Armand Hammer

Born out of New York’s independent rap scene in the early 2010s, Armand Hammer brings together rappers billy woods and ELUCID around a shared taste for experimental, dense, and highly narrative hip-hop. The duo first developed their universe on Backwoodz Studioz with the album Race Music in 2013, followed by Furtive Movements in 2014, where a fragmented lyricism took shape, marked by historical references, questions of class, and urban memory. With Rome in 2017 and Paraffin in 2018, Armand Hammer honed a style built on abrasive production, non-linear song structures, and a constant dialogue between the two voices, often rhythmically askew. Shrines in 2020 continued this approach while opening up the sonic space, while Haram, created in collaboration with producer The Alchemist in 2021, transposed this abstract rap into more cinematic textures without softening its dark, introspective dimension. Released in 2023, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips extends this work on fractured storytelling—part everyday chronicle, part political commentary, part surreal imagination—confirming Armand Hammer as a duo firmly rooted in New York’s avant-garde rap.