By Ainsley Leal-Salazar
On August 8, 2025, rapper JID released his fourth studio album, God Does Like Ugly. JID is known for his incredible flow and lyricism, and this album definitely continues that experimental genre. The album has 15 tracks, 14 songs and a single interlude, featuring Westside Gunn. The name God Does Like Ugly came from JID’s grandmother after they were talking about an event that happened in the world.
This is a top three album of the year for me, alongside Alfredo 2 by Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist and Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd. This was a really enjoyable listen and I liked every single track. However, three stand out in particular.
The opening song on the album “YouUgly” has a surprising feature from Westside Gunn- I was not expecting him to be on the album. Within the first couple of seconds, listeners can hear Westside Gunn’s incredibly recognizable voice. After Westside Gunn’s intro, JID comes in with a verse.
JID uses vivid storytelling and his sharp wordplay. The lyric that stuck out to me on this song is “And fans argue ’bout record sales like they record execs themselves,” suggesting that they critique artists’ performance like they are actual industry executives. After JID’s first verse, Westside has a couple more lines then JID has another verse. On his second verse, JID starts to fully go into his flowstate and then the song ends with Westside saying to be on time to church while also threatening them with violence.
This album is breathtaking, the message mixes well with the vibes of the music. One of the more popular lyrics from this album is from the song “Community,” featuring the rap duo, Clipse. The lyric is “I’ll put a bullet in Bob the … Builder,” which is humorous, but a little rude, like what did “Bob The Builder” do? This album is a very pleasant listening experience. Highly recommend taking a listen to this album if you’re into rap.