Lamont "U-God" HawkinsRaw: My Journey into the Wu-Tang

This is an interesting look at the early life of U-God, but it could have used more experienced hand at the tiller in terms of pacing and organisation. The harsh reality of life in crack-ridden 1980s/90s New York is brought horribly to life - the influx of crack onto the streets turned whole communities into zombie apocalypses overnight, and U-God's survival in the mess that ensued is intricately told. Stories jump around all over the place and sometimes contradict themselves (Raekwon was the one disillusioned and ready to give up rhyming until the next chapter when he was the one who always knew the most that they would make it off the streets by rhyming - things like that).About two thirds of the way through, the Wu-Tang stuff really kicks in, but there's not much detail in the making of the albums or how any of it came together - a few interesting stories as to why U-God wasn't heavily promoted at first and then a final chapter lambasting the rest of the Clan for their failings, which comes across a little salty in places, even if you can understand it (it's pretty generally agreed that RZA has fallen off majorly in recent years and Cilvaringz is just a weasel for that whole album auction thing).The book did give me a new level of respect for U-God though, who I had previously thought of as being the most unremarkable Clan member - I actually have a renewed interest in checking out his solo stuff now.

Obviously there have been a fair few reviews on this book- some positive and some challenging U-God's views and that also coming from key members of the Wu. I am not getting into the argument of who's right or who's wrong.All in all its a very good read and I must confess that I found it challenging to put the book down. I finished in in a couple of days and any Wu-Tang Clan fan will probably end up doing the same.Lamont Hawkins provides a very detailed rendition of his growing up in the projects along with other members of the Clan, his love of Hip-Hop, pushing drugs on the streets and the general struggle with being in and out of jail a few times which led him not to feature greatly on some key projects.

Although enjoyable, I was slightly let down by this. Probably more to do with my expectations but the first half of the book seemed a bit too “Scarface” for my liking and although the WU details were great, I felt like there wasn’t enough. I wanted to know more about the process of making 36 Chambers, WU Tang Forever etc. Clearly, he has an issue with RZA and I suppose with him not being the most celebrated member, it is to be expected. Still, an enjoyable account if you’re a Killa Bee!

It's a decent book. The second half is much better than the first, which feels a bit OTT... like a Scarface movie... and a bit repetitive too. I enjoyed learning about the Wu and each member's traits and behaviours. Some of the stories about the streets and coming up sounded a little embellished... maybe they were totally accurate, the way it was written just sounded a bit OTT. Worth a read though.

I literally felt like I walked the journey with him, the book is well written and in detail.As a Wu fan this book gave a really insight into what they all went through to make it to the top I just wish this book had same pictures to really bring it to life.Loved the book :-)