U-God - Golden Arms Redemption (1999)
The first time I had heard ANYTHING even mildly Wu-Tang Clan related, it was "Rumble (feat. Leatha Face, Inspectah Deck, & Method Man)" when I was about 10 or so, and man: It blew me the FUCK AWAY! I was hanging out with my brother, and he had just purchased a copy of "Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style", a fighting game for the PS1 starring the members of the Wu-Tang Clan as playable characters, which would also feature Martin Shkreli as the antagonist if it were made today, and it also doubled as a CD for you to stick in your shitty portable CD player while digging a huge hole for a septic tank for your sister's RV. Good times. Anyhow, have you even heard that song?! Great beat and great rapping from everyone involved, but ESPECIALLY Leatha Face because he says "The missile tip's impact hit you so hard, you shit through your dick"and that's fucking CRAZY!! Leatha Face is featured on quite a few songs on here and kills it every time to the point where you wish it was Leatha Face's album instead. If only...
Oh yeah, the album. U-God is commonly cited as being the worst member of Wu-Tang Clan, which is a title that's still something to be proud of since U-God ain't no one to scoff at skill-wise, but I always dug his short verses (he'd usually just spit a few bars and leave) in the group so I thought I'd check out this album. Truth is, dude can rap, definitely, but he just can't really pull off entire songs, let alone an entire fucking album by himself. U-God is really good in short doses, much like how he appears in Wu-Tang Clan's songs, but when you're exposed to him for so long, especially with mostly mediocre production (SERIOUSLY! Where was RZA?!) then you get kind of bored, even if nothing is outright bad, except for "Hungry", the hook on "Turbo Charge" and the generally weird production choice of "Turbulence", it just gets fucking monotonous. If the entire album had been some aggressive shit that "Rumble (feat. Leatha Face, Inspectah Deck & Method Man)" was on, I'd probably really dig it, but then you start mixing U-God with mediocre beats and it gets boring. One other highlight is the ending track "Night The City Cried" in which U-God shows off some of his storytelling skills, but chances are that if you've made it that far into the album, you've probably stopped giving a shit about what U-God has to say and you're about to turn on a better album by another member of the Wu-Tang Clan.
5/10
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