producers: 8-off, tru master, neonek, goldfingaz, jermain dupri, inspectah deck

guests: 8-off, ghostface killah, killah priest, raekwon, jermaine dupri, da brat, shyheim, others.

Originally being more a Wu spin off than a member, Cappadonna is now officially initiated. Also going for the infinite fight against the sophomore jinx, there are many people that would argue that his first album was already way jinxed out. Others don't hesitate to praise it beyond barriers, what shows the hate and love, the Ying and Yang, the album receives. And in a way Cappadonna plays with that, calling this album "The Yin And Yang" and he explains it at the beginning, that he chose the name because he will talk about both sides of the coin. In a way that of course can be considered a cheap excuse to contradict oneself, and we gotta wonder why KRS-One hasn't yet thought of this.

But let's check this album out. And first of all, with 11 tracks (one not being listed), this is a lightweight in today's times, but a regular size for back in the days. And second, the credits are hella annoying to read and the whole layout looks rather low budget.

However, things start off with "The Grits", produced by and featuring 8-Off. This is rather simple and repetitive. We are given the traditional verbal slicing of bragging rhetoric, over horns that ring out. Not resulting in a musical miracle, the griminess is still giving us enough head nod factor. The next cut "Super Model" talks about the nasty between the sheets or in front of a mirror excitement, and the title mentions the preferred team partner. Cappa is given a rather bluesy but mystic beat, done by Tru Master, that is taking the vibe in a different direction, than the lyrics have you expect. Also, Ghostface is strangely enough only used for the hook. And again, Cappa does some talking in between tracks, before we enter the first cut that Neonek produced, who will return with beats throughout the album. "War Rats" is the only track without a guest and Cappa does Wu rhyming, flowing over a keyboard melody that gains pace from the drum.

Neonek is featured, along with doing the beat, and along with Killah Priest, on "Bread Of Life". This is one of the tracks that will have you curse sample laws, as they are the reason why you have to listen to tracks like this, with these artificial sounds. The struggling is talked about, mixed with candle burning, moving shadows on the wall and ancient rhymes. Killah does the picturesque but seems to not be his usual self, not even sounding like himself. Back when "Only Built For Cuban Linx..." was having us in awe, we would have never, never ever ever dared to hear Raekwon on a beat like Goldfingaz did for "Love Is The Message". This is something that is just about pop enough for Will Smith. And the emcees even feel incredibly uncomfortable on it. This should have never been conceived, and never, never ever ever be released.

I mean, even Jermain Dupri doesn't force feed us his gloss, as what he did for "We Know", that also features Da Brat, might be a little awkward fitting, but the different vibes bounce off each other and just work. And then Da Brat suddenly spits some serious fire on her verse. So in a way, this would have been a good Da Brat track featuring Cappa and no one would complain. But as it is, and as growing on you it is, Cappa still adopted too much to claim this his own. Still, what on paper was feared to be the worst, ends up being one of the best tracks.

It's still very confusing what happened to Goldfingaz, who after all produced tracks like "Everything Is Everything" or "Black Boy" on the first Cappa album "The Pillage". His beat on "Shake Dat" is doing a Timbaland impersonation and Jammie Sommers on the hook does a chickenhead contribution. Again, and this can be said about the whole album: the tracks are not completely wack, they would be to no surprise and to our okay, if done by a different artist. But we have to get over the fact that a Wu member is doing this, these party and bullshit songs.

Cappa then tries to tell us that he's still hungry. What then leads to something more like what we expected, as "Big Business" is remembering Shaolin, and Shyheim and Crunch are also giving us contributions to this street track. The only thing making this soft is the guitar melody. That can not be found on "Revenge" featuring Timbo King, that gets out a dark piano and gives us the ancient Wu type flavor. And to no surprise, it was Inspectah Deck giving us this beat. The last mentioned song is "One Way 2 Zion" featuring Culture, that goes an interesting route, combining a banjo with Caribbean rhythms, resulting in a musical approval recipient.

Then there's the not on the cover mentioned track, that takes cheap game soundtrack keyboards and 'Wu is for the children' rhymes , that keep the raga cat quiet at times. And so basically what there is to say about this album, that while this record makes a good listen, it falters once being analyzed. Fun as a head nod background carpet, but a sit down and study disappointment. That makes it hard to have the verdict be fair. Again, if this would be by someone else, we wouldn't even be as puzzled.