The 12 Hours of Wu-Tang: #10 - My Gut Reaction: U-God - Venom (March 30, 2018)

Lamont “U-God” Hawkins, the Wu-Tang Clan member forever at odds with the Wu-Tang Clan due to financial issues stemming from The RZA’s leadership, had a busy first quarter this past year. After having announced it two years prior, his fifth solo album, Venom, finally hit store shelves thanks to Babygrande Records. He also appeared in a completely different medium: his autobiography, Raw: My Journey Into the Wu-Tang, dropped a few weeks prior, providing important context for some of the more personal tracks on Venom, in addition to those from the rest of the man’s discography. I had toyed with the idea of another one of those Max’s Book Club entries featuring U-God’s book, as there are some specific topics I'd like to broach,but I haven’t yet gotten around to it: if that sounds like something you’re interested in discussing, let me know in the comments below, but don’t actually discuss the book in the comments, as that would defeat the purpose.

As mentioned, Venom is U-God’s fifth solo album, following four projects of varying degrees of quality (but the latter half leaning more toward the “entertaining” end of the spectrum) and one album promoting and featuring his (former?) crew, the Hillside Scramblers. Unlike his previous effort, 2013’s The Keynote Speaker, there is no direct Wu-Tang influence behind the boards (although there are several tracks produced and/or mixed by Jose “Choco” Reynoso, who has worked with the Clan throughout their entire career): instead, Golden Arms reached out to the likes of Large Professor, DJ Homicide, Powers Pleasant, DJ Green Lantern, and Lord Finesse to help on the sonic end of things, while guest artists include some of the usual suspects, such as Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, and Method Man. Longtime Wu-affiliate Jackpot Scotty Wotty also receives quite a bit of screen time on Venom: perhaps there will be a U-God featuring Scotty Wotty Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…-type effort in the future. I’d care, anyway.

I’m so close to being finished here, so let’s just get straight to the music.

1. EXORDIUM

This is a rap album intro, but one where U-God Has Something To Say, as he gracefully welcomes the listener to Venom. ILL TAL’s instrumental is sweeping like a film score, and our host, who clearly didn’t run out of things to talk about with his autobiography, delivers a one-verse wonder that, no bullshit, makes him sound pretty fucking great behind the microphone. The work he’s done since his debut on Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) has been worth it, as his flow on “Exordium” is effortless and engaging, even with his monotone voice, which isn’t a negative (see: Guru, Bahamadia). A nice way to kick things off.

2. UNSTOPPABLE

U-God connects with Pro Era producer Powers Pleasant for “Unstoppable”, which inexplicably mixes a 1980s sound with current day 808 trap drums, and somehow the combination works. Given the production, I had hoped for a secret Joey Badass cameo on “Unstoppable”, but I prefer Joey over boom bar that reminds me of that New York street shit from the 1990s, so it’s fine. Also, our host does well all by himself, spitting two verses filled with boasts, threats, and more braggadocio (in addition to an allusion to his verse from “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’”) that make clear U-God has been paying attention to the bars of his fellow Wu brethren,. He’s not quite “Unstoppable”, but he’s impressive enough on here.

3. EPICENTER (FEAT. INSPECTAH DECK, RAEKWON, & JACKPOT SCOTTY WOTTY)

We still pick up the solo albums from Wu-Tang Clan members to check out the posse cuts, right? Just me? Anyway, U-God gets his contribution to the cause out of the way early with “Epicenter”, a DJ Green Lantern production that perhaps isn’t as hard-hitting as I’d prefer, but it does incorporate sound bites from a kung-fu flick, so I’ll take it. Aside from the punched-in vocals from Raekwon and longtime Wu-affiliate Jackpot Scotty Wotty (whose rap career has mostly transpired on U-God albums, although he did get in on Logic’s recent “Wu-Tang Forever”) tacked on at the end of their respective verses so as to provide the track with some sense of consistency, and the insistence of three of the four participants on saying the phrase “epic center” instead of the actual song title (only Inspectah Deck gets it right, and he also gives the best performance. Coincidence?), this track was a fine addition to the canon. Even though our host’s flow deems to revert back to his early days when he wasn’t very good, U-God still manages to provide listeners an entertaining song. Not bad, Golden Arms.

