E L U C I D "The World Is Dog" on POW Best Rap Songs of 2024

E L U C I D’s recent solo work has a heavy rock influence that runs perpendicular to the sound of his duo Armand Hammer. On his latest album REVELATOR, the New York rapper/producer’s authoritative delivery is spiked with punk super-serum provided by bassist Luke Stewart of Irreversible Entanglements and live drums by producer Jon Nellen. The clatter was inspired by the industrial sounds of South Jamaica, Queens, bordered by the LIRR and JFK.

“The World Is Dog” is the opening salvo, hitting with the force of jet wheels on tarmac. The dance-punk-rap hybrid reminds me of “Dancing Choose,” from TV on the Radio’s Great Recession masterpiece Dear Science. Whereas fellow Brooklynite Tunde Adebimpe overexplains his portrait of an “angry young mannequin-American,” ELUCID embodies a 21st century schizoid man in a collage of images, each pared down to minimal syllables like a haiku. He is “voided, razor walking, bridge to nowhere fast,” his life in the balance under an uncaring, monochrome sky straight out of a Fritz Lang film. The song doesn’t end so much as it wears itself out. ELUCID has always been an expressive performer, and he has found a new freedom in stomping over these higher tempo tracks. Things are grim, sure, but listen close and you can hear the grin of an experienced artist invigorated by the possibilities they have yet to uncover within.

Originally published on POW.