So why is Cappadonna’s The Pillage on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
It’s a long process – a It’s a long process – a really incredible and fun process, but a long one nonetheless – to branch out from the Wu-Tang Clan’s core albums to digging into the pretty vast catalog of solo releases, in addition to a blizzard of other collaborations and side projects.
This is another way of saying that it took me some time to find my way to Cappadonna’s spectacular offerings.
If you’re into the Wu-verse at all, I suspect you’ll find the following two sentences from Wikipedia as wild as I do:
Cappadonna (also known as Cappachino) was known to the future members of the Wu-Tang Clan, and had been U-God‘s mentor.[3] However, Cappadonna went to prison and was replaced in the group by Method Man.[4]
And in fact, Cappadonna’s Wu-Tang “proper” debut didn’t come until 1997, on “Triumph,” off of Wu-Tang Forever.
Which is, you know, just one of the single greatest rap tracks of all time.
I’m pretty sure the first time that Cappadonna’s solo work came across my radar was by the way of The Pillage’s opening salvo, “Slang Editorial.” To this day, it’s one of those songs I throw on and my thought bubble is something along the lines of wooo (or maybe wuuuu?).
It’s so melodic and yet hard hitting and precise underground hip-hop at the same time. This is precisely the kind of hip-hop that hits my sweet spot, and Cappadonna displays superior flow here and throughout The Pillage.
On any record where RZA shows up as a producer, I always completely assume that my favorite numbers will have him taking the behind-the-scenes credit*, but True Master is the producer for both of my favorites off of The Pillage: “Slang Editorial” and the dynamite “Milk the Cow.”
* RZA is executive producer of The Pillage – along with Ghostface Killah, Mitchell “Divine” Diggs, and Oliver “Power” Grant – which makes sense as the cinematic Wu-Tang-esque soundscape (sinister, precise, exciting, and groovy somehow all at once) has all of his markings.
It might not need to be stated, but I’ll do so any: the tracks with RZA producer credits are also standouts, and “Blood on Blood War” is my favorite of these.
Personal stuff that has something to do with Cappadonna’s The Pillage
This is an oddball technology-meets-music tidbit, but The Pillage is one of the very first albums that I recall figuring out how to play directly through a Smart TV. Kona Town by Pepper (#288 of best 1,000 albums ever) is the other one.
Personal stuff that has something to do with Cappadonna’s The Pillage
This is an oddball technology-meets-music tidbit, but The Pillage is one of the very first albums that I recall figuring out how to play directly through a Smart TV. Kona Town by Pepper (#288 of best 1,000 albums ever) is the other one.
Some stats & info about Cappadonna – The Pillage
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap, Underground Hip Hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was The Pillage released? 1998
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #212 out of 1,000
Cappadonna’s The Pillage on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Cappadonna’s The Pillage that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
My slang is editorial explicit material, briefcase yo, live in stereo flow.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.