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All Armand Hammer Albums Ranked Best to Worst (2026)

Armand Hammer, the New York duo of billy woods and Elucid, have released seven studio albums, and this page ranks all seven, from Race Music (2013) to Mercy (2025). Following Wikipedia's discography, the count includes Haram (2021) and Mercy (2025), their two collaborative albums with producer the Alchemist; the Half Measures mixtape (2013), the Furtive Movements EP (2014) and the WHT LBL and BLK LBL compilations are not ranked.

Armand Hammer7 albums8 min readUpdated October 2026Hip-Hop

Quick Take

Consensus PeakWe Buy Diabetic Test StripsTheir widest, most acclaimed record yetBreakthroughParaffinThe smoggy album that made critics listenBest Entry PointHaramAlchemist loops, under forty minutesAll-Time ListRomeNo. 73 on Pitchfork's best rap albums

Why it ranks here

Armand Hammer's sixth album opens the doors wider than ever. JPEGMafia, El-P, Kenny Segal, DJ Haram and Child Actor are among the producers, and the guests run from Moor Mother and Pink Siifu to El-P and JPEGMafia. Elucid described sessions where rappers jammed to pre-recorded beats before splintering off in new directions, and the album keeps that loose energy without losing the sharp writing. Its Metacritic score of 87 is the highest of their career.

Context

Released September 29, 2023 through Fat Possum — the first Armand Hammer album not released on Backwoodz Studioz. An updated version in February 2024 added "Doves" with Benjamin Booker.

Highlights

  • Woke Up and Asked Siri How I'm Gonna Die
  • The Gods Must Be Crazy
  • Trauma Mic
  • Landlines
  • The Key Is Under the Mat

Weak Spots

  • Long and dense, especially in the updated edition
  • The constant producer changes can make it feel like a sampler

Production

JPEGMafia · El-P · Kenny Segal · DJ Haram · Child Actor

Influence

Made year-end lists from BrooklynVegan (#2), Vulture (#6) and The Ringer (#7), carrying the duo well beyond the underground.

Replay Value

High — every listen surfaces a different guest, beat or line.

Why it ranks here

Paraffin is Armand Hammer at their most claustrophobic. Elucid produced a large share of it himself, alongside Messiah Musik, August Fanon, Kenny Segal and others, and the beats bleed into one another while woods and Elucid trade verses about being Black in America. Stereogum called it a disorienting rap masterpiece, and Pitchfork gave it 8.1.

Context

Released via Backwoodz Studioz in 2018, at first on vinyl only; digital, cassette (via PTP) and CD releases followed.

Highlights

  • Rehearse with Ornette
  • ECOMOG
  • Fuhrman Tapes
  • Root Farm
  • Alternate Side Parking

Weak Spots

  • The murk is the point, but songs can be hard to tell apart on early listens

Production

Elucid · Messiah Musik · August Fanon · Kenny Segal · Small Pro

Influence

No. 4 on Stereogum's 10 Best Rap Albums of 2018 and on Pitchfork's best rap albums of that year — the point where critics began treating the duo as essential.

Replay Value

High for headphone listeners; it rewards patience more than any other album here.

Why it ranks here

The first of two full collaborations with the Alchemist pairs his hazy, disembodied soul loops with some of woods and Elucid's sharpest writing on power, colonialism and the city. The Alchemist produced every track (Earl Sweatshirt co-produced "God's Feet"), it runs under forty minutes, and it scored 83 on Metacritic. It is the easiest way into their catalog.

Context

Released March 26, 2021 via Backwoodz Studioz, with an ALC Records edition adding "Moneylenders". Its cover of two severed pig heads drew criticism from PETA.

Highlights

  • Sir Benni Miles
  • Falling Out the Sky
  • Black Sunlight
  • Indian Summer
  • Chicharrones

Weak Spots

  • Several songs end just as they get going

Production

The Alchemist · Earl Sweatshirt

Read our full Haram review →

Influence

Ranked No. 16 on Paste's and No. 26 on Pitchfork's best albums of 2021, and introduced the duo to the Alchemist's wider audience.

Replay Value

Very high — the most immediately listenable Armand Hammer record.

Why it ranks here

Rome is where Armand Hammer moved away from boom-bap convention. Messiah Musik and August Fanon produce most of it, with one beat each from Kenny Segal and JPEGMafia, and the writing looks at power on every scale. Pitchfork said the pair had burrowed further into the leftfield; Vulture called it their best yet. In 2025 Pitchfork placed it at No. 73 on its 100 Best Rap Albums of All Time.

Context

Their second studio album, released November 3, 2017 on Backwoodz Studioz, four years after Race Music. Guests include Mach-Hommy, Quelle Chris, Denmark Vessey and Curly Castro.

