Roc Marciano and The Alchemist Share New Album 'The Skeleton Key'

Roc Marciano and the Alchemist have released their joint album, The Skeleton Key, on streaming services after announcing it recently.

The new LP features the lead single “Chopstick” that dropped earlier this week (Dec. 9) On the same day, the project went live on Marciano’s website before finally being available to stream now.

Speaking about the album in a press release, Roc wrote, “Me & Alchemist, we the gatekeepers, Key Makers, your shit don’t shake unless we sanction it.”

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Marciano and the Alchemist detailed how the project came together. “It’s kind of like we never stopped,” said Marciano — referencing the fact that this project is a follow-up to their 2022 album, Elephant Man’s Bones. “We always making music. I’m always sitting on a batch of beats from Al.”

The rapper-producer duo also explained why this new LP doesn’t have any features. “It felt like we needed to just do this one,” said the Alchemist. “I felt like people that love what we do, I don’t think that they’re like, ‘Man, that album was good, but we needed some other voices on there.’ I feel like if anything, they might be annoyed. It wasn’t one of those events. It felt like a quick mission we needed to pull off, just us in our bag.”

Marciano and the Alchemist have had a busy year. Back in March, Marciano dropped Marciology. In September, the Alchemist released The Genuine Articulate.

The Alchemist spoke to Idea Generation a few years ago and explained how he knows that a beat is finished that he produces. "My friend who's a painter, like a really incredible artist, I asked him the same question," he said. "He's like 'I get emotional' and it took me a minute to understand it."

"I don't get emotional, but I know what he meant," Alchemist continued. "It's like the end of a relationship. It's like fuck. You love what you're doing. This is it. I'm not anything else. It's just done."