#armand being like i NEED to kill you. but i wont because i want you. invite me upstairs.

[frigidwife]

do you think louis chose/believed armand over claudia in the scene after armand threatens and chokes her? i was under the impression that louis reflexively disagreed with claudia because he didn't want to believe it, but the fact that he also reflexively lit armand's photo on fire makes me think his response to claudia ("he wouldn't do that"/"sit in your choice") was a denial of the real horror he was feeling, that he did believe her and just wished it wasn't true. i rewatched that scene and when he notices the picture is on fire, he waits a second before putting it out, which makes me think his commitment to armand following this scene wasn't out of genuine love, but a strategic choice made out of fear, the same way he martyred himself for lestat to turn claudia. i still see people talking about how much louis and armand did love each other, and i was briefly convinced when madeline called it out (though that scene also contains claudia thanking armand for not treating her like a child, so the legitimacy of the entire scene is thrown into question imo). but after rewatching the season, i don't think they were that devoted to each other. between the actors deliberately playing their flirtations super awkward, the fact that louis never commits until armand threatens claudia and his commitment itself following louis' pattern of chaining himself to his current lover/shark for claudia's survival (a pattern the show goes out of its way to emphasize with lestat's retelling of her turning), and the fact that armand apparently did choose the coven over louis...idk. maybe i'm biased and just sick of the idea that armand and louis' love is some torrid gothic romance when it seems clear that louis and armand's insistence that it was in dubai is deliberately at odds with what we saw, despite how hard they were trying to make it seem that way. even the way they gassed up their first meeting felt staged, and if we're supposed to understand that louis and armand's growing physical distance in dubai denotes emotional/romantic distance as louis' memories are restored, it seems in line to realize that the distance isn't what's new, nor is the performance of love; it's the realization that it is a performance. SORRY this got long, i feel like i'm going a little crazy because i feel the show is saying the exact opposite to much of the analysis on here. in a way i would love to be convinced towards a different perspective because then i could just relax

no i agree with you completely ur not insane and neither am i.... i havent watched that episode in a while but the way the events are sequenced it's not even ambiguous--the relationship with armand is strategic and it has been since the beginning. like i dont think louis's "he wouldn't do that" is even a denial of the kind of person armand is. Bc in the previous episode armand literally almost killed louis for the same secret he's just threatened claudia about. so why would he actually disbelieve her? (laying it out like this i'm realizing why the victim blaming interpretation of louis as ditzy is so prevalent lol.) his frustration reads to me like: i've already sacrificed my freedom and happiness so you can join the coven that you love so much, and now you're saying you don't like the coven? you can't tough it out and trust i have armand handled? the disbelief in "he wouldn't do that" is not that louis wants to believe armand is a better person; it's that louis wants to believe his control over armand is more complete, bc otherwise claudia is right and his sacrifices are doubly pointless. this is the same pattern we saw with louis and his siblings as a human--telling grace to worry about herself, telling lestat how they were four months from bankruptcy; he takes pains to keep them ignorant but then is frustrated they wont register his sacrifice; they see it as him pushing them away (literal knife to paul's throat). louis starting to burn the photograph is him giving up--claudia is ungrateful; this task is impossible. but then the dream lestat which is ofc just louis calls claudia "our daughter" and that's when louis stops burning the photograph of armand. at the reminder that no matter how he tries to accept her as grown and autonomous, she's his child first. and then you can see him double down and regroup--get rid of ghost lestat indulgence to commit fully to companionship with as much control as he can leverage

