Armand Hammer

For nearly a decade as a duo, and longer still as solo artists, Armand Hammer have left a palpable mark on modern rap and hip-hop. At turns both sharp-witted and soul-crushing, their lyrics unspool threads of socio-political, historical, and philosophical import with a potent blend of incisive critique, gallows humor, and narrative élan.

Mercy (2025) is the first Armand Hammer album since 2023's We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, a project that The Observer (UK) described as "an exceptional record that deserves your time and headphones" and The Line Of Best Fit deemed "their headiest and most impressive work thus far." On 2021's Haram, their first with The Alchemist, the duo "drag postcolonial wounds onto the examination table" (Pitchfork). Beats Per Minute called it "a tremendous success."

Earlier this year, billy woods released GOLLIWOG, "a densely poetic, totally masterful tour de force" (Rolling Stone) and "one of 2025's truly essential albums" (The FADER). Meanwhile, ELUCID's "enthralling" (MOJO) 2024 album REVELATOR was described by Pitchfork as "soul food for those who know a better world is possible if we're willing to fight for it." The New York Times, in naming REVELATOR one of their Best Albums Of 2024, called it "a dense, overdriven, fiercely abrasive album that cranks up the tradition of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad productions for 21st-century impact."