Armand Hammer is billy woods and ELUCID, and across a decade together the pair have built one of the most uncompromising catalogues in rap: dense, allusive, allergic to the obvious. Snakes & Ladders is the new one, out on their own Backwoodz Studioz, and the sleeve sets the tone before a note plays, a hand-painted board of fangs, staircases and skulls stacked into triangles. If the records behind it are any guide, this is one that will not explain itself on a first pass. Cassette edition. Street date: January 15.