U-God - Golden Arms Redemption (October 19, 1999)

Come on. The moment you saw that hat, you knew. But in all fairness let me say this: LMMFAO.

Anyone reading this blog remembers how I started a certain campaign to point out how Lamont Hawkins bka Golden Arms aka U-God aka Baby U aka Lucky Hands aka U-Godzilla aka Hammer Jack aka Billy Gramz fully deserved his status as one of the nine Generals of the venerable Wu-Tang Clan. I even went out of my way to point out that his rhyming in the earlier Wu years utilized a certain method of poetry largely unknown to most hip hop heads called negative capability. His particular use of this method during said years succeeds in providing new perspectives on the various subjects he's rhymed about throughout the years, with his best work gloriously revealing itself on Wu-Tang Forever's A Better Tomorrow (NOT the title track to their critically panned eponymous 2014 album.) That song in particular showcased just how poetically devastating this method can be when used right, and Goldie's been achieving this for years.

However, the stories surrounding his laziness in writing were notorious, up to the point where Wu ringleader RZA would actually kick him out of the studio. Add that to his apparent inability to hold an interview by himself and you've got signs of another Cappadonna type, which isn't that far off considering Cap was the one who mentored him into rhyming in the mid-80s. I shudder to think how bad can shit get with Goldie were he to be left to his own devices unchecked. Where these two differ, though, is that Lamont would eventually fix this problem in a satisfactory manner, while Cap is still on some bullshit when left to his own devices.

Nevertheless, we're talking about the year 1999. A massive overabundance of material was being released from the Wu camp, whether from the main nine or from their cronies, moronically affectionately dubbed the Wu-Affiliates. Because of said overflow, many people were quick to dismiss these projects, even if most of them were actually quite good. Hell, Method Man's Tical 2000, GZA's Beneath The Surface & Inspectah Deck's development hell victim of a debut Uncontrolled Substance were tasty albums that were very unfairly shitted on, despite the first two selling a shitload of copies. It seemed that the Wu brand was falling swiftly from the public's grace. Enter Golden Arms Redemption.

For this album, Goldie wanted to introduce a few players from under his own umbrella to learn from the Wu sound school of RZA and his Wu-Elements, hoping to build them into his in-house production team, along with a notable protege on the mic by the name of Orlando Irizarry bka Leathafase. This particular guy would collaborate heavy with Uey throughout the following six years, only to later beef with him hard. I don't know if they've put this shit behind them now, but back when this album was being made, all was copacetic.

Golden Arms Redemption was released on Priority Records to universal derision, meaning that nobody bought the friggin' thing. Uey claims that the commercial no-show was due to Priority folding shortly thereafter, and I'm sure he still thinks that his bullshit answer fooled everyone. Enough talking, though: What's my verdict on Golden Arms Redemption? Read on.

ENTER U-GOD
RZA must be dead serious about not lifting a finger when seeing one of his brethren fuck up. How else would you explain him producing this cow dung intro?!

TURBULENCE
In an attempt to show solidarity, RZA continues to hand production out to Uey and brings you this. This beat sounds like the work of someone actively trying to sabotage this album, and you know what? They succeeded. It'll be a long-ass time before I forgive you for this one, Bobby. What's worse, Uey here is left confused as all fuck in the booth, so apparently he decided to spitball them garbage-ass bars. Dear lord, this album's off to a torturous start.

GLIDE (FEATURING LEATHAFASE)
DMD's Inspectah Deck hands Goldie one of his average beats. Still, it ain't really that bad. Goldie decides to debut Leathafase on this particular track in a successful tag team. This is more of what Golden Arms sounded like when serious, which is a good thing. And as much as I hate Fasey for what he eventually did to Uey, I must concede that dude got rhymes. Nice! A dialogue excerpt apparently recorded in prison leads into...

DAT'S GANGSTA
The second single, True Master finally takes the wheel and brings Lamont a beat expertly distorting and looping a Jerry Butler oldie into a rough thumper that fits him. Excrement hook aside, our host rides the beat as if his life is depending on it with negative capability galore. This was a jump further in the right direction.

SOUL DAZZLE
And we're back in 'holy shit this is bad' land. Here Lamont introduces his first producer hopeful by the name of Anthony Mercado aka DJ Homocide, who actually does pretty well with the MFSB loop he's extracted for his first of two beats on G.A.R. The same unfortunately can't be said for the lyrics. Zilla? Neffy poo? Read this very carefully: Nobody wants to hear you record a song where you pretend you're a crackhead. I don't care if he wasn't pretending shit or really was on crack, that's what this skunk barf sounds like. Fuck this shit.

BIZARRE
Bink! aka Bink Dawg produces Uey's lead single. Yeah this beat blows. Baby U's opening adlibs don't really set you up for a notable performance but ironically that's what he delivers here. Oddly enough, many hopeful producers test out their beats on the acapella of this song, with some amazing results. Really, just go type 'U-God Bizarre Remix' on YouTube and see what you find.

