Decoding the New Armand Hammer Album, ‘Shrines’
The last time we heard from New York hip-hop duo, Armand Hammer, they explored the dismal reality of being a black man in a white, capitalist America. Last year, one half of the pair, Billy Woods, searched the deepest, darkest corners of himself and released one of the most unsettling hip-hop releases of the last decade.
2020 has been an unrelenting year so far as the coronavirus pandemic has struck the planet, a depression has left millions of Americans without an income, another cop has killed another black man in the streets leading to a global uprising and we are only halfway through the year.
Was I surprised when Armand Hammer’s latest project, Shrines, turned out to feature the duo’s most lighthearted and hopeful storytelling so far? Absolutely. Was I disappointed? Absolutely not.
Well, that’s not the entire truth. Deep down, I wanted to hear another Paraffin or Hiding Places as those albums initially turned me on to Billy Woods and Elucid. But, after listening to this new project, I’m glad they went a somewhat different route.
Sure, their paranoia of others and deep hatred for the capitalist system is compelling and keeps me coming back for more, but they can only do that so many times before it starts to get tiresome. There is some of that vitriol on Shrines, but it’s contrasted…