Cappadonna — Slow Motion

Studio album number fourteen from Wu-Tang Clan member Cappadonna. There are no production credits for this effort. Amard Divine is the main guest appearing on half the album, along with Kelso, Rollo and Theo RW.

Cappadonna spits hardcore in the intro track, over a sleek piano loop with sparse drums and a poor midtempo. "Riches" boasts solid production, weeping horns in the background, melancholic piano loop, tense vibrating bass in the background, dusty uptempo drums. The Wu-Tang emcee delivers with a velvety flow that suits the mood of the track. Amar Divine provides a final verse after a brief interlude by Cap. There's an unpleasant hi-hat in the third pick, over a bad beat, something went wrong in the mixing, if there was a mixing here. The rapper's voice sounds almost obscured by this unclear and chaotic production, with a deep bass, poor drum. Amar Divine joins the lead rapper on this track as well. Some confused horns accompany Don Cappachino in "Young Homie", along with a stuttering drum that tries to validate the author's irregular and syncopated style. The sung hook is meant to make you smile, it's not clear why the boy wants to do this, [why he] wants to sing here, singing badly obviously, perhaps to give more feeling to the track.

"Darryl" is a pearl in Cappadonna's new album. There's a vocal sample looped tightly to infinity that welcomes the listener, I couldn't get there in a thousand years. Then the boy who has been legitimized within Wu-Tang for fifteen years lets the loop breathe, removes it, and the real rhythm of the album arrives, which is familiar, it's that of one of the best tracks of the nineties in hip-hop: "La Familia", a track that didn't manage to get into the Firm album. The sample comes from Eddie Floyd's "Check Me Out": deep bass, sweet and dirty strings, dusty guitar riff, soft downtempo drum, Cappadonna adds a nice melodic hi-hat to give modernity to the beat, to update the rhythm, which was perfect as it was and as the Trackmasterz had conceived it. Cappachino Gambino enters smoothly into the track and delivers with professional calm, slow, flowing, regular, clean on a sensational production with a clearly mafia look. At the end the boy sings again, lets the beat breathe for a few seconds and closes with an overbeat outro.

Kelso joins the lead rapper on "One 4 the Team", over a production that's a bit sparse, raw, loud, dirty, I'd say cheap, overproduced, in any case it doesn't work. No one of the performers sound good on this type of beat. Different speech for "Shell Fish", where Cappadonna finds himself spitting bars with a slow and regular style on a sunny beat, with an ethereal vocal sample, thundering bass, lively midtempo drum, enveloping strings, this is one of the best beats of the project and one of the best that have ended up in Cappachino's hands in recent years. The veteran thanks and doesn't waste, creating one of his best cuts, still singing the hook. His friend and now historic collaborator Amar Divine completes the work, playing even better than the other interpreter on this fluid production and going away with a flowing style.

Even "Puppy Love" doesn't seem to me to be an original beat, but even if I seem to have already heard something similar elsewhere, in this case nothing comes to mind. Sound of the crackling of vinyl, deep phat thundering bass, ethereal melodic sample, sound of canaries, chipmunk soul sample while Cappadonna recites the intro. Then the drum falls, poor, uptempo accompanied by hi-hats, guitar riffs, sweet harp loops maybe, the boy delivers calm, regular, determined on a production rich in rare quality. The fact that there are no credits is at least suspicious. This time the author decides to go almost spoken for the chorus, finally giving up the singing, wise choice. Outro skit. The production of "Davotion" is bouncy and poor, harsh drum, minimal keyboard loops, Cap spits bars together with guests Rollo and Theo RW, no one leaves any particular impressions.

"Radiation" has a funky sample, thundering bass, rusty guitar riff, dusted cymbals, poor drum, the main rapper spits with energy on this infectious production. There are sick horns in "Mother in You", skeletal hi-hats, tight keyboard loops, rough bass, poor uptempo drum, the rapper spits with an energetic and messy style on this urgent rhythm, flanked by Amar Divine. The album closes with track number twelve, "Accapella", Amar Divine stays at the mic next to the main emcee in this beatless song, which therefore lives up to the title of the track. Cappadonna enters hardcore and sweeps away what isn't there, it deserved a rhythm in fact.

Album without head or tail, practically ignored by critics and fans. It has its moments, but it's certainly not among the best albums in the large discography of the emcee raised in Park Hill. 5/10.