CapaRezza
?!

THE REVIEW

There are very few Italian artists of Caparezza’s caliber. And yet, when he starts out, it’s not a given that you’d expect his meteoric rise.
He will be a hero: at once a spokesperson for common sense, for left-wing ideals but not the left itself, for himself.

Because with this first album he’s not yet the Caparezza we know and, let’s be honest, he’s well below the great Caparezza we’ve come to know. Still, if so many people are fond maybe not of everything in "?!" but at least of a few tracks, there’s a reason for it, and it’s just this: Caparezza is different. It’s well known, the rapper will never renounce himself (at least not after the stage name change), but of course he’s changed a lot, a bit like when people say they prefer early Bathory over the later stuff or the albums by Articolo 31 instead of J-Ax’s solo works.

The not-so-memorable intro paves the way for "Mea Culpa," a twisted and well-crafted chorus. "Tutto ciò che c’è" is packed with cultural references, not outstanding musically but pleasant enough. Of another breed is the beautiful "Mammamiamammà," perfectly structured melodically and with a sharp lyric with which our guy lashes out against "modern mothers." "La gente originale" rallies against trend followers, self-styled leftists, fake intellectuals, and so on, with enviable verve, then makes way for the solid "Il conflitto" and "Fuck the Violenza." "Ti clonerò" isn’t remarkable, while things get good again with "La vitta sassaiola dell'ingiuria" (even featuring a sample stolen from the great Branduardi) and especially the stunning "Chi c*zzo me lo," a track I’m very fond of, one of the first Caparezza songs I ever heard. With a super effective bass line and a biting, caustic lyric, the track is far removed from the rock/metal contaminations that will make the rapper famous (though they’re already present in this record). The energy does dip, however, with "Mi è impossibile," but the album closes solidly and smoothly with a nice final trio.

Musically, the album is definitely not a masterpiece, in fact: I strongly advise breaking up your listen with some tracks from other albums, otherwise you might easily start to lose interest. Caparezza still needs to work on his vocal delivery (his noisy "catching a breath" is obvious in more than one spot) and melodic arrangements (despite some gems like "Mammamiamammà"), but the work is miles away from being mediocre. Because it’s always Capa. And his wordplay will always be brilliant. And the musicians he surrounds himself with are not Ciccio the stinky rocker or Frank the pudgy piadina guy. So even in this debut, you can tell: class is permanent.

From the very first track, the Molfetta native cuts all ties with his past. I think the real strength of this record is the lyrics: later on, with the use of more rock-oriented structures and therefore a broader metric, he would end up sacrificing those verses with thousands of words per second, alliterations, double meanings, or endless metaphors. The lyrics here are dense, sometimes with many verses, featuring pearls of double entendre ("Che a fare stragi siamo tutti Capaci" from "Fuck the violenza") or head-on brutal attacks ("Morte a palate, se vi piace la morte... perché non v'ammazate?!" from "Chi c*zzo me lo"). Caparezza will change, improve, mature, in every way. But the ferocity of this first album—he’ll never get that back. Rating: 80/100.