Written by Jason Marecki
In celebration of Armand Hammer’s new album Mercy releasing November 7th, fellow Music Director, Jaden Reynolds, and I have started a series reviewing every Armand Hammer release (that’s available on streaming).
In case you don’t know, Armand Hammer’s core consists of two artists, Billy Woods and Elucid. Hailing from New York, the duo have pioneered the way for experimental rap for over a decade. Woods and Elucid are incredible artists in their own right (Woods’ new album being one of my top releases of the year by far), but their collaborative works have earned a spot on every self-respecting RYM user’s topsters for the rest of time.
Released October 22, 2013, the duo’s first outing, Race Music is a very strong, if a little bloated at times, debut. The DNA for later releases is all there. Woods’ songwriting is still incredible, and fans of later releases will appreciate the origin of “Maquiladoras”’s main conceit, “Cut em’ off, they the type to come back / Chopper’s chopping” coming from “Hatchet Job”. Elucid is as elusive as ever, often falling deep into esoteric but punchy religious language in his verses in tracks like “Sunni’s Blues” and “Kanun”.
The politicism of Armand Hammer is here in droves too. If you can’t understand a release by two black men being titled Race Music as political then you are deliberately stupid. Beside that, the duo attacks issues of drug use, religion, gang, political, and police violence, mental health, American rape culture, poverty, racism, toxic masculinity, school shootings, medical gaslighting of black women, and more. Often it’s layered upon 40 layers of religious language, samples, niche references, and analogies to political theory, but that’s the beauty of Armand Hammer. The effort you put into listening to their work will be returned to you in droves.
Race Music falters a little in its production, however. It’s the duo’s longest project by far, coming in at 1 hour and 8 minutes. Second place goes to We Buy Diabetic Test Strips at 53 minutes. As such, the album feels a little bloated at times. Some songs, like “Renaissance Garments” “Willie, Basket”, and “The Rent is Too Damn High” aren’t particularly interesting production-wise and drag down the album as a whole.
Not to say there aren’t standouts on Race Music, “Sunni’s Blues”, “No Roses”, and “Nosferatu” are all very good. It’s these tracks that provided the blueprint for the duo’s later mindbendingly innovative experimentation.
It’s interesting to look at Armand Hammer’s contemporaries of the time. Black Kray’s debut album Ice Cream & Mac 10s, Kanye West’s Yeezus, Yayayi’s self-titled, Run the Jewel’s debut self-titled, Lil Ugly Mane’s Three Sided Tape Volume One and Two, Earl Sweatshirt’s Doris, Death Grips’ Government Plates, and a bajillion other releases I could rattle off here. In the sea of all these, their debut often gets lost in the mix.
Race Music doesn’t do anything amazingly well, but it absolutely provides the blueprint for Armand Hammer’s later works. Any fan of the duo, or even their solo acts, should pay their respects and check this one out.
7/10.
Fav songs: Sunni’s Blues, No Roses, Hand Over Fist, Where the Wild Things Are, Nosferatu
Check back next Friday Jaden Reynolds’ review on Armand Hammer’s second release, Furtive Movements!