We Buy Diabetic Test Strips

We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is the sixth studio album by American hip hop duo Armand Hammer (Billy Woods, Elucid). It was released on September 29, 2023, through Fat Possum. The album features guest appearances by JPEGMafia, Moor Mother, El-P, Pierce Jordan of Soul Glo, Pink Siifu, Junglepussy, Curly Castro and Cavalier. It is the first Armand Hammer album to not be released under the Backwoodz Studioz label. It was met with critical acclaim.

Background and promotion

On July 3, 2023, Billy Woods revealed that their next studio album was almost done, saying that they took a "pretty different" approach and that Elucid was still working on the record. Collaborator and producer Kenny Segal thought that the album was "ridiculous" and looking to "knock Maps off the album-of-the-year list". About two weeks later, mysterious postcards and flyers with phone numbers that lead to album and pre-order details were spotted. Fans would also receive postcards delivered to them with a tracklist and phone number. The duo announced the album on August 2. A session with jazz musician Shabaka Hutchings, producer/keyboardist Child Actor, engineer Willie Green and Elucid helped set up the foundation of the album. The latter described the recording process as an assembly of talented rappers meeting for the first time in the studio to jam "to pre-recorded beats before splintering off into new directions". The opportunity to watch them drift off into their own "sonic worlds" was a clear "magical moment" for him.

Release

The album was preceded with three singles: "Trauma Mic" featuring Pink Siifu, released on August 2, "Woke Up and Asked Siri How I'm Gonna Die" featuring JPEGMafia, released on August 29, and "The Gods Must Be Crazy", featuring El-P, released three days before the album's release.

The duo embarked on the We Buy Diabetic Test Strips Tour in support of the album, starting on October 1, 2023 in Kingston and concluding on February 24, 2024 in Atlanta.

On February 27, 2024, an updated version of the album was released, which featured a bonus track, "Doves" featuring Benjamin Booker, and removed Junglepussy's verses from "Y'all Can't Stand Right Here" and "Empire BLVD" for unknown reasons.

Critical reception

We Buy Diabetic Test Strips received a score of 87 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on twelve critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Mojo stated that "ultimately, it's Woods and Elucid who provide the intense, erudite, funny through-line", while Uncut opined that "the music reflects this stark, witty chronicle of precarious modern living with a queasy tableau of churning beats, one minute harsh and industrial, the next lush and dreamy". Pitchfork's Matthew Ismael Ruiz called it a "success—it can feel like being tugged by dozens of different hands yet still being pulled forward" as well as "moody, unsettling, sharply observed album balancing moments of self-reflection with vivid snapshots of societal dysfunction".

Concluding the review of the album for AllMusic, Paul Simpson claimed that, "We Buy Diabetic Test Strips feels like a step forward from a duo whose discography has been consistently innovative from the start."

Year-end lists

Track listing

Charts

References

1. Armand Hammer (music group)
2. Kenny Segal
3. Child Actor (band)
4. Fat Possum Records
5. 2023 in hip hop music
6. Haram (album)
7. List of 2023 albums
8. JPEGMafia discography
9. Black Noi$e
10. El-P discography
11. Panic Room
12. Penny Arcade
13. Tencent
14. Benjamin Booker
15. Phil Collins
16. List of Shameless (American TV series) characters
17. List of Emergency! episodes
18. Gavin Newsom
19. New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal (list of reported incidents)
20. Big King