Days before Haram was released, the Alchemist commented on Instagram: “If you don’t know Armand Hammer, you will.” It was a fabled collaboration that had the internet abuzz with excitement: grimy hip-hop wizard famous for his Griselda, Action Bronson, and Earl Sweatshirt production meets the raw, up-and-coming underground duo from New York.
It was a bold claim from Alc, but his work rarely disappoints (see last year’s Alfredo with Freddie Gibbs) and if any producer could make billy woods and E L U C I D staples in the rap canon, it would be him. Previously, their work was well-regarded in the music-blog circuit, but never considered as heavyweights among their peers. 2018’s Paraffin made it to many end-of-year lists, but clearly, Armand Hammer felt that wasn’t attention enough. On Haram’s “Aubergine,” they come out swinging at established greats: “This one for me, Kendrick, where you at?”
Paraffin and 2020’s follow-up Shrines address woods and E L U C I D’s perception of the institutional and systemic racism facing Black Americans, and while many of those themes are still present in Haram (I mean, just look at the cover), it is a stark departure from the heavy, empty spaces of their music. Instead, the pair marry Black pain with Black joy, taking moments to remember ancestry in songs like “Peppertree” where woods explores his childhood in Jamaica. And again in “Black Sunlight” where they argue against performative politics in favor of embracing their blackness.
The album’s closer, which woods convinced Alchemist and E L U C I D to place at the end against their wishes, sounds nothing like an Armand Hammer track. The wavy, arpeggiated piano layered with a piercing synthesizer, courtesy of Alc, sounds like lovers running through an open field, as close to a Lord Byron poem we’ll ever see from the duo. woods' melodic chorus sounds hopeful almost, the complete reverse of Paraffin's desolate, Frank Ocean-sampling "Root Farm." Haram finds the pair enjoying their craft, showing off lyrical ability not seen since DOOM first crashed the scene, and finding love in their humanity.
Haram is one that we’ll be pondering for a while -- not just because of the evasive, abstract nature of Armand Hammer’s lyricism, but also how it came to exist in the world. More than anything, we're wondering what the hell was that Diddy had Biggie killed conspiracy guest verse on "Wishing Bad?" Maybe we should take the advice of woods and E L U C I D on "Falling out the Sky" and just be thankful it does.
Standout track: “Chicharrones” feat. Quelle Chris -- pay attention to the pork/pig puns.
OUR RATING: 🐷🐷/2, the first on at least one of our 2021 wrap-up lists.
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What'd you think of Haram? Is the cover art too much? Sound off in the comments below or holler at us on Twitter!
- Ritter
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