Roc Marciano & The Alchemist – “Deja Vu”

Long Island rap veteran Roc Marciano is a great producer whose hazy, flickering post-boom-bap style inspired a whole lot of the best underground rap of the past decade-plus. Marci’s beatmaking game is so strong that he’s produced entire albums for other rappers like Stove God Cooks and Flee Lord. But Marciano’s an even better rapper than he is a producer. When Marciano came out with his last album, 2020’s Mt. Marci, I devoted an entire column just to chronicling the best punchlines. Recently, Marciano announced plans to follow Mt. Marci with the new album The Elephant Man’s Bones, which is produced entirely be the Alchemist. Today, we get a first taste of the LP.

The Elephant Man’s Bones isn’t the first time that Roc Marciano has made a full LP with another producer; he and DJ Muggs came out with Kaos in 2018. But an Alchemist-produced album is a different thing. In the past few years, the Alchemist has produced a long series of instant classics for artists like Boldy James, Freddie Gibbs, and Armand Hammer. The Elephant Man’s Bones, out later this month, will also feature collaborations with peers like Action Bronson, Boldy James, Knowledge The Pirate, and (huh) Ice-T.

Today, Roc Maricano and the Alchemist have shared the new track “Deja Vu.” It’s got a spaced-out, near-drumless beat not too different from the type that Marci might make himself. Marciano finds his own groove and talks his shit: “The Feds kicked the door at my joint, but the brick was in the toilet/ No OGs to give us pointers/ We bendin’ corners/ Shorty could’ve been on the Hornets knockin’ down three-pointers.” Listen and check out the album’s tracklist below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Rubber Hand Grip”
02 “Daddy Kane” (Feat. Action Bronson)
03 “Deja Vu”
04 “Quantum Leap”
05 “The Elephant Man’s Bones”
06 “Bubble Bath”
07 “Liquid Coke”
08 “Trillion Cut” (Feat. Boldy James)
09 “The Horns Of Abraxas” (Feat. Ice-T)
10 “JJ Flash”
11 “Zig Zag Zig”
12 “Stigmata”
13 “Zip Guns” (Feat. Knowledge The Pirate)
14 “Think Big”

The Elephant Man’s Bones is out 8/26 on ALC/Marci Enterprises/Empire.