[cordyceph]

one big thing about iwtv i like is that Every character has flaws. even characters we're meant to unapologetically sympathize with in other medias

paul, for example, is a very clearly sick man whos sickness weighs on his family. in any other media, hed'd be virtually untouched by any flaw other than being tragically sick. in iwtv, the first time we see him he's harassing louis' prostitutes (and we Know its harrasment because she tells louis he wont leave and paul isnt listening when she tells him she isnt interested.) we also see paul detest levi- who he views as having taken away his sister- and then act borderline hostile to lestat- some weird white man who's come to take his last sibling away, by attacking something he Knows he can win (religion, implying that lestat is either a blasphemer or gay) (either way, living in sin)

i think the only character who is like not an asshole without reason to be is grace? because shes generally kind and understanding until louis endangers her kids, literally disappears for months, years, until their mother dies, until she has to 'kill' him in her mind. sure, she was aggressive and insulting at their mother's funeral, but like... i would be too. if my brother fucked off for who knows how long, comes back Wrong and more of an asshole than before, literally breaks a door down, threatens me? id be way more upset than she was. like shes kind of a saint compared to literally everyone else. armand? armand. need i say more. louis? half the show is 'look at louis be unnecessarily cruel to those around him' (claudia, daniel, armand, lestat) lestat. oh my god lestat. i want to study his brain and be like brother how do you have every disease.

claudia is kind of a special case because for as much as she acts grown shes permanently stuck in that fourteen year old era. i know i, when i was an unsupported mentally ill teenager, said horrible things i deeply regretted later on. claudia goes through that too, just by like... a hundred or so years more. its not until madeline really treats her like another adult woman that she acts more like. well. an adult. louis didn't treat her like an adult ever (as much as lestat did wrong by her specifically, i do think he treated her like an adult, but never a child. but thats for another ramble) anyway, claudia says awful things and does awful things because shes fourteen and being treated like a child, but shes an adult, but no one treats her like one. like babydoll from batman animated

daniel . daniellllllll. olllllld man. i lost my steam thinking about that old man im gonna be real. hes just really funny and pretty and smart and cool okay im gonna jackhammer that guys pelvis

[travellingwiththedead]

IwtV s2e3 rewatch notes

Because once again everything is happening so much and I need to take notes xD

(spoilers for show and books behind the read more)

So Daniel is allowed to leave the penthouse, didn't seem like it before. Is this a test to see what he'll do?

My man your handwriting is as bad as mine xD

"Where is the coven now(maybe)??? Today? Cell phone, Google, CCTV. SAN FRANCISCO, Polynesean Mary. Playboy Magazine. Alice. They'll come for Lenora and Kate next. nee (use??) Lestat as a doorstop/CLAUDIA!. MARA'S CAB. COKE BETTY GRABLE. THIS TIME I WONT SAVE YOUR LIFE"

so, "Raglan James". Why that character? If it is him. I guess can't have Mr. Superior General running around spying on vampires in Dubai but...this guy? So if it it's really Raglan my guess is he's not really Talamasca any longer and he's spying on vampires because he's looking for one recless enough to do the thing. And he thinks Daniel is his best bet on getting the intel.

"You're not the first to attempt this, Mr. Molloy. I could give you the names of four others who have and they're all dead. Or undead." Yeah, that tends to happen when you lot tangle with the vampires xD

"How many Rashids, Rahid?" I guess poor Real Rashid can be glad Daniel's not calling him Renfield LOL

"They are peaceful beings"....who eat people. My dear Real Rashid, I don't think that word means what you think it means xD

Armand stop making heart eyes at Daniel (actually don't xD)

Blenders mention (also they're not trying to sell them to you, you little gremlin, because you already bought so many xD)

Still very much "Sure, Jan" about Armand's story about how he met Lestat. I mean, he's clearly telling it with the agenda of making himself look better, understandable. But also he's making Nicki out to be some little fling Lestat didn't care about and he hates Gabrielle so much he's not even mentioning her. Sure, Jan xD

But dang every one is acting their hearts out and they're all so fabulously good at it.

You know the one thing really in character for Lestat in Armand's story? Dragging around a whole ass crucifix to make a point xD

Armand's definition of unharmed is as bad as Rashid's definition of peaceful LOL

"You led him there so he could destroy it." Hit the nail right on the head. Armand wants to get rid of the Children of Darkness? Oh look, a vampire who doesn't obey the rules and can help him with that. He wants to get rid of the Theatre de Vampires? Oh, look, a Louis.....

