Hi, everyone. Praythony Godtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new JID album, God Does Like Ugly.

Here we have a new LP from Atlanta rapper and the Lyricist extraordinaire, JID, aka J.I.D. And this is his fourth full-length official studio album, and the highly anticipated follow-up to his incredible The Forever Story, which came out in 2022.

And pound for pound, in my opinion, I feel like up until the point where this new Clipse album came out (Let God Sort Em Out), The Forever Story very much was the best hip hop album of the 2020s thus far. And to hold that accolade for a very steady five year or more period, I think is pretty impressive, takes a certain caliber of artist.

JID is provably such a special artist that his appeal goes far beyond the lane of hip hop that he's often pigeonholed into. I mean, he was even quoted last year as saying that he hates lyrical rap and doesn't really listen to the hip hop that is his style. Now, I don't know if that is or can be entirely true, but what I will say is that while JID does make some technically proficient, thoughtful hip hop, he clearly cares about elements of his songs other than just flashy lyricism, as he typically pairs his tracks with production and features and songwriting that has a bit more of a wide appeal. Certainly wider than your average lyrical miracle rapper who's diluted themselves into thinking that they're here to save hip hop.

You can see that very appeal that I'm talking about in the array of artists who are willing to work with him. I mean, one of the biggest tracks off of his last record had not only Baby Tate on it, but 21 Savage, too. Deeper cuts had the likes of Lil Wayne and Mos Def.

With this new album, he teased toward it with a prelude EP that not just had a track on it with Lil Yachty, but Eminem, too. The song "Animals Part One", which is just this incredible lyrical workout; really one of the most insane rap performances I've heard on any song this year.

Again, that was just the appetizer for this album. Now we have the entirety of God Does Like Ugly. The full slate of features here is even more interesting because you have Clipse in the mix on this thing, fellow labelmates Dreamville, Ty Dolla $ign, Vince Staples, to name a few. But aside from all that, I'm not really sure going into this album what really my expectations were.

I mean, I certainly didn't think we'd be seeing any fall off with this LP. But also in the lead up to this album, there were a lot of questions as to whether or not JID would outdo himself in regards to The Forever Story here, which, I mean, frankly, is a tall order. Even coming out with another record that is just as good in every way as The Forever Story is would be a feat, because few artists even reach the peak to where they're making a project that good in the first place.

And while I wouldn't say this new project here is quite that good, JID still effortlessly dropped here one of the best rap records of 2025. One that kicks off with an incredible first leg.

The first track on this thing, "YouUgly", kicks off with this big bombastic rant instead of ad-libs from none other than Westside Gunn. But what's even more attention-grabbing about this track is the glitchy off-kilter beat. It's industrial It's heavy, it's odd, and amounts to easily the darkest start to any JID album so far. On top of that, what also makes this track special is that JID's delivery, his writing, his flow comes across as so conversational, and yet there is still a lot of rhythm and a super clear rhyme scheme to it, as he's saying, "Yeah, lie from the depths of hell with angel wings that have yet to flail / Snd fans argue about record sales like the record execs themselves," which is a pretty accurate sentiment of the current state of online music discourse, where people, unfortunately, seem more obsessed with monthly listener numbers than they are with the actual quality of the music they're listening to.

But for JID, these are exactly the sorts of sharp and accurate observations that we've come to expect. And of course, going deeper into the track, we have even funnier and more interesting quotables like, "Far cry from bugs and cereal boxes on the shelves / Now I order escargot on a plate, it's a fucking snail?" Which there's so much to unpack from that line, not only the shift in what he has around him in his surroundings since he's become successful as a musician. But just also the juxtaposition of insects in those two different contexts, one being a symbol for poverty and the other one extreme wealth.

There's also this crazy choral passage that just breaks in randomly in the middle of the song provides a bit of a heavenly interlude before we go right back into a super groovy but dark variation of the same beat in a switched-up flow. But yeah, this track overall is such a grimey, uncompromising intro. Surely it feels like JID was doing something here to ward off anybody who wouldn't be open-minded toward whatever he's trying to do on this record.

Many of the tracks to follow immediately after this song are much more digestible by in comparison, but there's still a lot of depth and a lot of passion to be offered.

The song "Glory", for example, features some very stellar and epic gospel chops, and these are used to soundtrack what is essentially a hype-up anthem. I love the narrative and flow state that JID hits here on this track, too. Essentially painting a picture of his growth as well as some of the bumps that he's hit in the road of life and the way that things like spirituality and religion have helped him along the way. The final leg of this song, too, features one of many great beat switches across the entirety of this record, too.

