Ugodz-Illa

Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 11, 1970), better known as U-God (short for Universal God), is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for having a deep, rhythmic flow that can alternate between being gruff or smooth. He is the group's lowest-pitched member. Early life edit: Hawkins was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York. However he moved to Staten Island as a youth. He was originally a beatboxer for fellow Clan member Cappadonna, as well as being well known friends with future members Method Man, Inspectah Deck and childhood friend 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 "Universal God of Law"). Music career edit: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) / Wu-Tang Forever edit: U-God was convicted of criminal possession of controlled substance on April 17, 1992 and was paroled on January 1993. His incarceration prevented him from featuring heavily on the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), 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 now-famous 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" (While the others being Inspectah Deck with "The City", RZA with "Sunshower" and Ol' Dirty Bastard with "Dog Shit"). Around this time his young son was accidentally shot and injured, an ordeal the rapper documented on the Wu-Tang Clan track A Better Tomorrow. Golden Arms Redemption edit: U-God was the eighth (out of nine at the time) member of the group to record a solo album, releasing Golden Arms Redemption 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". The song "Rumble" was used as the main song for the video game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style. Bizarre debuted #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, 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. Rebirth of U-God edit: In 2009 U-God released his latest album "Dopium" released on FrankRadio/Baby Grande was critically acclaimed received 4.5 out of 5 stars and had the leadoff video single "Wu-Tang" featuring Method Man with over 3 million YouTube views. The Album featured guest appearances by Sheek Louch, Jim Jones, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, GZA, Cappadonna, Method Man, Killah Priest, Jackpot Scotty Wotty and production by Bloody Beat Roots, Felix Cartel and Large Professor. U-God announced new album "Keynote Speaker" to come out in 2013 with production by RZA.

Source: Wikipedia

Text from this biography licensed under creative commons license