God Does Like Ugly (Alternate Version)

the take

Truth be told, I was a little nervous going into JID's latest project, "God Does Like Ugly". Though I listened to the "preluxe" and enjoyed almost every track on there, I couldn't help but think how disappointed the end result could be, especially after how much I enjoyed "The Forever Story" and even going back to "The Never Story". Good thing that I was worried about nothing. Because JID went crazy on the "preluxe" tracks that are considered "throwaways", it's more of the same here. Actually, GDLU is more focused on the theme of accepting one's ugly traits and embracing it because our flaws truly make us beautiful in our own unique ways. I'll admit that at times, those sentiments (and other side ideas as a whole) kind of come off as scattered and not always consistently cohesive to me. It doesn't change the fact that JID has an incredible ability at crafting songs. Sonically, it's a mix of everything from hype songs to borderline Neo-Soul songs and everything in between. GDLU doesn't sound repetitious; it makes sure to keep the listener on their toes the entire time. I feel it's a breath of fresh air on that front. This variety is accompanied by all the features on here and aside from Don Toliver (still don't really care much for him or his music), everyone else understood their assignment and helped elevate their respective tracks. Naturally, Clipse has the best feature on here for me, but others like Vince Staples, Ty Dolla $ign, fellow Spillage Village members EARTHGANG and 6LACK, and shit, even Westside Gunn with his classic adlibs all helped make this an engaging listen for me. It's kind of hard to beat "The Forever Story", but maybe this doesn't have to be better than that. "God Does Like Ugly" stays in its own lane and is one of the best albums of the year because of it.