4. BIT DA DUST

DJ Homicide and Jose Reynoso’s instrumental seems to have been cribbed from the same source material No I.D. used for Common’s “Sweet”, but chops up the sample to make it sound more Wu-esque, which was kind of them. At least he didn’t brazenly sample Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust”, right? We already have U-God for that, borrowing lines from Freddie Mercury for at least the second time in his solo career that I can easily remember (“Rumble”, off of Golden Arms Redemption, lifts several bars from “Another One Bites The Dust”, so I’m convinced it’s U-God’s most favoritest song). Our host’s crime rap doesn’t have a singular focus, which is to say, he’s all over the place, imagining singer Katy Perry in compromising positions or straight-up dissing The RZA – why hasn’t that gotten any attention from alleged hip hop heads online? Did he really think we weren’t going to notice? Anyway, this one was okay, but a bit of a letdown.

5. ELEGANCE (FEAT. NOMADIQ)

Somehow this was both goofy as shit and I liked it quite a bit? When the first voice I heard on “Elegance” was that of guest crooner Nomadiq, I recoiled at the mere idea of an R&B hook on a U-God song, but it grew on me as DJ Green Lantern’s old school-esque melody played through. Our host spends his two verses trying to describe the perfect date, but his bars could also be read as a love letter to New York City, which would help Nomadiq’s hook make much more fucking sense, but even with this confusing-ass shit, “Elegance” won me over with its earnestness. Also, it just occurred to me that the love interest on here could also represent U-God speaking to hip hop directly. The metaphor isn’t a clear one, is what I’m saying, but I liked the song.

6. CLIMATE (FEAT. JACKPOT SCOTTY WOTTY)

Baby Uey has a pretty good ear for beats. That’s my main takeaway from his actual ode to hip hop, “Climate”, which uses a Jose Reynoso instrumental as a way to dictate to the listener the importance of hip hop’s sound evolving to fit the musical era. The sound bite of President Barack Obama talking about climate change doesn’t make sense in context, but it still gives the track a sense of urgency. Speaking of which, the beat fucking bangs: it sounds like the theme music for a news broadcast, and I mean that in the best possible way. I liked his work so much that I felt disappointed when the music scaled back to just the drums during the verses, so as not to overshadow U-God or uncredited guest Jackpot Scotty Wotty (who our host graciously gives an introduction to at the end of his own second verse). But that’s a minor quibble. The fuck is even happening right now? Could U-God have another good album on his hands?

7. VENOM

This title track was also allegedly the first single from the project, but it dropped way back in 2016, so the only conclusion I can draw is that U-God switched direction during the recording process and “Venom” was merely collateral damage, as it sounds nothing like the rest of the project thus far. And also, this shit sucks. I know that not every song needs to have a point, but this DJ Homicide/Jose Reynoso production is too radio-friendly and upbeat for an underground Wu effort, and our host sounds so disingenuous behind the microphone that he might as well had been Manchurian Candidate-d. The only spark of passion coming from our host here is during the intro, where he gives the whole “I can talk shit about the Wu because they’re family, but you can’t” argument.

8. FELON

The album swerves back onto the highway. And U-God’s flow improves dramatically, especially when paired with Large Professor’s surprisingly guitar-driven instrumental. The beat isn’t great: in fact, LP’s loop is kind of annoying as shit. But it works better than the music from the previous track, and our host’s first-person narrative, told from the point of view of an incarcerated man describing his day-to-day behind bars, is a storytelling technique that’s been done to death (hell, Raekwon did a similar song on The Wild, which I wrote about earlier today), but he sounds confident, as though the material had been fresh in his mind when he recorded the song. Not terrible.

9. LEGACY

This is essentially U-God’s autobiography in song form, which I suppose makes sense, as the entire point of U-God detailing his life story in the first place was to cement his “Legacy”. At least our host sounds cocky when he turns the spotlight upon himself, as rappers are supposed to do. The instrumental isn’t bad, and it has some dramatic flourishes that weren’t necessary but still sounded good, but as a whole this track left me feeling empty, possibly because I’ve read our host’s book and I’m already aware of all of these story beats. Ah well.

