I don't even remember how I found out about this, I think the most likely thing is that I was half-heartedly browsing through Cappadonna's discography on discogs. Or maybe he appeared on YouTube as a suggestion after listening to Remedy's latest album to see if there were any good tunes or if it was a terrible release as many fans claim. I don't know. This tape sounds like one of the thousands of mashup albums people create in their free time. Rhythms by The Alchemist, rap by Cappadonna, might sound good to hardcore rap fans. For some crazy person, because who would ever think of putting the spectacular productions of Alchemist for the mad rapping of Don Cappachino? Nobody would waste them. Instead it seems that this thing is really legitimate. There's a specific cover, in which Cappadonna wears a Mexican hat, glasses, t-shirt, his name in the center, title with "artistic" that's incomprehensible even after multiple attempts to read it. Fourteen tracks, two guests, High Noon and Addiemak, both also participated in Cappachino's studio album "Show Me the Money", published in the same year. The mixtape is released on Cappadonna's label God Love Family Entertainment.
The tape begins with a random mix of sounds, lightning storm, lion's roar, machine gun fire and Cappadonna shouting everywhere, then a soft synth line falls from the sky gently enveloped by sudden orgasms which form the backdrop to an initial skit and Cappadonna's rapping. The boy takes the beat of "Grey October" which The Alchemist provided for Boldy James on the album "The Price of Tea in China", a beautiful celestial production with no drums on which the Wu-Tang Clan rapper offers us a different performance compared to the original one of the Detroit emcee. While Boldy James travels beautifully with a magical flow following the current of the rhythm created by Alchemist, Cappadonna has already established a different vibe before even getting into the groove, so he decides to deliver hardcore. Fantastic.
The drums were never his friend, he has been out of time for a good portion of his career and here the rapper is as if he had returned to his youth, when he was spitting freestyle bars alongside guys who would make hip-hop history with the Wu-Tang Clan releases. The Don has always been a great battle rapper and his most memorable performances came in freestyles, the one expressed for "Winter Warz" from Ghostface's debut album has become legendary. He's focused, he's totally in full confidence for some reason, and as if he were encouraged not to make mistakes by those moans in the background, who never abandon him. Eventually a drum comes to support the beat, the orgasms intensify and not only he doesn't make mistakes, but he goes on for three minutes, while also delivering a hook that is incredibly catchy. It's all nonsense. Is this Cappadonna? Unbelievable. This absolutely crazy first cut ends with shoutouts to Biggie and Junior MAFIA on the beat of "Juicy".
The second track boasts a beat taken directly from The Alchemist's 2006 album, "No Days Off". The production is that of the track "I Betcha", where Prodigy delivers bars alongside Kokane: sensational bass, dusty midtempo drum, magical samples, beautifully laid-back mobb vibes on an East Coast beat. The original piece resembles an enjoyable ballad, Kokane sings, while Don P has a slow and steady style. Cappadonna obviously gives you a different feeling than the song released fourteen years earlier and he spits totally hardcore ignorantly without a second thought, he's so sure of himself that you doubt he even listened to the original. Marvelous. He also kills this cut without much doubt. The second verse is left to the mixtape's first guest, High Noon, which makes a good impression on a top production. The author takes the third rhythm from the same Alchemist album, this time from the track "Make My Own", where Defari exchanges bars together with Evidence, also guest in the original "Grey October" together with Boldy James. Cappadonna opens with his raw and hoarse voice, taking the track after few moments, he doesn't stop. There's an uncredited guest for the final verse. This is one of the best starts I've ever heard on a mixtape.
"98 Ghost Shit" is actually based on "94' Ghost Shit", track by Conway the Machine and Westside Gunn aka Hall N Nash on a dark, haunting and very sick production of Alchemist, classic cut. Cap enters with his leg straight and starts machine-gunning bars for three minutes, bending the rhythm of strength with its ferrous flow, the second verse is a slap, the third is out of this world. The fifth choice is "No Filter", Cappadonna still remains hardcore on an upbeat production, boom bap with weak midtempo drums and good samples. “Scrape the Bowl” again borrows from Boldy James and The Alchemist’s critically acclaimed 2020 collaborative album, “The Price of Tea in China”. The beat of the track of the same name is bleek, obscure, sensational, with piano keys moving suspiciously in the darkness in the somber aisles built by Alchemist's immense and deep production. Cappachino delivers without frills even in this sixth piece, maintaining an unstoppable hardcore execution, crazy. The second and final guest of the mixtape Addiemak comes in and dampens the power of the tape, reciting his bars with a softer and more accessible style, slow, regular, he doesn't look out of place on this beat.
“Top Prospects” boasts The Alchemist’s beat from the track of the same name released in 1999 for The High & Mighty's "Home Field Advantage" album, with guests Defari and Evidence. The Staten Island rapper devastates the rhythm with an overbearing and disheveled, impetuous performance. In the middle of the track comes a splendid bridge with the beat of GZA's "Cold World" from his second LP "Liquid Swords", sensational production by RZA: the boy ignores everything and continues to spit as if nothing had happened, straight away. It follows a short tribute to Prodigy of Mobb Deep, with the first part taking the beat that Alchemist provided to Don P on "Keep It Thoro" for his debut solo album "H.N.I.C." (2000). "Let Em Hang" uses the soundscape that Alchemist created for the eponymous track on Lake's "Lake Entertainment Presents: The 41st Side" compilation, in which the author performs together with the Queensbridge singer V-12 and above all with Nas. Cappadonna flies with a much smoother flow than his raw voice might suggest over an extraordinary elegant production invented by the genius of Alchemist. The tenth choice is a second interlude by DJ Intrigue, host of the tape, which pays homage to several DJs to provide a much-needed break for the listener.
"Dark Ryder" borrows the production of "Dark Riders" by Swollen Members for their album "Bad Dreams", released in 2001. Dark, somber, haunting, sick Alchemist rhythm, Cappadonna delivers hardcore without looking, superlative even on this fast production. The Wu-Tang rapper returns to Alchemist's album "No Days Off" to find another beat to include in this tape, this time from "Divine Intervention", a track by Obie Trice. Don Cappachino enters hardcore and breaks the rhythm with the right aggression and energy, closing the tape with two excerpts from the same beat, "No Idea's Original" by Nas' "The Lost Tapes": the Staten Island emcee first delivers a short excerpt for "Spit Darts", then destroys the beat fueled by machine gun fire in the background and ends in style with a skit to the film "Executioners from Shaolin" (1977), which is also sampled in the Wu-Tang Clan's first historic single, "Protect Ya Neck", published almost thirty years earlier, a splendid homage.
Thirty-two minutes. I am speechless. I don't know what to add really. I'm amazed. I am excessively amazed by what has happened in this half hour. Having listened to pretty much this guy's entire official discography, I don't expect him to get off to such a good start. Here the exact opposite happens. Cappadonna starts strong. Too strong. I don't expect him to start this strong, I don't expect any rapper to start this strong in 2020. I listened to the two other records this man released in 2020 ("Show Me the Money" was nowhere to be found online for a few months) and they were both weak releases, with only one good track on the two albums and thanks to the guests and not him, while in this tape there's really only him and he's extraordinary. The tape continues very well as it began and has no weak moment, this is an impressive half hour for the solidity that Cappadonna displays and the quality of the music on offer. It's the best project the rapper has ever released and one of the best of recent years among Wu-Tang artists, definitely one of the best releases of the year, even though it went totally unnoticed.
Rating: 9/10.
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