Still so amusing how Lestat's hair in Armand's story is always on point and how it's mostly terrible when Louis hallucinates him xD

I'm guessing these be their laws in Latin, my Latin is rusty and I never was much good at it but

looks like "III. Nullus lamia vampiris debet scibere historiam" for example and google translate says that's "No one should know the history of vampires" so....

I still think the whole sexual assault thing with Claudia is unnecessary. Bad choice to do that, imho.

It's so heart breaking to see how much Claudia wants to belong with the Theatre coven. Vampires are still arseholes and always will be.

When's a door not a door? xD sorry, but that's basically my only thought about Armand's entry there.

Not Louis taking a picture to see if Lestat's actually there or not.

I feel like it's a bad idea to open a chat conversation with Daniel when the vampires can read his mind. Seems like a sure way to be found out....

Louis getting philosophical and Daniel just hammering at buttons because his computer is being taken over is funny, ok? xD

Those Talamaska files are interesting. "PC Members Extinct 1556-1949", "Armand (Arun Amadeo)".

Hm, I feel like talking loud enough for Sartre to be annoyed by it about killing people seems like it's breaking your laws a lot, Armand LOL

Also Dream Lestat is being a right bitch, it's hilarious.

Louis, darling, you're losing it, you need therapy

How about telling Claudia they're all on to you? Would be a good idea before she joins their coven, one would think...

Why is Santiago's last name Windsor? xD like no, he does not look like a Windsor. I thought he was one of the one name gang, like Madonna LOL

And the Talamasca just spoiled Daniel about what will happen to the Theatre, rude xD

Of course Armand would make it out to have been Santiago who demanded he take out Louis. Sure, Jan.

So fucking dramatic to take Louis into the sewers and threaten him and then actually do nothing at all to him.

Louis, you really should not be turned on by people who just said they should kill you, dear xD

Yeah, casting Claudia as the baby is not fucked up, at all....

EDIT: also apparently this Theatre coven doesn't wall people up, they put them in the morgue fridges xD (which usually are one big fridge inside instead of many little ones but I guess they'll not do that here....)

over all, very fun episode, and stellar performances from the whole cast but especially Assad and Jacob.

[blaqueswanzaghouliishiilikeda]

mmm…

i wanna talk about paul. i dont think i lingered too much there. bc it’s a sensitive spot i guess? it’s a sensitive thing to be openly unwell. my focus with this post if i really even have that is his relation with louis. i wanna talk about paul in relation to how louis treats him and that being a reason why i love louis so much too. i love both characters. i think paul doesnt really ever get mentioned in fandom much. which is the psychosis experience tbh. so it tracks.

it’s a public spectacle every one wants so desperately to ignore and to be over. in my personal experience (and i don’t think i’m alone in this) the person going through it wants it to be over too. wants that people don't see them that way. but paul’s whole character is generally ignored other than in conversations about whether or not lestat caused his suicide, which was a compelling conversation. whether or not he did is a incredibly prickly thing in the gut of the story. and to be followed up with Louis staying with Armand after having killed claudia who has a thread with paul too. she has a manic/psychotic moment. she’s a collector. she’s a lot of things that society doesn’t want to see exist. (nor does the fandom but i digress) and the way she lives in this undead world is as if she doesnt exist at all so manny ways (like paul in life too in ways) we’ve spoken of if you are someone who dares to acknowledge the fullness of her character. i said this was about paul but im working through a connection in real time. i think that’s why i wanna talk about paul. bc he carries so much of the story in the little time he was alive. and his death is the catalyst for louis’ initial death. not the one lestat gave him, but the one that made it possible for lestat to convince him in the first place. ( the spiritual one maybe? idk. im just thinking thoughts)

