Billy Woods of Super Chron Flight Brothers has been quietly putting in work as one the most creative MCs on the NY “prog-hop” scene for the last decade. As one-half of the Flight Brothers, Woods has just released Cape Verde, the duo’s third album. The project is a mixture of eclectic beats and rhymes that are both street-wise and abstract. In addition to it’s catchy title, “Nigger Pennies” stood out to me by employing a beat that is a bit of a departure from the musical accompaniments the Brothers Flight usually rock over.


What developed first here, the concept or the beat?

Well, the beat was in one of the first batches Willie Green gave us, along with Dirty Jordans. Anyway, Edge and I were writing shit together but we would also write apart and then let the other person know what direction it was going in. So, Edge wrote to it and then spit his verse to me over the phone, and I was kinda at a loss because I hadn't even known he was writing to that beat. I was somewhat skeptical that I had anything to add to the direction his verse was going in, but I wanted to be a team player so I sat down and listened to it more. Then I thought, what if it's a situation where I am introducing him or something; a cross between “BET on Jazz” and some old vaudevillian routine. And I wrote it, went in and recorded it after Edge's part was done and that was that. The thing I remember being happiest about was that I found a way to use the word "busker" in a rhyme, totally in context, and appropriately. I love that word.



Where did the title evolve from and how does it relate to the concept?

I took it from the movie Hoodlum, which is a pretty weak film, all things considered (Bill Duke is the man, though!). Tim Roth's character Dutch Schultz is talking to Italian mafioso Lucky Luciano about having to pay off the cops in order to protect his Schultz's control of the numbers racket in Harlem:

Schultz- Well, well! Lucky. You're slumming today.

Luciano- Thought I'd stop by. You know...for your portion
of the Dewey payment.
 
Schultz- Special fuckin' prosecutor. Trying to put my ass in jail for tax evasion. I still gotta make a fucking payoff!
 
Luciano- Wanna keep our shirt collars clean, we gotta have Dewey in our pocket.
                  
Schultz- I ain't seen him touching your fucking business.

Luciano- That's because I show him respect. You're so busy with Harlem pennies,you forget the big picture.

Roth- Yeah, well, nigger pennies... white pennies. They all add up to the same fucking thing:my fucking dollars.

I love that exchange. And I thought it worked, given the concept of the song, from my introduction of us passing a hat to Edge's verse, which winds up talking about Michael Vick and the media. It's also funny how on sites that sell the CD online it says “N****r Pennies.”



This beat is a bit of a surprise coming from SCFB. what was your first impression of the beat?

I was pretty ambivalent about the beat when Edge told me he had written to it. Not my thing, per se, but in the end I think it all came together great. But yeah, if it had been up to me that song would probably have never happened.


You open with a line about thanking the whites because the venue is not in the beat of neighborhoods. What is the strangest venue/audience member/neighborhood combo that you've rocked for?

Ha, I stole that from some stand up comedian, I think. I don't know who, I used to watch a lot of stand-up during the early 90’s, when they had shit like A&E’s "Up Against The Wall" and "Two Drink Minimum," but that could also be from Dave Chappelle back in the DC Improv days. But I digress, so to answer your question...it is going to be one of two options. I did a show down in the financial district once and once I get there I realize the place is a Bar & Grill, which is always a terrible sign for any rapper. Anyway, the place was damn near empty and the only people there were clearly Wall Street types catching a beer and wings after a late night in the office. I do not think I really need to elaborate there. The other one was when we did a Super Chron show at this spot in Red Hook and this white cat named Dutchmaster Spence, who is signed to Warner now, I think, was headlining. I know him and his partner Johnny Rooms somewhat because we did a couple shows out West together. Anyway, Spence is from Brooklyn and for whatever reason, has a bunch of friends in the projects in Red Hook. They also have a bunch of fans who are white college girls from upstate, so it was quite the bizarre crowd, all at this somewhat hood spot in Red Hook. Add in the fact that their act is kinda like Das Racist-meets-2-Live-Crew and there you go. Shout out to Spence and Rooms.

http://backwoodzstudioz.com/cape-verde-digital