I know a lot of brothers that think that they can flow
But when I come through, it’s like everybody’s slow

Last year it struck me that a lot of hip hop artists tend to go within their 50’s. So when I saw Cappadonna was supposed to perform in Europe, I immediately hit my friend up saying we had to go see him. After all it was him who gave me the above earworm, which has become a staple in our greeting.

One kid told me he used to be a pro
Until he bump heads with new Cappachino

Now I noticed the ads for Cappa months before he was supposed to come, so there was enough time to plan. But when push came to shove, my friend was not even in the country. With a kid on his resume, he could be forgiven. It is just one of those things when you get older and have other responsibilities to take care off. Now his absence did put me off for a minute, but in the end it could not stop me from going. It was not until the week of the concert that I actually made the decision to go and took care of travel arrangements.

You might of seen my face in the old school arena
Dipped like a fresh kid sipping on Pina

The venue of choice was Hamburg, St. Pauli Bahnhof. Just a train ride away with a one night stay. Putting it on paper like that, it reads back as an effortful undertaking for someone of Cappa’s calibre. Because he is not known for his output of classics. But rather for his consistent output, with some very interesting cover choices. Black Tarrzann and AlCappaChemist being two of the main exhibits. Next to that, as said the man is pushing his 50’s and it might as well be his last show in Germany or ever. Only more reason to go. 

I’m a felony, y’all cats a misdemeanor
Eyeballing, all on my dick like Gina

There is something to be said for an artist that is consistently putting out music. Their work ethic is quite admirable. (And he is only equalled by his equal, Killah Priest.) One would almost deduce that the man called Cappadonna speaks no other language than rhyme. This is however lost on most people. Because when people do talk about Cappadonna, they are generally referring to his features in the 90’s or that one album. His first solo: The Pillage. Knowing that, I would not expect more besides the usual suspects. In all honesty though, he is a legacy artist. It would have been a major surprise if the latter work actually resonated and everybody was waiting to hear that. Or he took the time to perform a new album as promo.

Smiling, you’re not really ready for the Whylin’
Came up strong but you scared of Staten Island

Before the show I took the time to look up his website. The first thing that struck me was that he actually had a website, which can not be said about most artists nowadays. The website mentioned fees for a 45 minute show, or 60 minute show. Nothing more than that, so I sort of knew where to set my expectations in terms of time. Even though you’ll always hope that you get that little bit more. 

All on my chest, oh the big fat medallion
What you don’t really want this here rut

I arrived early, and the streets were bustling around the venue with people drinking. The 31st of October is a holiday in Hamburg, so loads of people were out and about. They probably also took the Friday off so to enjoy a long weekend. Plus who wants to go into work with a hangover from a day of drinking.

Rhyme prostitute, rhyme slut
Battle wit dancehall king, you get struck by the lightning

When I got to the venue, I noticed the show was not sold out and quite a couple of people were buying tickets at the door. Here I could already see a slice of what the crowd was going to be like. When I got inside, it was the same and the venue was not filled up yet. But again, I was there early. As the time passed, I got myself a few drinks, checked where the sound was good, and everything slowly filled up, you could see a few young ones in between all the old heads. It was a typical divide of any 90’s hiphop show.

I tear mics up, y’all need to quit
The name of this rhyme is I splashed the shit

While surfing the worldwideweb earlier that day, I came across an annotation on the song Cap Is Back. The thing stuck with me because it was pointing out the irony of the title of the song, which itself is so poor in execution that it does anything but stress the point made with the title and chorus. I’m pretty sure Cap was not aware of this comment when he came out to the beat of Cap Is Back. But for those first 30 seconds it did get the people going.

Some of y’all sing like never before
I sleep all day while y’all trying to score

Within the span of 60 minutes Cappadonna went through the usual suspects, supported by his back up Big Nate Allstar from Boston. The two were working together pretty nicely, which was pretty remarkable given the fact that they met up just a week before the tour was about to kick off. Apparently the whole thing was sort of workshopped along the way. The constant slew of shows must have functioned like a regular workout to turn this into a well oiled machine.

Some of y’all sing like never before
I sleep all day while y’all trying to score

Behind the turn tables was DJ Dead Eye, also from Boston. He was firing up MCF,  Y’all Been Warned with a Careful Click Click verse, Slang Editorial, Triumph, and even The Pillage. Yes, Cappa did do the line, however poorly it might have aged. And nobody batted an eye in Hamburg. Probably because Cappa gave it his all. He might have gained some weight, but it sure as hell did not slow him down. He was live as ever, dancing around on the stage, jumping into the crowd with Big Nate. During which Dead Eye actually played Who Shot Ya, and Cappadonna smoothly transitioned into his Winter Warz verse while shuffling through the crowd. It worked remarkably well, and Dead Eye told me after the show that was actually his idea, to switch it up.

Then I wake up like ALIEN³
Coming at y’all niggas that stole the rhymes from me

All in all, Cappa shows can be cherished as something, he gives it his all. So much so that by the end of the show it was raining from his cap. And it can be forgiven that the sound was not the best, with the vocals not always clear. Plus I did really miss him doing Run from the Pillage, and of course SPLISH SPLASH. Yes, it was left out this show. I was told it was part of the setlist in previous shows, but the omitted it in Hamburg. You can imagine, much to my dismay. In any case, the god looked happy as he had people chanting Go Cappa Go, and slowly danced off stage and tricked everybody into a good bye.

Bitch, this is how the poor got rich
Lay on the track then insert the hit

After the show there was a meet & greet scheduled. I hung around to see how many people actually paid up for that. At first I just saw 6, but later it was more like 10 plus. Must have been an easy paycheque, a couple of pictures and signatures. Waiting there gave me the time to talk to DJ Dead Eye. Nice guy who gave me quite some insights into the process of the tour. Shout out to him. 1The month of the show he actually released a track with Method man & Inspectah Deck. Be sure to check it out. Also sounded like they were having a lot of fun, despite the full schedule. Still, I would have had more fun if they just performed Splish Splash. Instead there is nothing left to do but to drop the lyrics here. Until next time, Go Cappa, Go Cappa, Go!


Nine months later, the rap world is pregnant
Wu babies blow kid, beware the segment
Rumor has it, Donna darts create magic
Nobody in my team have it
You’ve seen my face on a $20 dollar bill
Then you hear my voice on an Iron Man reel
It’s all tragic, rule not the bull shit-atrics
Your rap is swine, mines is like catfish
Birthday rap style, come on make a wish