what i never question in regards to paul and louis’ relationship, is that louis loves him. that’s what actually makes that: “did lestat kill him really? and whether or not he did kill him….louis thought he did and stayed?” conversation so insane in the membrane to me. because the way he treated paul shows me he does love him so much. one: something in him died with paul. another thing is that louis genuinely wanted him around. he advocated for him to stay out of the hospital. he took him out as soon as he was given the power to as head of household when his father died. (i have so many questions about his own feelings and opinions on his father.) he openly spent time with him. paul was his favorite person. he let paul crawl into bed with him. which is kind of big deal from what i know in the openly unwell population. not a lot of people want to comfort that. and louis allowing his male brother into bed with him for that tender moment is kind of a key moment for him to me bc of how the pressures of homophobia can affect how men are made to feel they can treat their male family members too. Louis sees him and his need and is willing to give it to him. louis wants to be there for his brother. he decides he’ll be the one to take care of him. tells grace not to worry about paul. he would take care of him. he assures paul he wont see lestat anymore. louis’ love for paul was in the way of lestat’s wants and desires. maybe paul did have suicidal ideation already. maybe many things can be true.

(i meant to post this during disability month, but i went through it and so now i’ll just continue where i left off)

louis struggling with killing a man with a daughter and wanting to go home to his brother…😵‍💫. paul isnt a child, but louis was his caretaker. in paul you see louis shine in that role (barring the bit where he pulls a knife out, and threatens to gut him, bc that was a performance. it’s not great but he didn't even want to do that). louis recognizing that locking away a man for having delusions just because he has them at all made paul worse was such a powerfully impactful thing to me. i say this fully well knowing sometimes going to the hospital can be beneficial these days, but even still being locked up there?? drugged and treated horribly given he was black and in a time when mentally ill people were treated heinously? louis saying he belongs at home and seeing to it that paul gets to be home with his family. spending time with him like he’s a person beyond his disability. beyond his delusions. that shit makes me like quiver and cry tbh. that’s mostly what people going through that need most of all and don’t receive. he loved paul. and when paul dies louis dies. idc. (so if lestat’s did take paul away from louis….he killed him twice….also while i’m here i have stirring thoughts about lestat knowing he could tell paul his truthful intentions in town and that out of paul’s mouth no one would believe him. maybe that’s the whole thought. or maybe i’ll come back to it. idk)

(i think in some ways claudia was also theyre to fill the casm paul created too. sorry none of this is like linear or anything im just thinking i guess. maybe i’ll make get into how i see they’re related later.)

[lunchiemunchies]

Quick notes and ideas/predictions about iwtv season 2 I wanted to get off my chest before any of it comes out. I wont be tagging it because a lot of it might seem "obvious" or "wrong" because I wasn't locked on behind the scenes photos, etc. Let me have some fun, i gush about the show to irl people but they don't Get It like I do

●Daniel has "two wives", but is obviously alone at the start of the show. One is 100% Armand, just misremembered. I would want to say he is "Alice" due to the similar naming, which is why Armand lit up when Daniel thought of her. OR hes the second unnamed, unremembered wife, and his fascination with Alice has to do with knowing how Daniel struggled with her. The eyebrow comment from season 1 has me stumped because thats such a specific thing to remember that either Armand planted it in his brain as a detail instead of his appearance or it was a detail with another purpose in the episode

●Armand killed Marius with a rock. Or strangled him hornily. Please. For me.

●The groan is Armand centric for sure, but its him holding something contained (Marius? Lestat? Those Who Must be Kept!?![likely no])

●Either absolutley no comment about Claudia's recast or a small comment after Daniel sees her photograph ("i pictured her different" or something hurr hurr clever)

●When Armand is describing Lestat, Louis is gonna be making great reaction faces because "who the fuck are you talking about thats not him at all"

●I doubt I'll get it but Armand/Lestat push off roof scene????? pleek?

●Claudia/Madeleine gay ass shit, please no daughter replacement reason

●The most horrible and explicit Claudia death/surgery scene because showrunner loves to make Claudia suffer 😔 and we need a shocker scene like s1 ep 5

●Louis' romantic scenes with Armand will smash cut to them fucking like beasts, OR they will be unable to act upon their beast urges because the Thèatre are up in their business so much (hornier option)

●Season 2 ends with the penthouse being destroyed in some capacity (fire?)

