The Elephant Man's Bones is the first full-length collaborative studio album by American rappers and record producers Roc Marciano and the Alchemist. It was released on August 26, 2022, through Pimpire/ALC Records. Produced entirely by the Alchemist, it features guest appearances from Action Bronson, Boldy James, Ice-T and Knowledge the Pirate. The album was supported by its lead single, "Deja Vu", with an accompanying music video. A music video was also directed for the song "The Horns of Abraxas". The Elephant Man's Bones received universal acclaim from critics.
A website-exclusive edition of the album, subtitled Pimpire Edition, was released a week prior to its official release via Roc Marciano's website, featuring two bonus tracks entitled "Macaroni" and "Momma Love". Physical versions of this edition were also released on Marciano's website. Another deluxe edition of the album, subtitled ALC Edition, was released over a year later on September 1, 2023; featuring two brand new bonus tracks "DNA" and "Turkey Wingz". Physical versions of this edition were released exclusively on The Alchemist's ALC Records website, and unlike the Pimpire edition, was also available on streaming platforms.
The album marks the second joint project between the two artists, which was preceded by the 2011 EP Greneberg, together with Oh No.
The Elephant Man's Bones was met with universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on six reviews.[1]
Anthony Malone of HipHopDX praised the album, saying "the realization of internet dream collaboration chatter, where the result is better than fantasy".[3] Grant Jones of RapReviews wrote: "the chemistry is undeniable and The Elephant Man's Bones is the culmination of this partnership. This is an album that gets better with each listen and yet, despite capturing everything great about previous Roc Marciano albums, sounds remarkably fresh and current".[6] Dylan Green of Pitchfork stated: "for the duo to finally meet in the middle for a full-length project after all these years—and for that project to be as warm, gutter, and satisfying as The Elephant Man's Bones—is remarkable".[5]AllMusic's Paul Simpson resumed: "there's nothing sensationalist about the album's most brutal lyrics, and they're balanced out by the record's sly sense of humor and casually innovative production".[2]
In a mixed review, Anthony Fantano for his YouTube channel The Needle Drop gave the album 6 out of 10, concluding: "after a strong start, The Elephant Man's Bones kind of trails off".[9]