10. WHOLE WORLD WATCHIN’

Not sure why “Whole World Watchin’” required four separate producers or production entities behind the boards, but one of them is Lord Finesse, so that’s worth mentioning, at least,. Weirdly, the instrumental sounds rather lifeless until the chorus, which features all of the bombast and boisterousness that the rest of the song should have contained. U-God spends the entire time describing how he works his ass off, but the track is ostensibly about his awareness that his every move is being scrutinized. It’s a weird dichotomy here. The outro features a sound bite from Divorce Court where a woman was accused of having slept with “the entire Wu-Tang Clan”, which was a questionable move, but overall, the song exists.

11. XXX (FEAT. METHOD MAN)

The title implies a song, or at least a type of song, that U-God doesn’t deliver. “XXX” ends up being our host’s rant against a jealous ex-girlfriend that is apparently stalking him. However, since the man’s ego is on the line, at no point does he appear terrified of the situation: he had it under control and she’s just crazy, of course. Ah, male entitlement. There is some overtly sexual content here, but we’ve all heard much worse within our chosen genre. Homicide’s instrumental is strangely poppy and acts as a contract to what should be downright frightening events in Lamont’s life. Guest star Method Man’s hook is engaging and bland all at once (at least his verse fares better, even though he has nothing more to work with than U-God’s previous framework). I guess we’re knee-deep in the party of the album that isn’t very good, huh?

12. JACKPOT (FEAT. JACKPOT SCOTTY WOTTY)

Whoops, spoke too soon. U-God gifts his buddy Jackpot Scotty Wotty his own song, “Jackpot”, and he takes full advantage of the opportunity, delivering what sounds like one long verse (even though there is enough repetition at times to qualify as a “hook”). Said long verse is pretty fucking good, too, and thanks to Homicide and Reynoso’s banging beat, it’s easy to imagine what Jackpot could have sounded like had he not walked away from the Wu-Tang Clan during its inception. Someone get this dude an EP or something. Why isn’t he on the Mathematics compilation The Saga Continues?

13. WISDOM

It was awfully generous of our host to give an entire song to Scotty Wotty, but if “Wisdom” is what we ended up with as karmic refund, he should take that shit back immediately. U-God’s heart is in the right place: “Wisdom” is about the lessons he’s learned throughout his lifetime, which he plans on teaching to his children when appropriate. But the song is so fucking cheesy, man. Jose Reynoso’s instrumental plays like Just Blaze lite, as though he was tasked with listening to Jay-Z’s The Blueprint in order to create a beat that captures its essence, but not its soul, and in that respect he succeeds, but in another, more important one, “Wisdom” is terrible. Shit.

The following is labeled as a bonus track.

14. VENOM (DJ GREEN LANTERN REMIX)

“Venom” is still a meh song, but at least DJ Green Lantern’s instrumental for this remake better suits the album as a whole. Just two more albums to go, Max.

THE LAST WORD: Venom continues U-God’s streak of albums that aren’t great, but have more good moments than bad. I’m sure you were all hoping for me to trash U-God as I’ve done in the past, but that was back when he deserved all of the flack: Lamont Hawkins is a good rapper now, and his ear for beats has only improved with time. Sure, the man isn’t perfect: the missteps on Venom aren’t hilariously bad, they’re just terrible to listen to. But he’s on more often than not, and his bars have only gotten better, as though he had been taking writing classes over the Interweb in between live shows and recording sessions. The actual music on Venom isn’t really Wu-esque, but U-God doesn’t really have any Wu-Tang producers behind the boards on here anyway, so I don’t know why I was expecting to hear RZA-lite here. A lot of the instrumentals are pretty solid, though (except Large Professor’s, weirdly). The guest list may have been kept to a minimum, but the folks who made the cut mostly shine, especially Jackpot Scotty Wotty, here provided with a showcase like nothing we’ve ever seen/heard him in before. Overall, Venom was a pleasant surprise, but one I should have expected: after reading his autobiography, I feel like my overall mood on U-God has softened a bit, and the man obviously cares about his work. Maybe it’s just that Venom is the first time I’ve fully understood what he was trying to accomplish.

-Max

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Catch up with the U-God solo story by clicking here. But be warned: a lot of it is terrible.