●OR, season 2 ends with Lestat saying "I assume I need no introduction" à la iwtv 94

●Most unhinged prediction: Daniels children are actually a Benji/Sybelle reveal (hate it, also im sure it was said that Daniels children are daughters right lol)

[the-disgruntled-vc]

TVL reread: chapter 1 thoughts

Life has been crazy and I have barely gotten through chapter 1 of TVL. I want to do a re-read proper, but I just kept bouncing around between books because I keep remembering all of this other crazy shit. Also, Versailles happened.

Here are a few thoughts/notes I had after re-reasing chapter 1:

Lestat says “...in spite of my French accent, I talk like a cross between a flatboatman and detective Sam Spade, actually.”   Okay so I TRIED to imagine this... Sam Spade has a pretty iconic voice. It’s that, see, you know THAT voice, see, that 1930s gangster speak. Always wearing a trenchcoat and looking very grim, see, and he says “see” a lot, see. I tried to look up clips of flatboatmen to discern an accent for that, but the best example I got was of hillbillies of Louisiana. So according to Anne Rice, Lestat sounds like a french hillbilly detective. He must sound really dumb.😂

Lestat says he can telepathically summon rats and used this skill to get his strength back. I don’t ever remember any other characters being able to telepathically manipulate animals but this is interesting to note.

Being immortal means crazy interest gains on wealth you have leave stashed away in the bank apparently. At least this is how Lestat explains his wealth-- “A good portion of my old wealth was on its way to New Orleans from coded accounts in the immortal Bank of London and the Rothschild Bank.”  I don’t know much about finance. I never actually learned these things in college, lol. But theoretically I guess it could happen? If his money was in a high interest saving account, he invested money in property that values went up and no one ever declared him dead to close his accounts... seems legit? Somebody with more knowledge about these things explain please! I like Armand’s way of obtaining money better. I recall he reads the minds of rich criminals and follows old treasure maps and stuff like that. Taking other people’s wealth is Very Armand™.

Lestat: “For the first time in history, perhaps, [women] were as strong and as interesting as men.”  Me:

 “I powdered down my face so that I could “pass” beneath the chemical lights of the all-night supermarkets, the hamburger joints, the carnival thoroughfares called nightclub strips.” Please please please! I really want a scene of Lestat walking into a MAC or Sephora and trying on modern makeup to appear more “hip”.😅  

The moment Lestat discovers Interview With The Vampire is just the best. He takes it from the bandmate and locks himself in their room to read it. Storms out and disappears for SEVEN days. Reads it repeatedly and is in such a state of disbelief that he just tears it to shreds. Then he calls up his lawyer and goes on a rant about how HE ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE RICH NOW SO HIS BITCH ASS EX CAN BE JEALOUS OF HIS SUCCESS   “ ‘It is not enough any longer that my little rock band be successful,’ I told her. ‘ We must create a fame that will carry my name and my voice to the remotest parts of the world.’ Quietly, intelligently, as lawyers are wont to do, she advised me against risking my fortune. Yet as I continued with maniacal confidence, I could feel her seduction, the slow dissolution of her common sense.” (That last part killed me.) Then, he rents out limousine and a fancy new apartment and throws a party with his bandmates.😅

The chapter ends with him going on about how he hopes his actions will cause an all out war with the humans, but that he knows they probably won’t believe him so instead he looks forwards to starting  a war against other Vampires. Just because it would add “more spice” to things. *facepalm*  But like, isn’t this a totally different message to the one we get in Blood Communion about everybody needing to get together and be one undead happy family???  Which reminds me, the section in Blood Communion where Lestat talks about how Alaine(?)(I already forgot his name) comes to him begging to be turned and that he’s known for years and there is also talk in the village Auvergne, I really hoped the villagers would turn on Lestat and start a war with the Vampire Chateau. I’m still disappointed this didn’t happen.

[damnthatnoise]

billy woods | Most Known Unknown | An Interview

I don’t remember when I actually sat with some billy woods (spells it with no capital letters) music exactly, but I know it was some time after the final Super Chron album and probably right around when History Will Absolve Me dropped. Since first listening to History Will Absolve Me I moved with him to the Blockhead produced Dour Candy and then of course to his projects with Elucid as the group Armand Hammer, then to 2015′s Today, I Wrote Nothing which might be his finest piece of music to date. Now on the cusp of his newest LP Known Unknowns coming, which again sees Blockhead handling a massive bulk of the production duties as well as the addition of Aesop Rock adding beats as well as featured lyrics, I sat down to exchange a handful of e-mails about the new record and life as a working artist. 

