For more than 20 years, billy woods and Elucid have been chronicling their arduous experiences as Black men navigating life in a society built to subjugate them. As solo artists and in the duo Armand Hammer, they’ve mined the bleakest manifestations of colonialism and man’s insatiable thirst for power, both interpersonally and internationally. Only over the past decade have they received their due, with projects like 2025’s Mercy and 2023’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips that embody Toni Morrison’s resonant doctrine: “There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
Few artists are doing language like Armand Hammer. With Snakes & Ladders, surprise-released on Backwoodz Studioz, they exhibit their genius in fragmented witticisms (“The meek inherit the Earth when? ‘Cause this I gots to see”) and potent commentary culled from mundane settings. On “Jet Magazine,” billy woods’ chant of “Nostrand, Atlantic, Trinidad, Suriname!” feels like a call to a “captive” African diaspora toiling in this American project. And on “Send for Me,” Elucid’s trip down Bushwick Avenue evokes “a wilderness of mirrors, like, ‘Who is this King of Glory?’” Who else could evoke so much from a walk down the block?
No score yet, be the first to add.
The two are rapping over a star-studded production lineup that (mostly) comprises the indie rap scene they’ve collectively cultivated. clipping. sets the tone on “Deadbolts” with a beat that starts with spare piano and crescendos into deep, reverbed percussion and shrieking sound effects that sound like wayward spirits trying to pierce the veil. “Jet Magazine” feels like Kara-Do and Mekala Session injecting the album with a dose of acid jazz. Child Actor gives the album its gentlest production on “Gravity,” while Preservation laces “Assembly Lines” to sound just as horrifying as bars like “ChatGPT’d a job application, the interview was online, the interviewer was AI.” Sebb Bash produces three beats, Kenny Segal has three, and Mekala Session is on two. The other half of the album is flanked by more names familiar to Backwoodz followers such as Theravada, Steel Tipped Dove, and Animoss. It’s a testament to all of their creative chemistry that such a scattered array of producers have crafted an album that collectively conveys such a sad rhapsody.
