Mercy

If the grim hallucinations of billy woods and E L U C I D’s second album with The Alchemist ever feel like too much, just remember the reality that inspired them, from the streets where the ambulance never comes (“Laraaji”) to the resegregated swimming pools where “bleach burn good like menthol” (“Scandinavia”). Is daily life really that relentless for Black America? That’s probably too much to answer in rap, not to mention too much to ask of rappers, which is why they take the time to remind you that despite their air of myth and mystery (not to mention the thickness of the smoke around The Alchemist’s beats), they remain ordinary guys. Unread novels on the nightstand, bacon grease by the stove, and bedtime routines for their kids—you know, the trivialities that make life so defiantly worth living (“Dogeared”).

Reuniting with the Alchemist, billy woods and Elucid renew their call to learn from history before it’s too late. Mercy represents the trio’s slickest, most exacting collaboration yet.

With a light approach from The Alchemist, Mercy shows Armand Hammer delving more deeply into surrealism, their lyrical flows often bordering on stream-of-consciousness.

Armand Hammer & the Alchemist’s ‘Mercy’ is the kind of album that elicits respect more than it does excitement.