RUMBLE (FEATURING INSPECTAH DECK, METHOD MAN & LEATHAFASE)

Back to 1998's Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style we go! It's actually remarkable how concise that overall project was, given the fact that none of the Wu nor the game developers knew the first thing about game design to begin with. As for the song itself? Easily and embarrassingly the best song on the album. True Master is up to his ingenious ways through finding the hidden potential in a somber Dionne Warwick tune. Derrick, as he's prone to do, morphs it into a theme of war for Lamont and co to wage. And they all rock the ear piece right with their shit. Yes, even Golden Arms. It's actually surprising just how effortlessly Fasey settles in with the Wu Generals here.This song is flawless.

PLEASURE OR PAIN (FEATURING HELL RAZAH)
Here, the second producer prospect of Uey's by the name of Hakim Ali aka Hak Da Navigator brings you his first of two productions on this album. And here it becomes pretty clear that Lamont has quite the ear for beats, which will serve him well in the future. The distant future, of course, because we are talking about ol' Hammer Jack, aren't we? Speaking of which, Lamont turns into the anti-GZA with each of his two verses exasperatingly long and filled to the brim with absolute gibberish. Of course you know Sunz Of Man's Hell Razah inherently suffers from the very same problem so you must know by now how bad the lyrics to this song are.

STAY IN YOUR LANE

RZA brings another beat for this project, and boy is it ever an insulting afterthought. I don't know anyone mentioning this among their list of moderate RZA productions, let alone their favorites. So predictably when faced with a beat such as this abomination, Uey completely goes off the rail with his bullshit. Easily the worst song you've come across on this album . And that is saying a fucking LOT. Don't worry, though. It gets worse: The fucker decides that the hook should be repeating the song title a pafillion times. If this song were a person, I'd bite off his eyebrows.

SHELL SHOCK (FEATURING RAEKWON, HELL RAZAH & LEATHAFASE)

Hak is bak. This time he brings a drab ass instrumental for Goldie and guests Raekwon, Hell Razah & Leathafase to demolish, which they naturally do. Well, Razah pretends to, at least. And Rae still can't deliver a verse that eclipses those of Uey and his cronie. Rumble is by far the better posse cut, but this one is pretty tight. I must say that both of Uey's producers impressed on this album.

LAY DOWN

Which definitely can't be said for Johnny boy The Wannabe Wu-Element here. This guy really thinks he made it simply because he produced GZA's Crash Your Crew? Fuck no, Johnny boy. Fuckwad even tries to impress you through slowly revealing his horseshit beat when all he's doing is further pissing you the hell off. Our host, of course, feels that maybe you didn't understand just how stupid negative capability can sound when done wrong on Soul Dazzle, so he brings you yet another example. By the Almighty, this song blew.

HUNGRY
What did I tell you about rhyming like a crackhead, Lamont, you croaking piece of shit? Whomever Omonte Ward is, he should be kneed hard in the nethers immediately for producing such a dementedly sewage instrumental. Forget Stay In Your Lane, this is the worst song on the album.

TURBO CHARGE
RZA gets on the keyboards and, atypically and surprisingly, delivers one of his more left-field digital beats. And boy, does this one ever bang. For some reason, Golden Arms recognizes the shitty form he's been on for the past two songs, especially the previous song, and chooses this track to unleash one his best solo performances ever. Seriously, son goes off with his negative capability in such a way unheard throughout the entirety of Golden Arms Redemption. As such, the party vibe he's aiming for is reflected effectively. This shit bangs.

KNOCKIN' AT YOUR DOOR (FEATURING LEATHAFASE)
Johnny boy really brought some horseshit to the studio during this album's making, huh? The beat literally sounds like a fly's repeatedly shitting in your ears. Where do they get these guys? It won't matter in the least that Goldie and Fasey bring very respectable contributions respectively, with Goldie bookending Fasey's cream filling of a verse with lyrics of equal entertainment value. That beat will ruin the entire song.

NIGHT THE CITY CRIED
DJ Homocide closes out this weirdly uneven album with a sinster beat that aims for a sense of noir. Which was apparently what Lamont was aiming for, as he launches into a tale of betrayal, survival and vengeance that ends with a cliffhanger, promising to continue on the next album. Yeah, he entirely forgets he ever wrote this. For what it's worth, though, the lyrics are very well written and detailed, with some funny images thrown therein. However, dukes still has that annoying disregard for rhyming on beat, which he displays multiple times throughout the album, that never fits him. Resulting in this song sort of becoming a mixed bag: If you can forgive such an oversight here, you're rewarded with a gripping tale that I honestly thought was beyond our host's capabilities. If not, this song will be as insufferable as the rest of those where he abandons all hope in carrying the beat. And we're done.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Yeah, Golden Arms Redemption shares The Pillage's predicament in being a mostly dogshit album sprinkled with some quality songs. What it doesn't share with The Pillage is the fact that the lack of quality is not always Golden Arms' fault. There's at least two songs here where the blame falls squarely on the producers' shoulders. Still, Baby U is ultimately responsible for the end product, and said end product proves that our host is in no way whatsoever equipped to be a successful solo artist. Back then, anyways. Son really needed a guiding hand to help him differentiate between whenever he was knocking it out the park and whenever he was fucking up royally. In that regard, he really did echo Cappadonna. Back then, anyways. However, I remain steadfast in my proven belief that he's a fantastic team player for the Wu.

WORTH IT?
Definite negative. A third of this album is worth checking out, especially the two posse cuts. Still, in no way does that warrant owning the full thing.

Go back and check my theory on how Golden Arms fits into the Wu here.