ELUCID — I Guess U Had to Be There

The lead single is the argument. "First Light" is handclaps and almost no instrumentation, which leaves nothing between the listener and the voice — a subtraction most rappers cannot survive. The album runs thirty-two minutes, produced entirely by the Swiss beatmaker Sebb Bash, and came out March 13 on Backwoodz Studioz with Mattie, Estee Nack, Shabaka Hutchings, billy woods and Breeze Brewin passing through. It scored 80 on Metacritic and a nine from Clash. ELUCID was born in Queens, raised on Long Island, and has spent a decade as half of Armand Hammer alongside woods; the deluxe vinyl carries the 48 Hrs EP as a second disc. He toured solo in spring and is out with Armand Hammer this fall. Backwoodz remains the model here — an artist-run label pressing its own vinyl, which is why the catalog holds its value while the co-sign economy churns.