In 1998, Darryl Hill better known as Cappadonna, releases his debut album, ending a cycle of four glorious years: in 1995, he presented himself to the rap world as one of the top guests of Raekwon's debut, the following year he's at the center of the cover of "Ironman", between Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, and is one of the main protagonists of the album, positively. 1997 saw him fully promoted through the Wu-Tang ranks, gaining several appearances on the "Forever" double disc, including the one in the "Triumph" banger, while '98 cemented him in the game as a legitimate Wu-Tang rapper. Cappadonna is still an affiliate, when he comes to the threshold of his debut: he's among the very first members of the supergroup, but shortly before the recording of "36 Chambers", the rapper ends up in prison, and is replaced by Method Man within the Wu-Tang Clan. Back on the street, he's forced to chase all the others, struggling to prove that he deserves a place within the group and that, if he hadn't been incarcerated, the Clan's debut wouldn't only have been his too, but it would have been even better. Don't you believe it? Me neither.
He taught everything to U-God, and Masta Killa seems to have come out almost by chance to be admitted to the Clan, for this reason Donna believes he's superior to both (U-God can also be discussed, Masta Killa he doesn't even see him with binoculars). Half the clan members have achieved mainstream success by dropping classics, or are getting there: after the debut of Method Man (1994) and Ol' Dirty Bastard (1995), Cappadonna manages to jump on the bandwagon in the summer, with the first LP of Raekwon, and then carve out a leading role on the Ghostface debut (1996): "Winter Warz" is his best ever performance within the four walls. Up until this moment, he has made so few mistakes in his spots, that most fans believe the boy has the qualities and the skills to really add something to the already crowded supergroup. The production of the effort is mainly entrusted to the disciple of RZA True Master (6), while the RZA (5) rests on his laurels, his five-year plan is over, the Wu-sound has arrived, he can also rest for a bit of time. Goldfingaz (3), Mathematics and 4th Disciple, with one rhythm each, are the remaining producers, so the sound remains anchored to Wu-Tang. In the rapping, Cappadonna is very-well aided by the group: Method Man, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Solomon Childs aka Killa Bamz, Rhyme Recca of Royal Fam, Blue Rasperry and Tekitha are the guests.
"Slang Editorial" is the single extracted to promote the album and is the first cut: True Master's splendid jazzy boom bap, wonderful, wisely combines the typical Wu-Tang sound with the noir-gangsta vibes of the New York scene of the period, there's a Mobb Deep touch in this rhythm, robust and jovial drum, rhythm left to breathe, then Cappadonna delivers confident flowing calm, dominating the song with a flow that sounds fresh and raw. The opening bar is then homaged by Jay-Z in "Renegade", one of the best hip-hop tracks of the 2000s, straight from "Blueprint". The title track is produced by Goldfingaz, who produces a great rhythm, boom bap jazzy with a vibrant midtempo drum, excellent samples, vibes noir thanks to the looped piano in the background, Solomon Childs credited as Killa Bamz delivers the first verse, Cappadonna closes the track with a good flowing youthful style. "Run" is the second single on the album, and features a more commercial rhythm provided by RZA, with squeaky synths in the background, a messy drum machine and tight samples: the Staten Island rapper proves fit in this braggadocio thug choice. The RZA disappoints in "Blood on Blood War" by creating a bouncy and weak rhythm to support Cappadonna's slow delivery, while Killa Bamz provides an uninspired hook. The fifth joint is the first Wu-Tang posse, featuring Method Man and U-God: True Master's gloomy jazzy boom bap, with good samples, on this dirty rhythm, U-God flows with a crisp, smooth, effective style, he goes away fast on a disjointed and dreary beat, for once up to par with one of the best MCs of the Clan. Method Man in the second verse is flowing, but boasts a dirtier and coarser flow than usual, not particularly facilitated by the production. It closes Cappadonna with a smooth and calm flow.
The rhythm of the sixth piece is one of the best of RZA in this edition, dark beat, jazzy, minimal, simple, robust drum, mesmerizing production, surprisingly smooth Cappadonna delivery, but the lyrics rarely help. When "Splish Splash" arrives, you realize that True Master throughout the record has done a better job than his mentor RZA: boom bap jazzy, dark samples, thin vibrating drum to support a single verse of Cappadonna, here flowing, but not too inspired. "Oh-Donna" boasts a dirty and lean production of Mathematics, minimal rhythm, pounding snare drum, smooth flowing delivery of Cappadonna who exchanges some stanzas with Ghost Face, much better than him. True Master makes a bouncy, dirty, underground sound carpet for "Milk the Cow", correct samples, perfect drum, effective support for CappaDon's hardcore, lively and light-hearted smooth delivery, Method Man short hook to add value to the track. The Wu-Tang-affiliated producer also performs rhythm number ten: alternative and simplistic jazzy boom bap, drum midtempo, lazy and uninspired delivery of Cap, functional hook; for the second verse, True Master inserts a bridge made up of dark samples, keeping the drum sturdy and messy and creating a curious variation to the rhythm. 4th Disciple brings horns to the album: jazzy production with frenzied, minimal drum machine, the Wu-affiliated rapper is forced to execute his braggadocio bars faster on this tense, urgent and dark beat, with functional hook. Raekwon & Method Man are the guests of "Dart Throwing": True Master's effective jazzy boom bap, lean midtempo drum, Raekwon's smooth and slow delivery, then Method Man, flow dope, smooth, slow, magnificent. It follows Cappadonna, without hook, it's as if it were a real Wu-Tang Clan posse cut, simple battle rap, also by flow Cappachino is easily inferior to the other two.
