angel haze back to the woods ep review
Back To The Woods
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Despite hip-hop being heavily rooted in hard knock, visceral honesty—about the hustle, the fear of not making it or even the spoils of success—many of today's popular acts in the genre lack this relatable virtue.

But fresh off a psychedelic mushroom trip with a longtime friend and producer, Angel Haze isn’t concerned with what’s popular. That's why their newest EP, Back To The Woods, is a breath of fresh air. For the 23-year-old, the path towards solace led them to nature’s womb. The result: a 13-track offering that is equal parts angsty, tranquil and self-effacing, a simultaneous purge and a replenishment of emotion.

Back To The Woods is a far cry from the debut album Dirty Gold that Haze facilitated in 2013, to say the least. Haze purposely leaked the album online due to conflicts with then-record label Republic. Since then, the former XXL Freshman has cut ties with Republic Records, gotten together and broken up with model Ireland Baldwin and come out as an agendered being, preferring only gender neutral pronouns. Catching up with XXL prior to the EP’s release, Haze chronicled how finding clarity within nature led them to make new music.

“When I was a kid, I grew up homeless a lot. I didn’t have a home that belonged to me until I was about 17, and it was located in Virginia in the middle of these woods,” explained Haze. “And my mom, she used to get really pissed off at me. There’s one instance in particular when I wanted to go to New York and pursue my shit and she basically told me, ‘Take off everything I bought you and get the fuck out.’ So I was in the woods naked and I slept there. It’s the only place in my life I’ve ever felt entirely safe. Like I belonged there.”

As if reliving the stages of the trip all over again, Haze goes from inciting a war to causing self-inflicting wounds in the form of memories of love (or lack thereof) to finding contemplative peace. Haze rallies their fans, affectionately referred to as the ‘wolfpack,’ over a megaphone with battle cry bangers like "Wolves," “Impossible” and “D-Day” while somber records like "Moonrise Kingdom," “The Eulogy” and "Detox" show off Haze’s melodic vocals and the depths of vulnerability. “You gotta reach for me, you gotta touch me and prove that I’m real/'Cause this life is beating me, man, and I gotta give ‘em something to fill,” Haze pleads on “Dark Places.”

The entire project was produced by Haze's longtime beatmaker Tk Kayembe, who was behind Angel's breakout single "Werkin’ Girls" back in 2012. While lyrically Haze covers issues of modern day society (policy brutality and White-washing, for example), sonically the EP plays with the nature theme throughout, alternating between pulsating bass, urgent snares and organic wildlife calls. One stand out sample comes during the bridge of “Detox,” when there’s a fade in of a speech of resounding political rhetoric. “And a nation with no values other than their own values are rubbish,” the orator proclaims. This adds a dimension to the song like no other on the record and makes it more than just a lovesick breakup track.

One of the best aspects of the project is that Haze is so truly vulnerable on wax. Instead of acting like a podium-perched spokesperson denouncing mental illness in a corny PSA, Haze acknowledges the struggle they face as a coping mechanism. Haze gives each phase of the pain a name. With honesty, fiery cadence and a flow more commonly heard on a shock jock or rock star, Haze holds nothing back. Free from features, the listener can fully follow along with Haze’s journey uninterrupted.

“My soul, my heart is in it,” said Haze of the record. “I don’t have anything else. I’m not in love, I’m not in a relationship. I don’t have a relationship with my family, I never had one. So this is really all I live for. So you can tell that I’m not overcompensating.”

That’s the funny thing about doing shrooms in the middle of the desert: you might just have an epiphany that will change your path in life. —Sidney Madden

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