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5/16/2006 What's up? I'm all right. I'm just taking it one day at a time. I'm going over my new projects right now. What have you been up to lately? Recording, paperwork, and a lot of meetings. I'm working on the Cappatilize project. That's one of my new albums. I got The Transition, I got the Return to the Pillage or maybe just The Pillage 2. I can't call it because The Pillage can't be matched. That's a done deal. I also have the Capture album. What are your plans for all these albums? Success. Grab some real estate and the Better Life Movement and entrepreneurship, independence. You have to take that land over. What's going to be the first album you drop? Right now, I might drop a couple mix-CD's first, The Greatest Darts Ever Sold hosted by Iron Sheik and probably The Better Life Movement Volume One, and we got Wu South Volume One. There's a lot of things happening. What's Wu South about? It's about merging. It's about New York merging with down South. That's my one little merger. We're slowly bridging the gap. There's been a lot of complaints about East Coast rappers on Southern beats. How do you respond to that? The merger of somebody from New York rapping on South beats or vice versa, that's showing growth and development within the nation. That's how you come out of oppression. If you don't expand your horizons, then you can't go any further than your last music. That's why you have mergers like Nextel and Sprint. The same way Nextel and Sprint merged so they could have a better network is the same way New York is going to merge with the South. Of course it's going to be me to stimulate the movement. I'm guaranteeing success on this one. Are other Wu MC's going to be a part of this project? No. This is an independent, self-made orientated project. It's been something that I've been sitting on and working on for five years and I have all the confidence in the world that it's going to work. What about the hardcore Wu fans who want to hear your more traditional music? I don't expect fans to say anything. I expect the fans to do as I do and not do as I say. That's the way I expect the fans. The same way we came in and took over the rap game in 1995 and we came in with the different sound and the way we came in and everything that was going on we didn't give a fuck about it, we don't give a fuck about it now. This is the same way as back in the days. I'm going to start it off. Where's it going to go after you start it off? It's going to go worldwide. It's going to start from the center of the Earth and then branch out to North, East, West, and South. If you put those letters together it spells "news." How are you going to do a sequel to The Pillage? That right there is a little difficult right now. That's the hardest one. I'm having a little difficulty on that. That can never be topped. You just have to restructure and recreate with the basis of The Pillage album. One of my students who is a good reflector of knowledge told me that in order for me to have a great, successful Pillage 2 album I would have to incorporate pieces from The Pillage into it. I totally agree. That was the best notion I could come up with before that saga continues. If I can't crack the code the way I want to, I'm going to go along with the Capture album. What's the first step you take towards making The Pillage 2? The first step is you have to take a step back. In order to take a step forward, sometimes you have to take a step back. I think about what was going on at that time, the music, the hairstyles, the mentality of the people, and I incorporate that into modern-day technology with a more advanced and more ethnical simplicity. How will the Capture be different from The Pillage 2? The Capture is going to capture the minds of the people and get people to see the Better Life Movement and get people to think outside of the box instead of thinking one sort of way. I'm trying to bring variety into music and bring in mergers in order to create a more creative entity in the whole music industry right now. You might want to call this "Renewal of the Street Mind." Are people ready to have their minds opened? Yes. There is no better time than the present. It's needed the most when everybody doesn't know where to go. Everybody's looking, longing, and searching. Everybody wants to leave somewhere, somehow. Hope. Are you giving hope? I am that hope. I am. Have you guys been working on the Wu album? I went over there one time, but with the 36 Chambers, you never know where a song is going to go when you do it. It could go on any project at any time. What's a typical Wu session like? It's fun. It's educational. It's over our heads. Sometimes we get in there and we might not even talk because we're so focused on the music. We'll build later. Will the Wu album be out around a year from now? The album is coming. It's coming. Everybody's just getting their head right. Is the industry ready for Wu-Tang? Yup. They can't wait to get something new, man. How is this new album going to stack up against the other Wu albums? We've just got to change the frame and bring the body-work up. It's internal. If you strengthen the love, everything else falls right into place. How are relationships in the Wu right now? I would say relationships are at an all-time high. Would you attribute that to the tour? I think time is the best healer of all wounds. Time and time alone. What's more important to you, that the album gets done or everyone stays on the same page? If you put love first, everything else will follow. The sooner everybody learns that, the greater success we'll have. Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be given unto you. Did you have a good time on the tour? Yeah. It's always good to be building with your brothers. It's like a family reunion. How did the chemistry change without ODB? He was like an element. It's like having four wheels on a car and then taking one off. There's going to be a slant. Then you have to put a spare on it and it'll still be a little shaky. Once you get your money up, you can get a new wheel, but it'll never be the wheel you had, but it might make the ride a little better. How do you see the new Wu album impacting hip-hop when it drops? I think it's going to put everybody right back where they need to be, and where they need to be is one with their self. Once they become one with their self, then they can become one with everybody else and we'll be a better nation and one nation under God, the all. We're the ones who started that unification in the music. It was a thing of old but we brought it back to new again. You guys started a lot of trends. Do you ever get angry when you see people stealing elements from the Wu? No. Everybody's always going to take something from somebody. It's all learned behavior. There really ain't nothing new under the sun, but you have to know where the main source of that is. Give credit where credit is due. Does Wu-Tang get the respect they deserve? On the underground, yeah, perhaps, but on a broad scale, I don't believe that we get it. I believe we will get it because nobody can stop the inevitable. We're the originators of a style that was forgotten and now it's being brought back to reality. We resurrected the minds of the people and that's what it's about. At most Wu shows you can have fans from 15 to 35 knowing every song word-for-word. That's a wonderful feeling. That's a beautiful experience. That's why I stay into this music because it's a universal word that brings everyone together, the white, red, brown, and the black. As long as I can be able to do that and add on to the conference of the cipher, I'm going to keep doing that and bringing people together and showing people another way. Perhaps they can find out what their talent is and enhance that and then bring that forward. A lot of people say we helped them get through school by saying certain things and helping them reach knowledge. I wasn't educated like that, but there are a lot of people out there like me, so when I add my two cents, I'm bringing people together with educated people and we see there's no real differences between neither one of us, even though I have all this money and no love and you have a lot of love and no money. When we get together, that's equality right there because we can help each other out where each one is lacking. That's the real strength in numbers right there. Are you comfortable with where you are in the game right now? I feel comfortable because if I have a position in the game, that means I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. If I can strengthen it more and more to the third power and keep it going, I'm going to do what I do. I'm going to drop what I have, it's going to work, it's going to sell, people are going to love me, and I'll be number-one. What's your state-of-mind in the booth these days? I feel like I'm the underdog but I'm about to come up real hard. How was it recording "9-Milli Brothers" for Ghost's album? That was good for me. I love stuff like that. It was a refreshing summer breeze for me, man, because that's the stuff I love to do the most. I feel like I do my best work when I'm with a lot of cats because I get to hear how different I sound. I have to keep standing out like that. I have to keep making myself stand out. How do you approach a song like that when Wu hasn't recorded much together lately? We did it all in our separate studios. I think we mostly did it at the studio in Staten Island because Ghost was working out of a studio in Staten Island. That's my boy, Tony. I love all my niggas from the Clan. It's just that I'm not for the bullshit. I don't fuck around with that, it's grown men working. Is Wu-Tang free of the bullshit? I don't know, son. I don't really give a fuck about that. I'm trying to get into entrepreneurship and work with my brothers. I think we should get together, get our guns right, and take the industry and smash anybody who ain't with our movement. Are you still in Baltimore? I'm in Baltimore and I'm in New York. I'm everywhere. I run this shit. Niggas ain't know me for a long time, man. I don't really do a whole lot of hanging out. I'm kind of anti, but I have goons everywhere that will smash niggas out at any time. Big up to my nigga Rush, my nigga Gator, and Clay and all them niggas. Big up to my nigga Born and shit, that's my nigga for life, the Better Life Movement, my nigga Dini, my nigga Jay-Saki, the whole Goon Squad in Boston…it's a movement. I'm not playing with y'all idiots. I got crazy niggas behind me right now, a whole army. I got the Muslims and the Christians. I'm about to smash all y'all wannabe niggas, rap Anita Baker-ass niggas. I'm about to rip their wig off, b. It's time for that. You already know. They're going to call me "Crazy Man" because I'm coming through on the strength of everybody in my Clan. When I finish, you're going to feel like the Clan released me. Like, "They released him. They put Cap on us." I can't wait to hear the new music. You're going to be shocked as shit. You're going to be like, "I didn't know he had all this shit that he's got." Just off The Greatest Darts Ever Sold, oh man, it's got mad shit. I have the Cappatilize DVD too. That's coming out right now. What are you giving people with