entrusted in our hands the will of the state

[Part 2]

[Verse 1: billy woods]
No pictures, no touchin' the strippers
Don't come around with no glass slippers
Gas lamps, gas masks, rain slickers, glass lens
The unslaved nigga, Moorish bandits
Moorish science entanglement tangents
Get you a pistol if you want your prayers answered
Holding court, the whole breast heavy as gourds, milk rancid
Standin' downwind of the homeless encampment
Find my way home, white man left a lamp lit

[Verse 2: Fatboi Sharif]
The pistol burnin' on this mystical journey
Sold parallel paradise, postcarded vision souvenir
Missile launchin' redemption
Church faculty sniper bullets close to the king and moshpit Bleeding marksmen
Bloody footprints, ran from crime scene, crooks involved
The carousel ring backwards, exorcism
Possession of the cookie jar

[Outro]
I have reason to believe that a press photographer might find his way into your retreat, in spite of all our precautions for your privacy
A foreign journalist, one of the best. I have seen some of his work. The work of a genius
I don't like being photographed! It would be a most unwarrantable intrusion

[wasellajam]

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]

Stood pooled in porch light
Cut my shadow off with a dull knife
Whispered in its ear, then sent it off into the night
Set the trap for the mice, the rats
Whatever's in the pipes
Corner of your eye, the edge of the white
That's where I live, I'm set for life
Braise the tripe, never stir the rice twice
Belly roasted, pancetta on a fine dice
Your wife said, "Haram," but we already fell from quite a height
This what happen, left to his own device
You'd be embarrassed to know the price (It wasn't much)
The bag was light, the rags was still tied tight
There was no particular gripe, I seent it all crescendo
Stepped over son when it was my turn at the window
Backwoodz single, change on plexiglass
Yeah, that's my jingle

[Chorus]

Careful what you ask for, you just might get it
Mom showed us where she kept our passports hidden
Careful what you ask for, you just might get it
Better yet, he keep a couple passports wit' him

[Verse 2]

Told my ex-wife where I stashed it, just in case
She paused, then she said, "Okay”
Couldn't think of much else to say, a labyrinth is not a maze
That's okay, but that's not the Haze
J.D. Salinger, just stay away
Miss Havisham at the drapes
Naked to the waist, aged like grapes
Guttering candles, throw shade while we ate
All you heard was knife and fork on the plate
Grainy home movies of him home-rollin' doobies
Pagliacci, how they piled in the fuckin' hooptie
Loopy smile, I ran through the town like Houthi
Wave cap under the kufi, the tea was loose-leaf
Listen, it's all news to me, I'm new in these parts
Pardon the God, I'm just visitin' my niece
Somewhere in the buildin', someone, somewhere makin' beats, muffled
Cover the mouths of children when you hear the beast, shuffle
To another door, somethin' scuttled along the floor
Belt buckle whip you raw, stood up all night
Every plan had a flaw
Pried every board from the floor
Pride before fall but he felt sure
Both hands wrapped in gauze
Stole fire from God, your Lord
And I'm just wonderin' what she was thinkin' when she paused
What she was thinkin' when she paused

[Chorus]

Careful what you ask for, you just might get it
Moms showed us where she kept our passports hidden
Careful what you ask for (Ask for, ask for)

---

billy woods' ability to use references while still appealing to the listener's emotions with imagery and cool turns of phrases makes for such engaging listens. He's been on heavy rotation recently lol

Great first listen, thanks.