April 12, 2023 We are living in a great time for independent hip-hop and the underground is teeming with creativity and talent, so it’s no small thing to say that we believe Kenny Segal and billy woods are two of the most unique and essential artists working in the genre right now. When you run a record label, every album you drop is the culmination of so much work, anticipation, and creative energy that its release into the world is both immensely gratifying and fraught. That rings especially true now, as we begin to unveil Maps, the new album from...

By now most of you know there is a new billy woods/Kenny Segal album somewhere on the horizon. Some of you are expecting an announcement, tracklist, pre-orders, maybe some music, and all that is coming, but this is not that newsletter. This newsletter has the stuff you weren’t expecting and didn’t know you needed, to whit; a Backwoodz tape of new music from some of our flagship artists alongside cats that are new to the roster. A taste of things to come. In addition to that we have a lot of artists who are hitting the road in the coming...

Each month, their arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews. March Short Fuses — Materia Critica MARCH 2, 2023 Hip Hop Like many of his Backwoodz Studioz labelmates, SKECH 185 raps over beats that embrace disorientation rather than easy pleasure. Cover art for SKECH185’s He Left Nothing for the Swim Back. Within seconds, hip-hop artist SKECH185’s voice commands attention on his album He Left Nothing for the Swim Back. His intense flow leaves little space, allowing him to run through pages’ worth of lyrics in  minutes. A former...

So here it is, our first album announcement of 2023, and what better way to set it off than with two of our old friends. SKECH185 and Jeff Markey have both been part of some pretty seminal Backwoodz moments, so it feels good that we can do the same for them. He Left Nothing for the Swim Back is the title of their album, dropping February 3rd, accompanied by a run of limited-edition vinyl. To kick things off we are premiering the first video/single right here.    For those of you unfamiliar with the force-of-nature that is SKECH185, get familiar below...

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and such forth. At this time, Backwoodz comes bearing gifts, gifts you have to pay for, but gifts nonetheless.* Jeff Markey is a producer that has been down with the label for a long time, but more often as co-travelers than collaborators. That is changing in a major way starting in the new year, but when Jeff came to us with this ill little side-project, we thought it was too good not to drop it beforehand. So here it is; Sports & Leisure, the beat-tape turned producer album that you didn’t know you needed. Oh and...