Release Date: 7 January 2026
Song Count: 14
Rating: 7.4/10
Description:
Returning back to the realm of digital hip-hop is a duo that I've had on the radar for a while and who released a brand new full-length album just three days prior as of writing this: GODHANDUSA, consisting of rappers Joshua Hamilton (also known as Lil Darkie) and Christopher Lindsey (also known as BRUHMANEGOD), with their third rendition - or rather, volume - of a self-titled album, GODHAND VOLUME 3. It is apparent from listening to practically any of their songs that the "God's hand" theme and branding is a reoccurring phenomenon that shows up throughout their entire discography, alongside a general air of confidence and wish to be recognised for their rapping and musical talents, and they have found a unique way to garner the cult following status that they possess, especially since not much is actually known about the duo project as a whole, and the two members go under the official aliases of Mongo and Gonda when working together, rather than presenting themselves as their seperate identities.
What constitutes the two musicians' signature styles when working as GODHANDUSA in particular is a distinctive 8-bit voice filter applied on their rhythmic rap flow to add a sense of ambiguity to their voices and to distinguish their sound as their in-character personas from their outputs outside of the project, which are also primarily in a rap genre. The samples used in most of their songs, including the ones featured on this record, are dynamic, hard-hitting, layered and at times radiate a sort of retro and older-seeming feel whilst simultaneously not feeling dated or tacky, and they tend to work quite well with the rapping style of Mongo and Gonda, albeit not with a perfect track record.
It's a particular kind of production and approach to hip-hop music that makes the duo's music practically instantly recognisable - it's clear that these guys know not only how to brand themselves in a way that gets one engaged in their presence and work, but also how to create a very memorable musical identity that is highly difficult - if not impossible - to find a replacement for. Volume 3 in particular includes multiple tracks that fully showcase this in the best way and simultaneously come in many shapes, sizes and speeds, from the bombastic and delightfully deafening "GO DUMB" and "REALEST IN THE CENTURY" to the calmer yet still groove-led "BUTTERFLY" - some of the best songs that the two have made in their time making music together.
Not all of the tracks in the album reach this level of grandness, however, as for every song that is at least in contention to be a highlight in the album, there are ones that fall more on the repetitive and less attention-catching side of things - however, given how it is quite a tall order to expect every track on a full-length collection to blow things out of the water, it's not something that affects the enjoyment of listening to the entire thing too much overall.
There's a lot of positive qualities to be found within GODHAND VOLUME 3 in general, regardless of whether one is a massive enjoyer of digital hip-hop music or not, and there's almost certainly something here to find for many listeners. It is quite frankly a surprise that GODHANDUSA isn't a much larger act than they are in the music scene given their general quality and ticket for wide appeal and massive success, but perhaps that time of breaking through the mould will come in the near future. For now, the duo seems more than happy to simply make the type of music they've seemed to have mastered at making and having a grand old time, and that is more than worthy of respect. Solid work!