Then after this, we get the song "WRK", which was one of the lead singles to this record. It's this big, nasty trap anthem with huge gang vocals, horror movie synthesizer layers. It's a true blue banger with some of my favorite lyrical highlights on the entire record. I say favorite because I just love the way JID connects one random idea to another using either a similar topic or a number, a rhyme, a bit of alliteration: "You couldn't even stop my drive if it were 1955 / And I'm on '85 doing 95 in a 1952 Dodge /I done seen too much with my two eyes / I don't even feel a way, just neutralize them." And he continues on just like this for the entirety of the song, and sounds amazing front to back.

The next track, "Community", has a great feature from none other than Clipse in the mix. And there are a lot of things I love about this song. I could almost do an entire video about this song, honestly. But what I enjoy about it most is just lyrically and conceptually, the cohesion, as the track overall is a pretty bold statement on the suffering and violence and crime and destitution that you might find around some housing blocks, with Jidd adding into his bars a bit of levity, but also some thoughts on evictions with bars like, "I'll put a bullet in Bob the Fucking Builder / 'for they try and kick us out the building / What about the children?" And these are all ideas that Pusha T and Malice reinforce with their own verses. But I love how in the lead up, JID brings the storytelling of his bars to their home state of Virginia to pass it off. And all of these things just make this appearance feel like so much more than just a feature.

There are more strong cuts further into the first leg, including "Gz", which has a pretty prominent Comethazine "Walk" sample. There's also the pretty moody "VCR" featuring Vince Staples, who I think has one of the better features on the record, handily.

But then around the midpoint of the album, there's a pretty strong tone shift that there's a lot of differing opinions on. A lot of arguments saying that JID goes pop in the middle of the record, randomly. And while I could see why some of songs aren't for everybody, I still think they mostly add to this album overall in a positive way. Because for one, I personally love "Sk8" featuring Ciara as well as Earthgang. This track is like a throwback block party anthem with galloping high hats and super smooth-sung vocals on the hook. Earthgang's typical rap-sung delivery adds so much to the pop appeal of this record, too. All in all, there's just a lot of slick flows and funny bars, danceable grooves. It's maybe the most feel-good song the entire LP.

After this, though, we get "What We On" with Don Toliver, which just feels so comatose in comparison with everything else here. While in concept I have no issue with Don Toliver's sound or JID doing a track that is like going in a bit of a spacey alternative trap, psychedelic RnB thing. But the spacier production, reverse percussion, downpitched vocals, and JID's more measured vocal delivery, it just all leads to this track being such a snoozer in comparison with everything else here, which is miraculous, considering that "Wholeheartedly" after this with Ty Dolla $ign is an even slower track, but somehow more gripping and more passionate, too, with these beautiful touches of strings and forlorn cords and chilling vocal harmonies.

If you remember back to Jidd's last record, The Forever Story, it really is like the "Kody Blu 31" of the record, as that really was a tuneful and passionate highlight of that album. So is the case for this track. The song also serves as a reminder – when JID actually wants to, the dude can sing really well, better than you would think for a guy who often doesn't really lean into that side of his vocal talents.

Sadly, following this, "No Boo" is another relatively forgettable cut on this LP, with Jessie Reyez. JID tries to give us this bitter romance angle with a lot of back and forth going on. There's a lot of awkwardness to it, not only from the lyrics, but in terms of just JID's vocals having just so much more presence in the mix. And by the time the song is over, I'm just sitting here wondering, I don't like the dynamic that these two have. I don't want them to have anything to do with each other. I just want what they have going on to be done so the song can be over.

From here, we hit an interlude and then the final leg of the record, which, while not perfect, does feature some of the best tracks. "On McAfee" to my ears is a decent bop, but one that I think could have been left on the prelude EP, as it doesn't really add that much to the track list that other songs haven't already. And given the super-acoustic chill intro of "Of Blue", I feel like we really could have gone straight into this track. Because after this intro featuring Mereba, which is beautiful, is over, we go right into, yet again, another lyrical display that shows why JID is in the league that he is as he hits us with this multi-phased epic of a track with numerous bars that provide a lot of inspiration, aspiration, but a lot of illusions to God and prayer and hope.

After this, the song "K-Word" is an intense and epic meditation on the idea of karma. The closing track "For Keeps" is mostly a recount of just JID's life story as an artist and everything it took to get to this point, as he is going over some of his first performances, as well as uploading early tracks to SoundCloud and not really getting the reception that he wanted off the bat. There's even a super cute heartwarming moment with this kid in the midst of the song, too.

But yeah, all in all, I was not as crazy about this record I was The Forever Story, mostly because I didn't find it to be as ambitious and as consistent on the tracklist side, as thematic. But even with that being the case, I don't feel like I'm experiencing some severe drop in quality from the previous record to this one. Like these are both still great albums, and JID remains to be one of the most impressive rap artists out there today, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 8 on this new one.

Anthony Fantano, JID, forever.