U-God's Resume #11, "Black Jesus"

--Official Stats--

Artist: Ghostface Killah

Song: "Black Jesus"

Album: Ironman

Release Date: October 29, 1996

IRONMAN! What U know about that? What U know about that? What U know about that? I know all about that!

So I know I'm weird, but this is my second favorite Wu album of all time (Liquid Swords is first obviously). I think this shit is just great and I could listen to it all day decade. Now, what makes this album so great (besides the amazing hip hop) is something that is very rare in rap: a solid block of several songs and skits that sound better together than apart. In this case it's the end of the album from Motherless Child on as the songs appear on the LP, I listen to it as a single block all the time and have been doing it for years.  Here's the sequence:

Motherless Child >> Black Jesus >> After the Smoke has Cleared >> All That I Got Is You >> The Soul Controller >> Marvel

I even have the tracks linked together on my mp3 player to play as a single unit. It's amazing. Great job RZA and Ghost.

"Black Jesus"

Black Jesus falls toward the beginning of that music block, so I've heard it literally thousands of times, but usually with Motherless Child before it and After the Smoke has Cleared after. Still, I love it and will defend it whatever the circumstances. So U-God fills in the third verse after Raekwon and Ghostface have a turn.

But hold on, I gotta cover the RZA's beat. It's a classic. I mean it's epic and cooled out and raw at the same time. How does that even happen? All three MCs crush the beat into the ground while being lifted up by it. It's just a fantastic beat.

Now, remember U-God's appearance with Raekwon and Ghostface on Rae's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...? You know, where he absolutely owned the beat to "Knuckleheadz" with his flow and some memorable lines? It ended up being one of his best verses ever. Well, he does that again here. This is another of his best verses. I mean his flow is just deadly and his lines dig deeply into that beat and rip it apart. I'm not saying he beats either Rae or Ghost, well he easily beats Rae...He does kill it, but nobody could beat this line from Ghostface ever: "Who wanna rhyme? Who wanna challenge the swordmens, who rock that fisheman hat like Gordon's". No chance of beating that, but this is great...

[U-God]
I hose down the place
No shots to the face
Elite Special force no religion style faith
The meltin' pot boil gun shot drama soil
Gamble when I scramble handle hot pots of oil
Man handle brain killin' erect my hidden
Streets may be potent put your 9-6 bid in
Vampire Curse disperse on each verse
Swim in black water, act slaughter through my earth
You're hit by my element Great Wall of China
Mountain Peak hold the globe like vagina
Measure on my mic stand, molecule and strand
Finger rollin' rhythm ride the horse one hand
Golden Eye, Spy vs. Spy, guilty of suspicion
Chess boxer, mic in dead body position
40 oz. Ciga-art, three verse invented
divine universal black man representin'
Similar the pure, rhyme blowin out the pore
Battery in the back, keep it charged for the raw
I'm bred type thorough, pistol lyro gun hero
renaissance rebel shadow boxin your barrel
Fully woven Beethoven, hit you on a humble
hard enough to hurt you, chastise my rap styles
Lock down, for this curfew 

So I've gotta give U-God tremendous props for one great phrase in this verse: "mic in dead body position". That's literally one of the hottest things ever said. I use that line a lot, and it's like fifteen years later. If it weren't for that fisherman line from Ghost (which I also say, but it's not as useful) U would have killed it with that line alone. This was definately the Wu's era, this is where life long fans were made. This is when I got my Wu-Tang symbol face tattoo.

Track Score: 10/10

U-God’s Score: 10/10

Impact on Rep (+,-,=): Greatly Improves

Next Week: The end of RZA's five year plan (already!?). We look at U-God's heavy contributions on "Wu-Tang Forever", starting with "Severe Punishment"...it's a lot of work but somebody has to do it, and we can't count on you anymore.



ride the horse one hand

About this series: “U-God’s Resume" is a series of posts which looks at each line of U-God’s entire career to determine if his status as ‘wack’ is justified (as labeled by internet morons). I think it is not. U-God is dope. We'll prove it. Leave it to the Tort Team.