Cappadonna — Hook Off

A year after his double LP, Cappadonna returns to release something and releases his eighth album, the first with his new label GFL Entertainment, heir to Cappadonna Records. As announced by the rapper, the album lacks hooks: it's not something you've never seen in hip-hop, but in 2014 it's pretty curious. Needless, too, you're on a Cappadonna album, the lyrics will still leave a lot to be desired even if they're generic thug-n-bragga. Production is mainly provided by J-Clyde, however rhythms also arrive from Vocab, Cruise, G-Dot Beats, Big Un and DJ Intrigue. Amar Divine is the absolute protagonist of this sort of mixtape, present in 11 tracks, ahead of Don Shae (5) and Wonda Women (3).

"Soul Food" is the first piece, decent jazzy rhythm with soul samples, decent delivery of Cappadonna, the others have a choked and slow, quite mediocre style. Police sirens erupt in the second song, a posse with Cappa's brother Lounger Low and two other guys. "Vegan" has one of the worst beats, simplistic, cheap and confusing, straight for the club, no one is fit on this garbage. Track four is slightly better, with an alternate rhythm, while "Adam & Eve" features its first "professional" guest, Solomon Childs (of School of the Gifted), the first Clan-affiliated rapper to appear on a Cappadonna album since three years, and as of this writing (2020), it's also the last one. Boom bap jazzy, Cappadonna seems inspired here, fluid, Solomon Childs brings his raw flow and the others are decent too, without affecting the economy of the song.

"Vibes Cartel" has a good rhythm (thanks to the sample, "We Can Make It Happen Again", by Stylistics), the seventh track no. There's also PMD on "Famous Aimers", on a good soul sample, but the boy doesn't add anything to the record, similar speech for Flipmode Squad member Spliff Starr in the following track, on alternative jazzy rhythm. Piece number ten boasts yet another soul sample of this record, on alternative boom bap, Wu rapper delivers decently, a little less the guests. G Dot Beats produces "Spiritual Love", providing a pretty good alternative jazzy boom bap, that try to remember the sound of J Dilla, Cappa delivers inspired, there are a few random but forgivable scratches, the sample also give value to these mediocre guest deliveries. Triumphant strings radiate "Genoside", with an alternative jazzy rhythm and Don Shae, one of the most present guests of the disc, clearly unfit here. In "Feed My Folks", Cappadonna tries to create the disco's banger, catchy in every aspect, from the bouncy rhythm, to Nakeeba Amaniyea's reggae hook, to the rapper's hardcore commercial delivery, which switches to a reggae-sque delivery at the end. The following three cuts are all generic, before the last song, "Parkhill Avenue Crew", an alternative and oriental jazzy boom bap of RZA memory.

Deeply irregular album with its 56 minutes: Cappadonna never goes too strong in these 17 choices, despite the absence of hooks, he begins to struggle to hold up an entire album by himself. The presence of so many mediocre performers, about fifteen, doesn't lower the quality of the tape, because we're still talking about Cappadonna, but let's say that it keeps it at a low level. 

Rating: 4/10.