Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.

The stories about Wu-Tang Klan's U-God are insane.

He was raised by the streets of Staten Island, where getting beaten up was a right of passage

that made you stronger.

He was busted for driving a stolen car and assaulting a police officer.

He dealt crack and narrowly avoided a police raid on the apartment

building he dealt from. He also dealt vengeance. He once broke a guy's jaw and came within seconds

of killing a rival dope peddler. And when he finally put the violent life behind him, the ghosts of his

past returned to remind him that the streets weren't

done with him yet. At that point, of course, U-God had moved on to make great music with Wutang

clan, some of the most defining music of the late 1990s. Unlike that clip I played for you at the top

of the show, that wasn't great music.

That was a preset loop from my Melotron called, Is This Thing On? MK. 1.

I played you that clip because I can't afford the rights to the sign by Ace of Bass.

And why would I play you that specific slice of ubiquitous Europop cheese could I afford it?

Because that was the number one song in America on March 13, 1994, and that was the day

that U-God's new life as a member of a wildly successful hip-hop collective was shattered when a member of his

own family was caught in the middle of a gunfight. On this episode, rights of passage, stolen

cars, police raids, broken jaws, caught in the crossfire, and Wu-Tang cl clans you got. I'm Jake Brennan

and this

is disgraceland. Park Hill, Staten Island, 1979.

He took the beating like he was 18 years old, not eight. He knew it was coming. He couldn't outrun it,

...