Styly Cee & Cappo
“The Fallout”
(Son Records)
Any album scheduled to be the fiftieth release in the thirteen-year history of homegrown label Son Records was always going to be something of a landmark moment, but perhaps no-one was expecting anything quite as monumental as this full-length collaboration between longstanding Nottingham Hip-Hop figures Styly Cee and Cappo.
Having worked together on various tracks since Cappo’s 1999 debut release “Cap 3000″ the pair’s musical chemistry has always been evident, culminating in the 2008 release “The H-Bomb EP”, a three-track attack on the senses overflowing with musical madness, creative ideas and b-boy bravado.
With brilliant long-players already under his belt such as 2007′s P Brothers-assisted “Spaz The World” and last year’s self-produced “Genghis”, it would be easy to assume that Cappo has already peaked as far as his lyrical abilities are concerned. But on “The Fallout” this Notts bomber ups the verbal ante yet again, displaying a mastery of his craft that can only come from years of study and practice, unleashing jaw-dropping onslaughts of dense, multi-layered poetry. Cappo’s intricate verses here, as always, are equally brilliant and intriguing. The Grand Imperial emcee’s rhymes are the lyrical equivalent of a wild style graffiti piece, with words being sprayed all over Styly’s triumphant production, resulting in bars that sometimes appear to be sheer stream of consciousness, yet a closer listen reveals deeper meanings to be found.
Filtering old-school influences through now-school creativity, “The Fallout” is a back to the future shock that mixes the unpredictable vibe of Bronx River block parties with the musical mayhem of Ced Gee’s Ultra Lab circa 1987, channelling that energy straight into a 2011 UK Hip-Hop masterpiece.
The relentless “Throwdown” is all up-rocking Zulu beats, blaring horns and scratched-up Melle Mel soundbites, as Cappo claims his “mind is a warhead” and that he’s prepared to “surface-to-air until the skies collapse”. The dislocated drums and crashing cymbals provided by Styly Cee on the uncompromisingly hardcore “Winning Spirit” provide the perfect backdrop to further fan the flames of Capps’ “petrol-doused rap”.
The sparse 80s drums heard on “Yo Ass” will have you half expecting a “Cold Gettin Dumb” era Just-Ice to make a guest appearance, whilst the massive title track is perfect in its imperfections, as boisterous chopped horn blasts, obese bass and rugged beats collide with atom-breaking force, held together by Cappo’s ability to tie a track up with larger-than-life metaphors and vivid depictions of microphone mutilation (“I put the pen to the paper, The words visceral, I reinvent wheels, Bring the heat to the scripture”).
“Scan 7″ finds Cappo wrapping futuristic fantasy imagery (“Rocket-pack rhymes fly like Pegasus”) over an ominous, downtempo soundscape complete with laser sound effects, whilst the moody “Crunch Time” is an excellent slice of pure underground defiance that balances lyrical complexity with pulsating sonic simplicity.
Whilst “The Fallout” contains many nods to the old-school, both in terms of Styly’s production techniques and Cappo’s lyrical references, to label this album as nothing more than a throwback project would be wrong. This isn’t merely the sound of two individuals trying to chase the musical ghosts of an era in Hip-Hop that’s now long gone. Instead, Styly and Cappo have put together a fresh and energetic album that, whilst encapsulating elements of the past, definitely looks towards the future in terms of the pair’s clear passion for pushing the boundaries of their respective talents.
At a time when the once cherished term “Real Hip-Hop” has been used and abused to the point of redundancy, Styly Cee and Cappo have crafted an album that is sincere, creative, passionate and uncompromising.
It doesn’t get much realer than that.
Ryan Proctor
