After teasing the release on Twitter last week, Angel Haze dropped Babe Ruthless last night and announced that their [Haze identifies as gender fluid and has stated a preference for they/their pronouns] hotly-anticipated follow up to 2013’s Dirty Gold album, titled Back To The Woods, will be released on September 14.
“Babe Ruthless is my Machiavelli,” Haze told The Fader, explaining that, “It’s me becoming Super Saiyan. It’s me becoming something you can’t label or contain and being better at it than all the versions of myself who’ve stepped up to bat before me”.
The title is a play on the name of star baseball player Babe Ruth, so Haze is saying that they are the best in the field. Their reference to Machiavelli is an interesting one, with some serious rap pedigree: Tupac apparently read 15th Century Italian politician Niccolo Machiavelli’s book The Prince while he was in prison. It’s basically a handbook for would-be tyrants, explaining how to get and keep power — how to be the number 1, all powerful, the greatest. Will Haze keep the crown?