Rating: NN
One of the Wu-Tang’s star players and best lyricists, U-God raised high expectations for his second album, especially at a time when the Wu is in such flux. The clan is so inconsistent these days that every new joint is make-or-break. As such, Golden Arms tips the Wu dangerously close to the edge on Mr. Xcitement. (Weird title – no songs on the LP are called that, but isn’t that what Snoop calls Xzibit at the end of the song X?) Stranger, the album’s full of throwaway rhymes, mediocre keyboard beats, sung faux Dirty South tracks and stupidly flossy material like Go Get Pretty Like Me, which emphasizes U-God’s love of sushi, walk-in closets, D&G cologne and Pierre Cardin cufflinks. It’s like, damn, didn’t this guy used to be “raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia”?