Highlights

  • Pakistani Brain
  • Dead Money
  • Carnies
  • Microdose
  • Barbarians

Weak Spots

  • Less sonically varied than the albums that followed

Production

Messiah Musik · August Fanon · Kenny Segal · JPEGMafia

Influence

Pitchfork's all-time list cemented it as a modern underground landmark.

Replay Value

High.

Why it ranks here

Shrines opens up Paraffin's density — The Quietus called it comparatively spacious. The guest list is a map of the abstract underground (Pink Siifu, Earl Sweatshirt, R.A.P. Ferreira, Akai Solo, Moor Mother, Quelle Chris), and producers include Navy Blue, Earl and Kenny Segal. "Charms" with Keiyaa shows the brighter side the duo pushed further on Haram.

Context

Released June 5, 2020 on Backwoodz Studioz. Work began with "Bitter Cassava", written during a 2019 European tour; the cover shows an NYPD officer about to tranquilize Ming, the tiger kept in a Harlem apartment.

Highlights

  • Bitter Cassava
  • Charms
  • Ramses II
  • Pommelhorse
  • Dead Cars

Weak Spots

  • So many guests that the duo's own voices sometimes recede

Production

Navy Blue · Earl Sweatshirt · Andrew Broder · Kenny Segal · Messiah Musik

Influence

Connected Armand Hammer with a younger generation of abstract rappers and producers.

Replay Value

High.

Why it ranks here

Mercy reunites the duo with the Alchemist, who produced every track; Pitchfork heard some of his weirdest and most harrowing work since The Skeleton Key. The writing is more elliptical than ever. It is a strong record (79 on Metacritic), but its sustained, low-lit mood lets tracks blur together and it lacks Haram's immediacy.

Context

Released November 7, 2025 on Backwoodz and Rhymesayers, led by the single "Super Nintendo". Guests include Quelle Chris, Pink Siifu, Cleo Reed and Earl Sweatshirt.

Highlights

  • Super Nintendo
  • California Games
  • Calypso Gene
  • Glue Traps
  • Laraaji

Weak Spots

  • Paste noted that its subdued atmosphere can blur tracks together
  • Earns respect more than excitement, as Slant Magazine put it

Production

The Alchemist

Influence

Too new to judge; it placed on 2025 year-end lists from Beats Per Minute (#8) and Paste's best rap albums (#7).

Replay Value

Moderate to high.

Why it ranks here

The debut album, released a month after the Half Measures mixtape, is rougher and more conventional than anything that followed, with production from Steel Tipped Dove, Marmaduke, Willie Green and Blue Sky Black Death. The chemistry between woods and Elucid is already there, and Busdriver and Open Mike Eagle join them on "New Museum".

Context

Released October 22, 2013 on Backwoodz Studioz. Tiny Mix Tapes called it a record about "life, art, sex, drugs, politics, and violence."

Highlights

  • Willie Bosket
  • New Museum
  • Shark Fin Soup
  • The Rent Is Too Damn High
  • Black Ark

Weak Spots

  • Seventeen tracks and less focus than later albums
  • The production lacks the identity of Rome onward

Production

Steel Tipped Dove · Marmaduke · Willie Green · Blue Sky Black Death

Influence

The start of a partnership that became one of underground rap's most celebrated duos.

Replay Value

Moderate — mostly for completists.

Essay

The Complete Picture

Armand Hammer's catalog rewards the patience it asks for. Rome and Paraffin built the dense, leftfield sound; Shrines opened it to a younger generation; the Alchemist albums made it more accessible without softening it; and We Buy Diabetic Test Strips showed how far the duo could stretch.

Start with Haram if you want the most immediate record, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips for the fullest picture, and Paraffin once you are ready for the deep end.

Read next
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Armand Hammer Albums in Order

  1. 2013Race MusicRanked #7
  2. 2017RomeRanked #4
  3. 2018ParaffinRanked #2
  4. 2020ShrinesRanked #5
  5. 2021HaramRanked #3
  6. 2023We Buy Diabetic Test StripsRanked #1
  7. 2025MercyRanked #6

Armand Hammer Albums: Common Questions

What is the best Armand Hammer album?
We rank We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (2023) as the best Armand Hammer album, with a score of 8.9/10: Their most open, collaborative and acclaimed record.
How many Armand Hammer albums are ranked here?
This ranking covers 7 Armand Hammer projects, released between 2013 and 2025.
What is the earliest Armand Hammer album in this ranking?
Race Music (2013) is the earliest release in this list. We rank it #7.
What is the most recent Armand Hammer album in this ranking?
Mercy (2025) is the most recent release in this list. We rank it #6.
Which Armand Hammer album is ranked lowest?
Race Music (2013) sits at #7 with a score of 7.0/10.