Jazzy boom bap with tight skeletal drum, great RZA rhythm, dirty, underground, soulful hook excellent sung by Blue Raspberry, Cappadonna, as a great artist he's, he lets the beat breathe and then starts and slaps, single verse, messy delivery [to pretend to be emotional] in a song on a girl where he doesn't put any curse word, wait, what did I hear? Insidious synths in Blue Rasperry's final hook. Goldfingaz produces song number fourteen: alternative, simplistic jazzy boom bap, Cappadonna's confident determined delivery, Rhyme Recca's quick hook. In his third featuring, Killa Bamz obscures CappaDon in "Pump Your Fist": simplistic, weak and uninspired boom bap, with cheap drum patterns and random samples of RZA, in one of his worst beats in his career to date. Killa Bamz well in the first verse, smooth and clean, Tekitha offers a rough verse in rapping, but her technique is poor – in hindsight, it's at least equal to that of the Cappadonna after this record – she practically never meets this drum that RZA decides to hide from time to time. Goldfingaz has the latest official beat on the record, for "Black Boy": messy and skeletal beat, libertine drum machine, easy delivery by Cappadonna, soulful hook by Tekitha that offers a better performance than the previous piece, on a rhythm that is very close to dance. For the European market, as a bonus track, "'97 Mentality" is released: RZA's wonderful jazzy bap boom, dark and tense samples, perfect drum, unique Cappadonna verse, inspired here, he delivers hardcore and smoothly, raw and brilliant flow, closes a Ghost Face Killer outro.
One-hour album, divided into sixteen cuts + the bonus, recommended: it's Cappadonna's best solo track here and perhaps in his career. There's a lot of Wu-Tang. I want to write it with satisfaction: this is a Wu-Tang record. About time. Unfortunately, it'll be the only one in Cappadonna's career, and it's the only time that he manages to carry out a soloist long-play. For the first, only and last time in his life, Cap is assisted entirely by the Wu-Tang Clan during his solo album, both in production, mainly carried out by True Master and RZA, and in rapping, where officially all the MCs of the Clan aren't accredited: the only artists on the tracklist with guest roles are Killa Bamz on the title track, Blue Raspberry on "Young Hearts" and Rhyme Recca on "Everything is Everything". Despite this, fortunately, the Wu-Tang is there: Method Man lights up "Supa Ninjaz", "Milk the Cow" and "Dart Throwing", Ghostface Killah spits a couple of verses in "Oh Donna" and closes the album with the bonus outro, Raekwon releases a few lines in "Dart Throwing" , U-God offers one of his best performances of his year in "Supa Ninjaz", Tekitha is featured in rapping in "Pump Your Fist" and singing in "Black Boy", while Killa Bamz is also featured in "Blood on Blood War" and in "Pump Your Fist", which makes him the biggest guest of the edition, along with Meth.
There are several coincidences, perhaps unlikely astral conjunctions, that deviate, that displace, that elevate this mediocre rap record to the status of an untouchable cult classic in the solo discography of one of the most popular hip-hop groups of all time. First, the production: RZA steps aside, but doesn't step completely aside, and places some good rhythms and several bad and musically unpleasant beats, while True Master dominates the album's overall soundscape with always precise and timely choices. Putting a minimal drum and soul samples, the Wu-Element manages to maintain the typical sound of the Wu-Tang now in decline and crosses it with part of the noir musicality of the major East Coast acts of the time, creating a solid production, raw, dark, underground and dirty.
Secondly, the lyrics and straight rapping. For nearly an hour, this guy affiliated with the Shaolin Land group, releases an arrogant, energetic and fresh flow, but he tells us nothing lyrically, absolutely nothing: most of his bars are frayed, vicious, nonsense, braggadocio, drug, thug, gangsta, for the club, sexist, all mixed together in close proximity to the abstract. It's difficult to understand something, if you go and rationally study what he said and what he did: among the ten members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Cappadonna is the guy who certainly has the most extravagant style beside BZA, he completely ignores the metric, he pretends that the drum machine doesn't exist and goes completely straight against the sound wall proposed by the beatmaker, spitting out his personal lyric wall with a rough, broken, hardcore style. Always. You don't know how many bars he can pull you out in a track, they could be three, twenty-one, fourteen, these never fall into the traditional eight times table: this technical unpredictability of him, on the one hand is fascinating and fantastic, on the other hand, is disconcerting and annoying.
Thirdly, it's a work of great influence for the underground circuit within the group itself, the album is the standard for Killa Beez: released by RZA's Razor Sharp Records, and then by major label Epic, the record of Cappadonna is the sixth solo album by a Wu-Tang member, following Method Man, ODB, Raekwon, GZA/Genius and Ghostface Killah, and is the third among them to reach #1 on the hip-hop album chart, succeeding Johnny Blaze and Tony Starks. Forty days after its release, the RIAA certified it gold for half a million physical copies sold. Blessed with dirty and rugged production and ignorant, tight and effective rapping, this record paves the way for all Killa Beez and proves that anyone, even the most criticized Wu-affiliate rapper ever, with a little luck, he can reach the commercial success. Easily, the best album from him: recommended for Wu-Tang die-hards only, there are several gems that the average / casual listener might miss.
Highlights: "Slang Editorial", "Supa Ninjaz", "Oh-Donna", "Milk the Cow", "Dart Throwing", "'97 Mentality".
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