I did some old school shit yesterday. I bought an album (on iTunes, how old school is that?) off the strength of the rapper’s brand name. The artist in question? Wu-Tang’s Cappadonna. I copped his new Slang Prostitution album just cus it’s Cappa’s, and the fact that for me, he was always a welcomed surprise on the Wu tracks. A while back my man Blackspot [spotvilleradio.com] and I would talk in code, but in the style of Cappa’s “Slang Editorial.” We even dubbed dudes talking our ears off about bullshit LuLu Editorial niggas, mostly because she just said some wild nonsense at the end of her cartoons for no reason (why we were looking at her cartoon at 3am in Houston, TX is beyond me).

Anyway, I copped Cappa’s latest offering and listened to the album. It’s not the greatest beat wise, but I feel the sincerity in his rhymes. I’ve always liked the honesty that them three dudes on the Ironman cover have in their voices. It’s like pain mixed with cocaine…not that I’ve ever had cocaine, but listening to them talk about the nose candy for all these years I would imagine if pain and coke could talk it would sound like them .

Cappa is the forgotten solider of the Wu, was always kinda questionable as far as his official affiliation. Was he ODB’s stand-in or was he just in? Regardless, I liked him. On “Daytona 500” he spazzed out against incredible Rae and Ghost verses, and I don’t even know how to describe what he did to the “Winter Warz” beat. The dude started a joint called “Homicide” on a project called Wu South with a straight up “Hate y’all.” His reckless speak at the beginning of tracks are akin to 50’s shit talking at the end of tracks. Gotta love it, but somewhere along the trip in the game he tripped. Where did shit go wrong for dude?

How do I feel about Slang Prostitution? Hmmm. Love his energy and passion for rapping. Not feeling some of the beats. A dude like Cappa, with all of his stylish shenanigans, needs sound beds just as fly (the album cover is dope though). “Do You Remember?,” “That Staten Island S**t,” “Hustle & Flow,” “Pistachio,” “Fire” and “Stay Shining” are the stand outs for me, can’t forget all three parts of “You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down.”

Not only has the fact that I heard a majority of Raekwon’s OBFCL2 made me flick over to my Wu catalogue lately, but the fact that some of the artists that I respect in that camp, like Cappa are still putting out music is reason enough for me to at least check their work. No major label push, no big name producers, no famous guest stars, no flashy videos, plus the God use to drive a cab after he was out as a rapper and owned up to it is enough to tip my fitted. Even if he only sold 330 albums last week, I’m saluting him for pushing through. He got my $10. -DT

More From XXL