Cappadonna
The Pillage
[Razor Sharp/Epic]
Rating: 3.6
If one thing could be said about the members of the Wu-Tang Clan, it's that they're
fucking prolific. Man, you can't turn around in a record store these days without
bumping into another life- size cardboard standup of whoever's got the Wu-Tang
record of the week.
Enter Cappadonna, just another Wu with a clue. Or so it would seem. See, there
was a time when the Wu sound got a brother down. Remember? Used to seem original.
Used to have style. These days, all that couldn't be further from the truth. Wu-Tang's
1997 two- disc overkill, Wu-Tang Forever stopped being interesting after
disc one because of too little diversity between tracks. The Pillage is
no different.
Don't get me wrong-- Cappa's clearly got skillz. This man could rap a sandwich
out of its tin foil. It's the production that murders the record. The samples
are boring and stylistically outdated, and quite frankly, the minor chord structures
become extremely grating after the first couple of songs. It's a damn shame that
in a period when the Wu are fading from popularity, The Pillage couldn't
have resurrected some interest. Repetition kills.
-Ryan Schreiber