Haram When You Have One You Have Lost Review
Armand Hammer Raps From Another Dimension. It's On United states of america To Take hold of Up
The cult hip-hop duo gets an assistance from The Alchemist
Across Haram, an Islamic term significant "forbidden," the rappers baton woods and ELUCID dissect all things taboo, and how, ultimately, those commodities are still ubiquitous beyond cultures. Alexander Richter/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
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Alexander Richter/Courtesy of the artist
Across Haram, an Islamic term meaning "forbidden," the rappers billy woods and ELUCID dissect all things taboo, and how, ultimately, those commodities are still ubiquitous beyond cultures.
Alexander Richter/Courtesy of the artist
Armand Hammer's music takes patient ears to decipher. At that place's a dexterity to it; social commentary is swaddled in layers of thick verse and equally dumbo product. Yet the arroyo cuts both ways: If you get the music, yous love information technology, but it tin can exist tough to embrace for those who don't already have a palate for the rappers' pondering flows.
For nearly two decades, billy forest and ELUCID take established themselves as cult figures in hip-hop, appealing to listeners who prefer the grit of late '90s surreptitious rap over mainstream opulence. But where acts similar the Griselda collective recall the morose street tales of Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep, Armand Hammer evokes groups like Carnivorous Ox and Company Menstruation, crews whose music scanned as avant-garde.
The duo's outstanding new album, Haram, is produced solely by The Alchemist; the noted beatmaker's recent record with rapper Freddie Gibbs, Alfredo, was up for a best rap anthology Grammy at this year'south ceremony. Armand Hammer comes to this projection having released three stellar albums in but four years, forth with other solo material that became fan favorites. Records like Brass and Hiding Places (wood' joint albums with poet Moor Mother and producer Kenny Segal, respectively); and ELUCID's S*** Don't Rhyme No More and Don't Play Information technology Straight (with producer The Lasso) have nudged the rappers to almost-mythical status.
Not only does Haram come with more star power than their previous albums, courtesy of The Alchemist, it's the almost approachable, even if the rhymes are still intricate. Conversely, the beats seem paired back to let woods and ELUCID shine the brightest. That's not to diminish the Alchemist'south work on Haram; his scant drums and billowing synths properly convey bleak, labyrinthine environments.
In recent years, likely due to the social climate, in that location's been a rush to call Armand Hammer's music apocalyptic or dystopian. ("I get why people say that, but it'southward played out," ELUCID one time said.) Perhaps heeding the grouping's phone call, the beats uplift in certain spots, like on the sunny "Falling Out The Sky," and the emotive "Stonefruit," a straightforward loop of '70s-leaning soul. Only when you're working with rappers like woods and ELUCID, the all-time thing to do is fall back and allow their showstopping rhymes take the floor.
Beyond Haram, an Islamic term meaning "forbidden," the rappers dissect all things taboo, and how, ultimately, those commodities are still ubiquitous across cultures. From its cover art, a jarring close-upwardly of 2 bloody severed pig heads; to the album booklet, with pictures of a weed joint, gun, and a Jamaican rum box, Haram centers these topics, pivoting betwixt darkness and low-cal while offering nuanced looks into their respective pasts. You accept to lean into the song "Indian Summertime" to catch wood retrieve the days of mowing lawns and going habitation "stinking of gas in the evening." Glimmer and you almost miss ELUCID, on the Earl Sweatshirt-featured "Falling Out The Sky," recollecting his fourth dimension in "God's land ... few hundred miles from hot garbage and smog." Other times you can't help only primal in on seemingly random nods to Wesley Snipes' taxes, the Allen Iverson "do" rant, and ELUCID'due south pledge to slapbox Tv set judges Mathis and Wapner. Haram is full of yin and yang moments similar these; bits of clear-eyed nostalgia are met with tight lips and screw-faces.
"Chicharrones" toggles betwixt the unlike connotations of pigs. woods likens them to police and weak dudes: "Got caught with the pork," he raps, "but yous gotta kill the cop in your thoughts nevertheless maxim 'intermission.'" Moments later on: "Your crew fragile like the Caucasus, as the Balkans is / It'south one n**** who prissy, the remainder sausages." Guest rapper Quelle Chris lyrically dissects the brute while chastising mod-twenty-four hour period groupthink: "We allow B.L.M. be the new F.U.B.U.," he quips.
Other tracks aren't so mysterious. On "Scaffolds," woods tussles with regret while ELUCID swats queries nearly his way: "As it pertains to how I freak it," he states, "Yo, don't ask me no questions, I believe in Blackness secrecy." That lyric explains Armand Hammer more than any other in its discography. Between his ratatat cadence and wood' conversational pace (along with his refusal to show his face in photographs), the duo emphasizes the art of rapping and furtiveness as split thematic linchpins. Even for the staunchest listeners, the meanings of Armand Hammer's lyrics don't e'er hit right away. There's often a delayed reaction to their music, and it's piece of cake to get lost in how exquisite the rappers sound. They've ever been in another dimension; it's on united states of america to catch upward.
Much like MF DOOM or Madlib, Armand Hammer keeps the focus on the music itself, crafting kaleidoscopic work that gleams no matter the back-story. Then a song like "Stonefruit," Haram's sublime concluding track, not only imparts yearning, it flexes rhythmic skill. Here, ELUCID sings of his need to break away, his croaking, gravel-throated baritone resting perfectly in the vanquish'due south pocket. And then woods ends with a story that just he tin can tell — something virtually a adult female who wore his teeth in a necklace, drank blood from a horn, and howled into his neck after sex. "She dragged the basic dwelling and built a bed!" he exclaims. "She drank rosé out the skull, but held it gentle as my living head!" I'1000 no skillful, but I'chiliad pretty certain human sacrifice is haram.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/25/980818615/review-armand-hammer-alchemist-haram-billy-woods-elucid
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