While I shot questions to the incomparable billy woods last week I revisited his body of work and quickly realized that not only has the man crafted some seriously amazing music, but he is by far one of the most interesting voices out and one of my favorite MC’s/writers/thinkers creating any form of music. 

Check it. 

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Damn That Noise:  Known Unknowns is your 5th solo studio album, and 2nd with Blockhead at the helm. What motivates you at this point in your career as an artist to keep going?!

billy woods:  Hmm, I guess it's the same thing that has always motivated me to make art. You have an idea and you start working on it and then you have another idea, and so on. Obviously, now it's also part of my job and how people see you in the world, so I am sure that affects me…but yeah, it's not as though I make the kind of money that makes it impossible to turn away from this haha. Quite the opposite, if anything.

I guess the simple answer is that the art form still inspires me, still challenges me and I feel like I still have something to say.

DTN:  It's been 2yrs since Today, I Wrote Nothing dropped. Looking back at the album and how our society has seemingly taken a huge shift politically what was the thought process going into the new album?

woods:  Well, I should probably answer your question in multiple ways.  Unlike TIWN, which was written and recorded very expediently, this record was actually started quite a while ago. I wrote the first couple songs I recorded before I left for the Fire Next Time tour in the fall of 2015. A lot of the Trump stuff, wasn't at the front of my mind when I started. So, while there is much material in there that is relevant, very little was written with Trump in mind, let alone his actually being president. Another answer is that, I tend to think in paradoxical ways at times, perhaps because this world is itself a paradox. You can say "things really never change that much" and "things are always changing, everything is changing whether we notice/admit it or not" and both things are true in their own ways. We are both far removed from being apes, and not-far removed at all. So while I think a lot has changed, at the same time, the world is still spinning, as it is wont to do. So, I don't think the current socio-political atmosphere shaped my approach to this record, but at the same time, how could it not?

DTN:  You're a young billy woods sitting in his bedroom about to throw a tape in the deck...who were the most influential artists you were listening to and learning from/absorbing styles from and or that pushed you to jump in and create on your own?

woods:  Public Enemy, was the first influence, and certainly a foundational one. I really dug D-Nice too, as far as really early acts that drew me to the music. As things moved along, I was picking up most of the stuff I liked from watching BET Rap City, in the early days. MTV Raps too but I really loved Rap City. It was really low-budget in the Joe Clair, Big Lez, heyday, they would just play anything that had a video, so it was a wide range of stuff on there. It kinda had a flattening effect for me because I wasn't in New York or something so I didn't know what was supposed to be "important" and what wasn't. 

The Coup's "Kill My Landlord" and Da Lench Mob "Guerrillas in Da Mist" were just as important to me back then as "Low End Theory" and "Southernplayalistic". I loved that first Cypress Hill record, 2Pacalypse Now, Eazy-E's "Neighborhood Sniper" EP, Redman "Dare Iz a Darkside" And random stuff long since forgotten like Heroes Against Hypocrisy or the Fu Snhcnickens, or The Judgement Night soundtrack which mostly sounds terrible now, but the De La song is still great. ODB's Return to the 36 Chambers was the first Wu album I really loved. I actually liked the Luniz debut album more than The Chronic, at the time, still dig it. I could go on forever with this though.

