U-God

Biography

Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 10, 1970), known by his stage name U-God (short for Universal God Allah), is an American rapper and member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for his deep voice and rhythmic flow that can alternate between gruff and smooth.

Early life

Hawkins was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on November 10, 1970. He moved to Staten Island as a youth. He was originally a beatboxer for Cappadonna, and was friends with future members Method Man, Inspectah Deck and childhood friend of Raekwon. Sometime before the members united, U-God was mentored in rap by Cappadonna. He soon became friends with RZA and Ghostface Killah, and he began rhyming under the alias Golden Arms, based on the Kung-Fu movie Kid with the Golden Arm. Later on he changed his name to U-God (which is short for his Five-Percent Nation righteous name "Universal God Allah").

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) / Wu-Tang Forever

U-God was convicted on the grounds of firearm and drug possession charges on April 17, 1992, and was paroled in January 1993. His incarceration prevented him from attending the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) recording sessions for the most part, his input on the seminal LP consisting of only a short bridge on the group's debut single "Protect Ya Neck" as well as the fan-favorite opening verse of "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'". Nevertheless, after his release, he quickly became known to fans for his rugged flow and bass-like voice on Wu tracks such as "Winter Warz", "Knuckleheadz", "Investigative Reports", and "Black Jesus". He was featured heavily on the group's second album Wu-Tang Forever, on which he was one of only four of the group to get a solo track – "Black Shampoo" (the others being Inspectah Deck with "The City", RZA with "Sunshower" and Ol' Dirty Bastard with "Dog Shit").

Golden Arms Redemption

U-God was the eighth member of the group to record a solo album, releasing Golden Arms Redemption×Golden Arms Redemption5 October 1999 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Enter U-God1:482Turbulence3:093Glide6:124Dat's Gangsta4:245Soul Dazzle3:536Bizarre4:317Rumble4:338Pleasure or Pain4:269Stay in Your Lane4:0310Shell Shock5:1311Lay Down3:4712Hungry4:5613Turbo Charge3:0214Knockin' At Your Door3:2915Night the City Cried5:28 in 1999 on Priority Records, which displayed a wide variety of sounds from gritty blaxploitation funk to urgent string sections, and featured guest appearances from several Wu-Tang members and affiliates. It had two singles in "Dat's Gangsta" and "Bizarre×Bizarre1999 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1Bizarre (clean)4:092Bizarre (instrumental)4:063Bizarre (a cappella)3:254Shell Shock (Gritty Street)4:165Shell Shock (instrumental)4:14". The song "Rumble" was used as the main song for the video game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style. Bizarre debuted #7 on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles, but soon after Priority Records was on the verge of shutting down. Still, the album managed to go Gold in sales. Based on the initial success, U-God was able to open his own label, Suppa Nigga Productions. He released his second album Mr. Xcitement×Mr. Xcitement13 September 2005 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Blow Ya Mind (intro)1:072It's a Wrap3:233Hit Em Up, Roll Out4:134Get Down2:285Don King Speaks to U-God3:386Ima Talk to You1:497Kick Azz3:148You Dont Want to Dance2:189Go Get Pretty Like Me3:1610A Long Time Ago2:5611Stop (Carry on)3:2712Bump3:2713Dedication (skit)1:1514Drugs4:4715Heart of Stone3:4616Jenny4:13 in 2005.

Dopium and The Keynote Speaker

In 2009, U-God released the album Dopium×Dopium23 June 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Train Trussle4:542God Is Love3:503Stomp da Roach3:244Lipton3:215Cocaine4:006Magnum Force4:127Hips3:188Wu-Tang3:039Dopium3:1810Rims Pokin Out4:1811New Classic1:5912Stomp da Roach (Bloody Beetroots remix)2:4213Dopium (Yuksek remix)3:4214Hips (Felix Cartel remix)5:33 and had the lead single "Wu-Tang" featuring Method Man. The album featured guest appearances by Sheek Louch, Jim Jones, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, GZA, Cappadonna, Killah Priest and Scotty Wotty with production by Bloody Beat Roots, Felix Cartel and Large Professor. In 2013 U-God announced a new album The Keynote Speaker×The Keynote Speaker23 July 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 26 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Vortex of My Mind (skit)0:332Keynote Speaker2:033Heads Up2:304Inferno (skit)0:095Fire3:166Fame4:117Skyscraper2:128Heavyweight2:289Colossal Cosmos (skit)0:2910Stars2:2911Golden Arms3:0112Room Keep Spinning3:4813Zilla2:4914Get Mine2:3815Mt. Everest3:3116Tranzform3:1217Journey3:3718Be Right There2:4319Days of Glory2:58Disc 21Six Directions of Boxing4:502The Rise of the Ghostface Killah3:293Muthafucka3:234Execution in Autumn3:035Rivers of Blood4:406Murder Spree (The Brown Tape version)3:547Shaolin Soul Selection, Volume 1: Mash-Up9:57 with production by RZA who also served as the albums executive producer. The album was released on July 23, 2013, by RZA's Soul Temple Records with guest appearances from Styles P, Kool Keith, Method Man, RZA, GZA and Inspectah Deck.

Venom and autobiographical book

On December 13, 2016, U-God released through Babygrande Records' SoundCloud account a song "Venom×Venom30 March 2018 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Exordium1:422Unstoppable2:123Epicenter3:524Bit da Dust2:395Elegance3:356Climate3:187Venom2:568Felon2:139Legacy3:3510Whole World Watchin’3:0711XXX3:5112Jackpot2:3813Wisdom3:05" and announced that his new album, also called Venom, would be released soon. On September 25, 2017, he added a tweet in which he announced that he had finished his autobiography entitled Raw: My Journey Into The Wu-Tang and it would be released along with his new album in March 2018. On February 2, 2018, he released a free mixtape Bring Back God II×Bring Back God II2 February 2018 · ReleaseSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 18 tracks1DJ Homicide (intro)2Ghostface Killers (Freestyle)3Wu-Dak Yellow (Freestyle)4Zilla (DJ Homicide Blend)5No Limit (Freestyle)6Keynote Speaker (DJ Homicide Blend)7Fire (DJ Green Lantern remix)8Venom (DJ Green Lantern remix)9Da Mystery of Chessboxin (DJ Homicide remix)10Pieces of a Dream (Freestyle)11Skit12Gravel Pit13Cherchez Laghost14It’s Yourz15Triumph16Heads Up (DJ Green Lantern remix)17Train Trussle (DJ Green Lantern remix)18Outro through DatPiff platform. Venom was released on March 30, 2018 and debuted at #34 on the U.S. Rap Albums Chart.

Studio albums

Golden Arms Redemption (1999)
Mr. Xcitement (2005)
Dopium (2009)
The Keynote Speaker (2013)
Venom (2018)

Collaboration albums

UGodz-Illa Presents: The Hillside Scramblers with The Hillside Scramblers (2004)

Personal life

Around the time of Wu-Tang Forever, his two-year-old son Dontae (now a hip-hop artist as iNTeLL) was struck by a stray bullet while on his way to a birthday party, suffering permanent damage to his kidneys and hands, an ordeal U-God documented on the Wu-Tang Clan track "A Better Tomorrow".