6.7

JID’s Moments of Brilliance Fail to Gel on God Does Like Ugly

The Atlanta rapper’s long-teased follow-up to The Forever Story is often stunted by tedious, if not well-intentioned material. But it’s far from a total collapse.

By Benny Sun  |  August 8, 2025 | 10:00am
Music Reviews jid
JID’s Moments of Brilliance Fail to Gel on God Does Like Ugly
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

When The Forever Story finally came in 2022, after a four-year dormancy, the rap public seemed ready to crown JID as its next all-time great. Functionally, JID had released a perfect record, eliciting comparisons to good kid, m.A.A.d. city-era Kendrick and post-ATLiens André. A few ballads here and some festival mainstays there were elevated by a surprise viral hit, “Surround Sound,” completing the tried-and-true trifecta for a future classic record. Across another three-year wait, critics and fans alike held their breath on whether a follow-up would be his Supreme Clientele, and cement all-time status with back-to-back great albums, or his Curtis, and burn away the goodwill of an early peak. Though God Does Like Ugly displays stagnation compared to JID’s previous material’s upward trajectory, it holds onto enough good will for JID to remain the high standard for major label rappers.

Before The Forever Story, JID took a long road to success that kept him on “Artists to Watch” lists for the better part of a decade. After spending a handful of years cutting his teeth on street tapes and opening tour dates, JID was signed by 2010’s robber baron J. Cole to Dreamville in 2017. JID’s first full-lengths not only quickly postured him as the label’s X-factor, but were conceptual, dense, and performed with the confidence of an over-worked rookie. Pressure mounted as JID drew lofty comparison to greats like Kendrick Lamar, Wayne, and André 3000. Five years after DiCaprio 2, The Forever Story was miraculously able to satisfy the mounting thirst for a new entry to the Atlantean pantheon.

God Does Like Ugly endured the sort of disarrayed rollout only seen in major label raps. Whereas a strong, or at least interesting, collection of songs can vindicate the blind faith zeal necessary to fuel neurotic theories and weather indefinite delays, a poor final product can be the last straw for quick mutiny. It’s the dynamic that made records like Whole Lotta Red legends and The Big Day disappointments. A version of the title was announced as early as March 2020, when JID was simultaneously working on The Forever Story and God Does Like Ugly. A full-length collaboration with Metro Boomin, plus a deluxe titled Forever & A Day, were teased upon the release of The Forever Story in 2022, though neither have yet to be confirmed. The churning rumor mill continued for years, stunting momentum for a Forever Story follow-up, which JID has spent much of 2025 rebuilding. An early single in April, “WRK,” teased the title yet again, while a four track “prelude” mixtape was released in July with no clearer indication on the direction God Does Like Ugly would take.

The ideas on God Does Like Ugly show wear and tear from its first moments, opening with a Westside Gunn accompaniment that hasn’t been in vogue since Gunn showed face at a Donda listening party and Drake hopped on a Conductor Williams beat. Though The Forever Story was a package of timely ideas elevated by all-star performances, God Does Like Ugly lingers on those same ideas, which have already been dated by the years since. Whereas all-time wordsmith Yasiin Bey coronated JID through an appearance on The Forever Story, the Clipse feature on “Community” feels like a forgettable rest stop on Malice and Pusha’s recent victory tour. The chorus of “WRK” will sound great moshing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of drunk Rolling Loud attendees, but it competes with a difficult pantheon of festival classics including “Stick,” “Surround Sound,” and “Costa Rica.”

Crucially, God Does Like Ugly is nowhere close to a poor or even boring effort—it is simply not the product required of JID in the current moment. Quick, slick rhymes performed with a psychedelic vigor still warrants comparison to both halves of OutKast, as JID rarely holds onto the same flow for 16 bars, proving himself as the gold standard for major label pens. The Vince Staples-assisted “VCRs” is an all-fronts standout, seeing both MCs flowing frictionlessly with one another. JID spits fluently in Spanish on “No Boo” with Jessie Reyez, who delivers the album’s best vocal feature. A fiery chorus from Baby Kia on “On McAfee” pulls JID into the modern era. Moments of brilliance flair on God Does Like Ugly, even if they fail to coalesce on the record as a singularly great body of work.

The momentum of JID’s fourth album is often stunted by tedious, if not well-intentioned material. A conceptually exciting Miami bass interpretation on “Sk8” is downright boring, exacerbated by middling appearances from Ciara and EARTHGANG. “Of Blue” connects three distinct phases that trip over one another and fail to gel into a complete statement across its six minutes. “K-Word,” with its penultimate placement, Hans Zimmer-like strings and percussion, and dense lyrical concept, was clearly designed to be a shiny pièce de résistance. Instead, the 5-minute track comes too little too late, lacking the conceptual oomph of similar attempts, like OutKast’s “Da Art of Storytellin’” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.”

It is a cruel yardstick to expect a To Pimp a Butterfly to follow every good kid, m.A.A.d. city, an Aquemini to follow every ATLiens. Yet the standards that JID set for himself in the long road to God Does Like Ugly made monumental reinvention a prerequisite. On its own, God Does Like Ugly deserves accolades as what will inevitably be one of the strongest major label rap efforts of the year, but it’s nearly impossible to view the record as a letdown. Far from a total collapse like The Big Day or Curtis, JID’s fourth album reads more like Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers or A$AP Rocky’s Testing: a just-okay lateral move that invigorates fans towards a new chapter.

 
Join the discussion...