Earl Sweatshirt, Armand Hammer & The Alchemist Share 'California Games' Video

11-18-2025

(twnty three) Armand Hammer - the duo of rappers ELUCID and billy woods - and producer The Alchemist share a new video for "California Games" featuring Earl Sweatshirt. Directed by Shane Ingersoll, the animated clip takes all four artists on a vintage video game rollercoaster ride. "California Games" is a highlight from Mercy, the acclaimed new album out now via Backwoodz Studioz, with global physical distribution by

Armand Hammer and The Alchemist build worlds. Their first was Haram and it remains locked in orbit, equal parts lush and foreboding. Their new one is called Mercy and it's made out of blood and empire, children's laughter, unpaid parking tickets, and unkept secrets. Rappers ELUCID and billy woods are joined on the mic by Earl Sweatshirt, Quelle Chris, Cleo Reed, Pink Siifu, Kapwani, and Silka. The Alchemist did everything else.

For nearly a decade as a duo, and longer still as solo artists, Armand Hammer have left a palpable mark on modern rap and hip-hop. At turns both sharp-witted and soul-crushing, their lyrics unspool threads of socio-political, historical, and philosophical import with a potent blend of incisive critique, gallows humor, and narrative elan.

Mercy is the first Armand Hammer album since 2023's We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, a project that The Observer (UK) described as "an exceptional record that deserves your time and headphones" and The Line Of Best Fit deemed "their headiest and most impressive work thus far." On 2021's Haram, their first with The Alchemist, the duo "drag postcolonial wounds onto the examination table" (Pitchfork). Beats Per Minute called it "a tremendous success."

Earlier this year, billy woods released GOLLIWOG, ""a densely poetic, totally masterful tour de force" (Rolling Stone) and "one of 2025's truly essential albums" (The FADER). Meanwhile, ELUCID's "enthralling" (MOJO) 2024 album REVELATOR was described by Pitchfork as "soul food for those who know a better world is possible if we're willing to fight for it." The New York Times, in naming REVELATOR one of their Best Albums Of 2024, called it "a dense, overdriven, fiercely abrasive album that cranks up the tradition of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad productions for 21st-century impact."

Meanwhile, The Alchemist needs little introduction: The groundbreaking producer has worked with icons including Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu, Nas, Mobb Deep, and Freddie Gibbs. Billboard describes him as "one of the most in-demand beatsmiths for hip-hop's cross-generational leaders," while Pitchfork credits his work as "among the greatest, most mercenary rap music ever made."