Search - U-God :: Golden Arms Redemption

Nice production and guest spots help U-God find solo Redempt

D. Wilson | NY by way of Cali | 04/13/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What can you say about U-God? I love the Wu Tang Clan just as much as the next hip-hop enthusiast but let's be honest, there's been at least one time when you where listening to a Wu project and you wondered to yourself how exactly U-God got to be part of one of the greatest rap groups ever? My guess is that he's either one of the coolest cats around OR that he has some highly embarassing photos of the RZA stashed away in his possession. Probably the former though, I mean check out the back of this album for instance... U-God in all of his glory, wearing a Wu-Tang super hero outfit(including fake muscles and everything... looks like a leftover prop from Joel Schumachers and Val Kilmers awful Batman movie LOL!) and playing it completely serious! It's like the rest of the Clan told him that it would look really awesome half-jokingly, but he took it serious and the rest is history, emblazoned proudly on the back of his solo debut for all time. Add in the fact that Golden Arms uses his intro to rap acappella about how other rappers are "corns" in the rhythm of Gloria Gaynors hit "I Will Survive," and it becomes obvious that he's just gotta be the coolest dude in the buroughs... why else would RZA be involved? With Redemption, U-God finally got his chance to release a solo album(the only member that hadn't by this point was Masta Killa) but unfortunately it came at a time when the RZA was taking a step back from production credits on much of the solo material and the begining of the end was nearing for the Wu's former heights. The RZA did executive produce though(and provided the decent track "Turbo Charge") and I don't know how involved he was in the overall beat selection, but the beats here are pretty strong. Songs like "Turbulence," "Glide(produced by Inspectah Deck?!)," "Bizarre," and "Pleasure Or Pain" flat out bang in fact, while the rest are still good enough to keep your finger off the skip button(no matter how hard U-God tries to push you to that point at times). Sure he rhymes incoherantly for most of the album and ultimately is outshined by the production and all of the guest MC's(The Rebel INS, Raekwon, Method Man, Leatha Face, and Hell Razah), and yet, Redemption is still far from the worst solo album ever released from the Wu stable(and the only worthwhile U-God release still to this day)."