GENRE; Rap

LABEL; Backwoodz Studioz

REVIEWED; 8 November, 2025

RATING; 8.1

Armand Hammer’s Mercy, produced entirely by The Alchemist, is a bruising, quietly theatrical statement from one of underground hip-hop’s most forensic trios. The album reunites billy woods and ELUCID with a producer who reshapes his palette here from ominous tape-hiss and aching piano to clipped drum nightmares giving their lyricism an atmosphere as claustrophobic as it is cinematic. 

What stands out is how Mercy trades outright spectacle for patient accumulation: short vignettes and recurring motifs form a mosaic of modern ruin. Songs like “Calypso Gene” and “Crisis Phone” flex a mournful melodicism while “Super Nintendo” and “u know my body” underline the record’s knack for turning ordinary phrases into refrains of dread. 

The Alchemist’s production here is deceptively spacious — he leaves room for Billy and ELUCID to unspool dense, allusive bars without flattening the mix. Horn stabs, gospel-tinged organs and warped samples surface and recede, letting the beats function as emotional punctuation rather than mere propulsion. Guest spots from Earl Sweatshirt, Pink Siifu and Quelle Chris add texture, punctuating the duo’s world-weary paranoia without stealing the frame. 

Lyrically the album is relentless but humane: observations about systemic violence, memory and small mercies are threaded with grim wit and sudden tenderness. Mercy doesn’t console; it catalogues and insists you listen. Critics have rewarded that moral exactness with warm reviews — Pitchfork gave it an 8.0, and many outlets name it among the season’s strongest releases. 

This isn’t an easy listen, nor should it be. Mercy’s rewards accrue with repeat plays: moments of strange beauty and brutal clarity reveal themselves slowly, like a map half-revealed by a flickering streetlight. It’s a record for listeners who want their hip-hop to think, unsettle, and stay with them long after the needle lifts and spark uncomfortable, necessary conversations.