the DVD? I'm giving them the good, the bad, and the ugly, and that's still not enough. I don't have enough TV's to show what I need to show. What's the main thing you need to show everybody? I need to show everybody that yo, no matter what happens, I'll never fucking give up. Was there ever a time you wanted to give up? Yup. And that's when I did the best work. When I wanted to give up, that's when RZA said, "Get on this song right here." You know what song that was? "Ice Cream." Straight through the roof. That was the day that God let me know there was no quitting. How do you like living Baltimore? I can live anywhere where my people is at. When I say "my people," that's anybody who's been poor, afflicted, abused, and oppressed. Are you still driving a cab? I'll drive a cab right now, a bus, a boat, a truck, I'll drive whatever the fuck I want to drive. I don't have what you call the egoistical maniac-brainiac syndrome. I'm not worried about materialistic shit. I'm not worried about pride. The only thing I'm worried about is me doing what I need to do for my kids and for anybody who needs to be released from that mental state of unawareness. Did you enjoy driving the cab? I loved it. I met so many interesting people. Just when you thought you had all the problems in the world, you can meet people in the cab that can blow your fucking mind. Did some of your passengers recognize you? Some of them did, some of them didn't. I didn't bank off of that. I never banked off of being Cappadonna until right now, and the reason why I'm doing it right now is because I understand my work as an individual right now. What's your craziest story from driving the cab? My craziest story is the fact that I was able to drive a cab and still be the person I am while everybody else changed who they were towards me. How did people change towards you? Instead of taking the opportunity to see a brother keeping it real and maintaining my status in extreme conditions, they took the opportunity to kick me while I was down. Did that make you mad? No. It just gave me more self-awareness and it helped me to stand out and get my shit to a better station and focus more on my success and my business as an individual. It also helped me to learn the boundaries of a hustler. What's the next move for Cappadonna? The next movement is the Better Life Movement, raps and real estate. We're recruiting all the real niggas. If you have your shit right and your paper's right, we wouldn't mind having you as a part of the team. You're looking for MC's? I'm looking for investors right now because this is a very big movement and I need more leverage because I don't want to just do this music. I also want to get into some non-profit events. I want to broaden my horizon, man. It's time to look at life beyond music. What do you rely on to broaden your horizon? I get into a lot of books, but I really have some trouble getting through the book because it becomes another story to me. My best study is just to study human behavior. I'm a sociologist. I think you learn more studying a person than from studying books. What would you be doing if you weren't rapping? I'd be a poor, righteous teacher. What's the first project you're dropping? I'm going to give them The Greatest Darts Ever Sold and then go straight to the Cappatilize project. While everything else is popping off, everything else will become slowly available. I'm going to put the push behind all of them, but right now, I'm pushing the Cappatilize project. I would go to a major label, but there's something in the air that's telling me to do it independently because there's a message in what I'm doing as well as a success story. What do you want to say to all your fans? Keep your head down and keep doing what you have to do. When I say keep your head down, I mean duck and weave all of the bullshit and keep your mind on your grind, whatever it is that you're doing. Keep your mind on it and you'll make it. Don't ever give up. That belongs to you, nobody can ever take that.   http://cappadonn.com http://myspace.com/cappadonnakillahbee http://ironchamber.com Upcoming Cappadonna Shows 05/30/2006 07:00 PM - east end cafe 270 e.main st.newark, de. 19711, DELAWARE, MD ,US - $15.00 May 30th tues. Night @ east end cafe (270 e.main st.newark, de. 19711) cappadonna, tribeca, and the 49ers with special guests. 7pm to 11pm after aprty 11pm to 1 am. $15 adv. Tickets. No dress code Tix available in delaware @ berts cds, wonderland music, sams music connection, switch skate and snow, flavor clothing, and liebermans bookstore Tight security Music spun by dj mech For ticket info dial 302.738.6856 or email marchitect@tmail.com 05/31/2006 08:00 PM - Rheinwerk Duisburg, Germany, Duisburg, ,DE - www.platform-records.de May 31th 2006, Duisburg, Rheinwerk, Germany 06/01/2006 08:00 PM - Live Club, Kempten,, , Kempten, ,DE - www.platform-records.de June 1st 2006, Kempten, Live Club, Germany 06/02/2006 08:00 PM - Warehouse St. Pölten/Vienna, Warehouse, Austria, VIENNA, ,DE - www.platform-records.de June 2nd 2006, St. Pölten/Vienna, Warehouse, Austria 06/03/2006 08:00 PM - Remise Wil, Remise, Switzerland, Wil, Switzerland, ,DE - www.platform-records.de June 3rd 2006, Wil, Remise, Switzerland 06/04/2006 08:00 PM - Bastard Club Berlin, Germany, , Berlin,, ,DE - www.platform-records.de June 4th 2006, Berlin, Bastard Club, Germany 06/05/2006 08:00 PM - , Backstage Club, Munich, Backstage Club, Germany, Munich,, ,DE - www.platform-records.de June 5th 2006, Munich, Backstage Club, Germany 6/17/06 TERRACE RESTURANT 443 E. COLORADO BLVD PASADENA CA 91101

By Brian Kayser

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