billy woods may be the critical darling of effortless flow finesse within Armand Hammer’s two-headed rap schism, but ELUCID has been long deserving the same level of clamor for the burly, muscular fist he punctuates behind their bars. He’s been a consistent expressionist in his own right throughout his solo outputs — perhaps underplaying his own degree of energy, given that 2022’s I Told Bessie was a relatively sanguine personal sprawl — but with his latest album, REVELATOR, it very much feels like one the New York City underground’s purest forces in rhyme is letting himself off the leash to combat this world is dog with all fire and fury spit from his lips.

This very much meets the moment of where we’re at with *motions at everything happening in this world right now*. It’s becoming impossible to separate the chaos from the bliss bubble so many put in extra effort building around themselves just to soften the blow of current events in a chronic content overload state against their mental health on the daily, and so ELUCID acknowledges both in an equal view through beats violent paired with an eerie calm produced in collaboration with the likes of avant-garde electronic artist Jon Nellen, jazz bassist Luke Stewart, DJ Haram, Child Actor, and Iranian-Canadian duo Saint Abdullah.

In a sense, the album plays out like an appendix to last year’s Armand Hammer effort, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, in its indulgence of nihilism and sonically, a meaner, more menacing industrial-rap aesthetic built from experimental electronics and blast burst samples merged with a free jazz confluence. It delivers his breath in bold font while maintaining that despite the atrocities, oppressions, and grim realities we’re facing on a national and global scale, you’ve got to will your path to a world you want to live in.

“Love still rules over on this side,” ELUCID said ahead of the album’s release. ”I’m raising a family. We are making meaning and finding joy in the midst of all the fucked up-ness of everything around us because the alternative is cowardice and slow death. We remain rooted. We celebrate our people and our wins. Struggle is necessary.” His way is doing so is arguably his most freak shit display yet, but sometimes you’ve got to get a little crazy if you want stay sane out there.

Highlights: “THE WORLD IS DOG”, “BAD POLLEN”, “ZIGZAGZAG”

ELUCID’s REVELATOR is available now on Fat Possum.

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