Title: Golden Arms Redemption
Release Date: October 5, 1999
Producer: Various
Review: An offhanded listen to Golden Arms Redemption could trick you into thinking it only ever amounts to being decent at best - a filler between Uncontrolled Substance and the next uber-popular Wu release, Ghostface Killah's Supreme Clientele. However, spending an hour with Golden Arms Redemption on headphones while reading along with its lyrics (I prefer Rap Genius generally despite their mistakes on GAR) proves irrevocably otherwise. This is the man who opened "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" with "Raw I'mma give it to ya with no trivia / We're like cocaine straight from Bolivia / My hip-hop will rock and shock the nation / Like the Emancipation Proclamation," yet U-God (aka Golden Arms) somehow remains a less popular Wu-general than most of his brethren. Let's get into it: beats first, rhymes second.
15 tracks and eight producers? Jesus. This results in a few inconsistencies - on Inspectah Deck's tracks "Glide" and "Rumble," Deck reels in U-God's bullfrog bass voice and rounds it out with punchier basslines; on the other hand, True Master goes for broke on "Dat's Gangsta" in the clearly-electronic beats and Golden Arms's voice. Overall, however, whether it's John the Baptist's "Lay Down" or Hak da Navigator on "Pleasure or Pain," most of the producers decided that the way to go with U-God's voice is a full-to-bursting sound, resulting in a really enjoyable casual listen in the car or while working at home.
The album starts with U-God doing an a cappella version of "I Will Survive" backed by crowd noise. It's supposed to hype us up, but the first proper song, "Turbulence," does just as well on its own. "Turbulence" is a True Master-produced track of urgent strings and horns, and if it sounds familiar it's because he also brought us "Heaterz" on Wu-Tang Forever, another string-heavy Wu track featuring U-God. It kicks the album off with a bang, making way for the mid-tempo "Glide" before True Master returns for the album's first single, "Dat's Gangsta," with a phat bass and tight, upbeat lyrics. It's easy to see why it would lead off as a single from the album.
"Soul Dazzle" emulates old-school funk and soul with staccato horns and phrases like "Can ya dig it? On the real side," but is - in this case - less successful than RZA's takes on the same style throwbacks. The producer, Homocide, returns to close the album with the brilliant "Night the City Cried," though, so you can't really diss him entirely. It serves best as foreshadowing for the wonderfully retro "Stars" on 2013's The Keynote Speaker. Marvin Gaye is effectively sampled on "Bizarre," Redemption's second single, before Deck returns for the album's centerpiece, "Rumble." Here, the rolling bass and brilliant piano loop support U-God, Letha Face, Inspectah Deck and Method Man expertly - and yes, it works great as the theme to Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, but more on that next week.
"Pleasure and Pain" stands out as a sobering drama after the earlier fun-loving tracks. Hak da Navigator gambles big on the music with an electric guitar, bass guitar and organ in the mix, but it pays off. U-God and Sunz of Man's Hell Razah spit serious rhymes over this hypnotic beat, which is the first in a one-two combo of peculiar standouts, followed by RZA's "Stay in Your Lane." Ultimately "Pleasure and Pain" worked more for me, as "Stay in Your Lane" is a loose string of thoughts over some Tricky-esque snare rolls and singular piano-sounding keyboard notes.
John the Baptist offers "Lay Down" and "Knockin' at Your Door," and "Lay Down" sees thick bass going note-for-note with a short hip-hop loop. It's a bit simplistic, but ultimately the better of his two beats. Omonte Ward's only track is "Hungry," where U-God desperately and effectively sings about dying in the cold - but the real star is the music, which borders on 1980s industrial. The echoing xylophone and tinny snare sample are as much Skinny Puppy as they are rap, which is just wild.
Going back to "Turbulence," this time for the lyrics, it's clear that it's not U-God's tightest set of verses but it matches the music perfectly - it's like a sudden riot, chaos everywhere, fire in the streets. "Dat's Gangsta" has the first truly standout rhyme as it opens: "Brand new magnetic, Killah Hill scorches / Monster talk bosses / Spank 'em, step into my office" just flies off the tongue. "Bizarre" has the best reference, meanwhile: "Beat up the beat, overload rap treat fix / Cape in the wind like the John Woo flicks."
U-God's frequent collaborator Leatha Face guests on "Glide," "Rumble," "Shell Shock" and "Knockin' at Your Door" and he holds his own quite well. Likewise, Wu-generals Inspectah Deck and Method Man switch the tone of the record up on "Rumble" and Raekwon appears for the first time since "Spazzola" on Tical 2000 the year before, showing up here on "Shell Shock."
Not only does "Pleasure and Pain" stand out for its unique music, but U-God's flow is best described at its outset. Check the emboldened words here for the rhymes:
"Through the storms, I gotta stay strong
Take deep breaths, hold on long
Bring the harm with no regrets on my chest
Let my knowledge be born on levels while
Devil cops just mark my every step
When the riots form, my woman keeps me warm."
It's crazy how far-reaching some of the rhymes are, with the "storm/harm/born/form/warm" scheme appearing throughout the whole stanza while "strong" and "long" lock down the first two lines, then "breaths" opens up the gates to let "regrets" and "chest" in on the next line, holding off for two full lines before "step" closes it up. I feel like Cappadonna often uses too few rhymes in his verses, and some may make the same mistake about U-God listening to "Turbulence" here, but the above selection proves otherwise.
One of the final great things about this album is the subtle connection it has with Inspectah Deck's Uncontrolled Substance. Both are debut albums from Wu generals, both released October 5, 1999. U-God offers three contributions to Uncontrolled Substance (all of which are verses) and Deck offers three contributions to Golden Arms Redemption (production on two songs plus one verse). Then on "Turbo Charge," U-God calls out "elevation" multiple times, likely a nod to the track "Elevation" on Uncontrolled Substance. A quick listen to "Elevation" shows a reference to a Black Panther leader - Hewey Newton - and one of U-God's aliases is Baby Huey. Of course Baby Huey was a kids' cartoon character, but on Enter the Wu-Tang there's a radio clip of U-God being described as "a psychopathic thinker." Hewey Newton was the main ideologue of the Black Panthers, so there is a clear connection there. Likewise, on "Show and Prove," U-God says "I hit the concrete / Show and prove..." which may be a reference to Uncontrolled Substance's penultimate "Show & Prove," both of which lament committing ill deeds to survive and make use of the metaphor of fire in their eyes.
Legacy: Golden Arms Redemption was released on Priority Records on the verge of the company's bankruptcy. It was certified gold, selling 500,000 copies, but is now harder to find than you'd imagine - most copies go for upwards of $30 on Amazon Marketplace. Of the four U-God solo albums released to date (August 2014, as of this writing), Golden Arms Redemption offers a great sample of what's to come: A solo career of ups and downs and some real Wu bangers standing out to the point of almost nullifying a few weak tracks. Before his sophomore album, Mr. Xcitement, was released in 2005, U-God actually left Wu-Tang for a period in 2004. Due to sample clearance and the overall outcome of Mr. Xcitement, U-God has even denounced it as a solo record. Dopium and The Keynote Speaker are both solid albums though, so Golden Arms Redemption is also the beginning of a 10-year gap between acknowledged records from the emcee. Looking forward, it would be five more years before the final debut of a founding Wu member with Masta Killa's 2004 release No Said Date.
Recommended Tracks: Lay Down, Dat's Gangsta, Pleasure and Pain, Hungry.
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