Photo by Alexander Richter

“Calypso Gene” is a duality of a history lesson and another one of those long, abstract walks down memory lane that converges two narratives in one from Armand Hammer’s new Alchemist collaborative album, Mercy. The title takes its reference from the former stage name of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam from when he was moonlighting as calypso singer before joining the Black nationalist religious movement. Flanked by the Brooklyn multidisciplinary artist Cleo Reed and Los Angeles neo-soul jazz musician Silka, it’s collagist effect of fleeting jazz piano bars makes for one of the duo’s more cosmic meditations, though its references to hustlin’ drugs with grandmothers, finding themselves under the duress of snipers, and autumn poetry while nearly drowning in a car weigh heavy as they meet at same tributaries waters that are both metaphor for spiritual rebirth and that of a demarcation of militarized borders. Dip that sin away in their strange water below…

Directed by: Oluwademilade Omoregie

Armand Hammer’s Mercy will be released November 7th on Backwoodz Studioz.