Cappadonna - The Pillage (March 24, 1998)

Darryl Hill, known to his birth parents as Cappadonna Fitzpatrick, was groomed by the Wu-Tang Clan to be its unofficial tenth member. A memorable appearance on Raekwon's "Ice Cream" and his scene-stealing twelve-hour-long verse on Ghostface Killah's "Winter Warz" had cemented his deal with The Rza's Epic Records imprint, Razor Sharp Records (which was also home to Ghostface at the time). Cappadonna also enjoyed his time in the spotlight as the primary guest star on Wu-Tang Forever, the double-disc group effort. The stars seemed to align for Darryl Hill, and massive record sales were all but guaranteed.

However, The Rza's five-year plan culminated with Wu-Tang Forever, which came out a year prior to The Pillage, Cappa's first solo outing. As should be expected, The Pillage did not contain wall-to-wall Rza production. Also, Cappadonna seemed to have been adopted by only a few of the other Clan members, namely Rae, Ghost, and Method Man; the other members (apparently) could give a fuck about him. You will notice later in the review that Ol' Dirty Bastard, Gza/Genius, Masta Killa, and Inspectah Deck are nowhere to be found on The Pillage. Combine these facts with the knowledge that Cappadonna's lyrical prowess seemed to have peaked with "Winter Warz" (his Forever contributions were often forgettable), and you have a Wu-affiliate that falls into the same trap as the rest of them; namely, he wasn't good enough to be on the A-team, and since U-God had already filled the role of weed and baggage handler for the core group, there wasn't much else for him to do.

Although it should be noted that Cappadonna clearly had a much bigger budget to work with than, say, Killah Priest or the Wu-Syndicate. But I digress...

1. SLANG EDITORIAL
Cappa tries to start the show on the right foot, including much-needed kung-fu samples before the first, True Master-produced song kicks in. "Slang Editorial" was also the first single, and it tries too hard to sould like vintage Wu-Tang. It's not awful, but it comes off sounding like a Wu clone, which there were already plenty of in 1998.

2. PILLAGE (FEAT KILLA BAMZ)
Killa Bamz, now better known as Solomon Childs, is in my opinion one of the better Wu-Tang C-teamers.

3. RUN
The Rza had produced two different songs entitled "Run": one for Ghostface Killah (and featuring Jadakiss from The Lox) for The Pretty Toney Album, and this one. They don't share the same beat or anything; my guess is that Ghost realized this song sucked and felt that nobody would notice if he "borrowed" the song title for his far-superior track.

4. BLOOD ON BLOOD WAR (FEAT KILLA BAMZ)
This is the song most people use to pinpoint the exact moment Cappadonna rhymed himself into obscurity. "Old special ed with the plate in my head / Bad bread, spare life / KKK on the mike / Power like thing of state / What!" I'm sorry, but what the fuck does that even mean? That's a rhetorical question, don't bother leaving comments; this just proves that Cappa, even with the Wu support and the bigger budget, had no real skills on the mic, and decided to string random words together like Kool Keith or Sadat X, or even Ghostface himself. The difference being, of course, that they're all better artists than Cappa could even wish to be.

5. SUPA NINJAZ (FEAT U-GOD & METHOD MAN)
This song features, by no small margin, the motherfucking best verse U-God has ever recorded. Seriously. I don't know if U-God had a fantastic encounter with some groupie the night before, or if he was just in a good mood because The Rza hadn't smacked him with a rolled-up newspaper for not dipping his blunts in honey again, but U-God brought it on "Supa Ninjaz". Of course, Method Man out-raps him anyway, but since I mention repeatedly how much U-God sucks as a rapper, I felt it only fair to mention when he's actually great. Oh, and Cappa's on here, too.

6. MCF
The Rza gave Cappa five beats, all of which may have been better handled by, oh, let's just say, Inspectah Deck. I mention Deck since he was supposedly the next one from the Clan to put out a solo debut, but for some reason, Rza fucked him over to give the buying public this plastic frisbee otherwise known as The Pillage. Cappa sounds like he's just freestyling in the booth, forcing phrases and ideas together as if trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. And he sound slike this on every goddamn song. Sigh...

7. SPLISH SPLASH
Oh, come on! Just by reading the title alone, you know this song's going to suck.

8. OH-DONNA (FEAT GHOSTFACE KILLAH)
Tony Starks murders Cappa on his own shit. Which you should have expected; he is Ghostface Killah, after all.

9. MILK THE COW (FEAT METHOD MAN)
Every beat on The Pillage is mixed down just enough to give a hint of grimy Wu-Tang flavor. However, I couldn't imagine any other Wu member rhyming on this instrumental. (Meth sticks with hook duties on here.)

10. SOUTH OF THE BORDER
The beat, produced by True Master, is intriguing, but it's just not enough for me. The Pillage may sound great as an instrumental album. (Ultimate Wu plug!)

11. CHECK FOR A N---A
Did Cappa just say that he "fuck(s) crazy vagina"? Wow, that was unnecessary. Just like The Pillage in general. Not to show my cards before you finish reading this review, but...

12. DART THROWING (FEAT RAEKWON & METHOD MAN)
Johnny Blaze rips his second Pillage verse, and Raekwon brings out the Cuban Linx steez. Cappadonna, in comparison, brings his Fisher Price My First Timberlands out and sticks around for only about 16 bars (if that; I got so bored that I lost count).

13. YOUNG HEARTS (FEAT BLUE RASPBERRY)
A good marketing trick many companies use tis to affix a brand name that most people recognize onto a new product, in an effort to bring in new customers. As if the Wu-Tang logo wasn't enough, Cappa brings Wu songstress Blue Raspberry out of seclusion, but that doesn't help this horrible song.

14. EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING (FEAT RHYME RECCA)
Meh.

15. PUMP YOUR FIST (FEAT TEKITHA & KILLA BAMZ)
Actually, this song features the best Rza track on The Pillage. Solomon Childs sounds great on here; almost makes me hope that he somehow obtains Rza tracks for his eventual solo effort. Tekitha, however, sounds awkward as a rapper, just like she did on the Bobby Digital project. Oh, and Cappa's on here, too, with his "vanglorious darts", which must be his way of saying "shitty rhyme flow".

16. BLACK BOY (FEAT TEKITHA)
Why bother? It's not worth your time to hear this one anyway.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The Pillage is the hip hop equivalent of Evan Almighty: a spinoff project from a top-selling group where, even though a lot of the original talent returns to help, can't quite recreate the magic of the original. However, Darryl Hill is no Steve Carrell; Carrell will take his considerable talents into other projects and succeed, as Evan Almighty was just a misstep. Cappa, on the other hand, has just single handedly proven to me that he never deserved a solo record deal (he actually sounds better where he is now, as a sometimes-member of Ghostface's Theodore Unit), and should never have been considered as the tenth member of the Clan. Of course, allegations of bringing in an FBI informant under false pretenses into the Wu's employ wouls lead to Cappa being kicked out and being forced to drive a gypsy cab around New York as The Rza fucked him out of royalty payments anyway, but that's all backstory for another time.

BUY OR BURN? The Pillage is not worthy of your purchase. There are a handful of decent songs here, but they all feature other rappers outshining the main attraction. A burn is recommended, with caution, as the majority of this album sucks; at least, if you like both beats and rhymes, or music in general. If you hate rap music, you make find this album tolerable.

BEST TRACKS: "Supa Ninjaz"; "Dart Throwing"; "Oh-Donna"

-Max

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