DTN:  Yo. The Judgement Night soundtrack might be one of my favorite 93 era pieces of hidden hip-hop gold. So many dope combos on there! You are back with Blockhead on the boards with some assistance production wise from Aesop Rock for "Known Unknown", what is it about his and Aes' styles that drew you to build for a second record? Was adding Aes a progression from the "U-Boats" session for you?

woods:  I have always been a fan of Aesop Rock's music and although I met him back in the day through Vordul Mega, I didn't know him or anything. I really got to know him a little bit just through Blockhead and we did that little song for Dour Candy, then he and Busdriver did a beat on my last album, so there was a little bit of a progression. As far as how he ended up on this album, we just hung out a couple times and he played me a some beats and I asked him for a couple. This was right when Blockhead and I were locking in on a Dour Candy follow-up and it just made sense to me. They are friends and their beats work well together. Also, I'm just an album type of person with my own work, so rather than throw a couple loose songs out there, I would rather work them into a project, assuming they fit. I don't really do social media or soundcloud or anything so, I feel like, if it's not in the form of a cohesive project it won't even get noticed.

DTN:  I know TIWN was taken from a conversation you had with someone at a bar while you were dealing with a little writers block, but where does this albums title pull from?

woods:  This album's title pulls from Rumsfeld's statements of course, but more so the underpinning ideas of the Johari Window, and attendant ideas. I remember Rumsfeld making those statements and thinking, how ridiculous, then looking it up later and realizing there was some real validity to the idea, not that Donald Rumsfeld's use of it was accurate or defensible. I would like to think that his loathsomeness only adds to the title's appeal.

DTN:  What are the challenges you face as not only an independent artist but also as someone who runs an independent label with Backwoodz Studioz?! You've seem to keep the release schedule tight but always releasing something that has a strong impact. How do you manage the multiple hats?

woods:  Hard to answer that because it's not like I'm a really successful artist…at least not in terms of financial remuneration or critical acclaim. I'd like to think the answer is I'm doing a great job but it's perhaps more plausible that I am merely doing alright. Head above water beats drowning though.

DTN:  Do you ever think artists need to set an expectation for an album or do you think you create the music, and let the listener experience it on their own once it drops with unbiased ears?

woods:  Maybe I need more context for this question…if you mean, does an artist need to give a framework to people of what the album is about or something? 

DTN:  Yes I was asking if you think artists need to provide a framework for the next project/release so people know what to expect.

woods: Then I would say no, you don't NEED to, but you can. If you are asking something else, please clarify for me.

DTN: Once Known Unknowns drops, what is next for billy woods?

woods:  ELUCID and I are almost done with an Armand Hammer LP. I'm really excited about it. Some dope producers, some great guests, which usually we don't do much of on the A&H albums, and just really different from the last one and from Known Unknowns. I always like to switch it up. After an album like this, where I was just working with one producer and it's pretty melodic, it's exciting to go do something totally left of that. Just like it was dope to come and do this record after doing something as experimental and dark as Today I Wrote Nothing.

DTN: What are the top 5 things you hate having to do when releasing new music?

woods:  Hmm…I don't like any of it besides making the music to be honest. I like seeing what people think about it and I enjoy talking about it, but doing PR, trying to get videos shot, trying to get your merch pressed and delivered to stores on time, paying all the bills and wondering if you gonna see that money back…yeah, I could skip all that.

DTN:  If you had to redo your career over, but do it in 1994 which rapper do you think it would resemble the most?

woods:  God…I wouldn't have a career probably. My stuff would be too weird…it was too weird for everyone in 2001, let alone 1994.

DTN:  Any final words you want to leave with the readers? Advise? Lotto numbers? Pizza spots to avoid in NYC?

woods:  I'm just trying to keep up with my fam, really. 2016, I felt like ELUCID's Save Yourself and Willie Green's Doc Savage were both amazing projects, in totally different ways. I'm just trying to take that baton and push the pace. I'm a fan of lots of artists, whether I'm friends with them or not, but I'm competitive, just by nature. That's the only reason I'm still around, to be honest. I don't like to lose. If you outrap me on a song, I'm gonna try and make sure it doesn't happen twice. It's just how I'm wired, which is good because I'm a pretty relaxed, easygoing person and otherwise who knows if I would ever motivate to do anything haha.

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Don’t forget that Known Unknown drops June 9th everywhere, and that you can still pre-order the album HERE in various physical/digital formats, as well as pre-order it on all major digital outlets. billy woods will also be on tour with PremRock, Fresh Kils, and Henry Canyons this summer so keep an eye out for the West Coast dates!!