Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

I don’t know if, at this point in history, we need a double CD of rap music, whether you choose to call it Chicano rap, or, as Mr. Capone-E refers to it, Sureno rap. Regardless, if you hear Dedicated 2 The Oldies 2, you’ll want it. Mr. Capone-E has built a bit of an empire, seemingly releasing a project every couple of months as well as collaborating with a number of other high-profile rappers such as Bizzy Bone. What separates Mr. Capone-E from the pack is his ability to continue to fashion intriguing arrangements which add, rather than overwhelm, intriguing beats, and laying everything with interesting lyrics.

I missed the first “Dedicated” CD, so I have no basis of comparison, but Dedicated 2 The Oldies 2 stands on its own in any event. I had expected from the title that the tracks would be built on a bunch of old skool samples and, indeed, Disc 2 actually features a straight-on oldie, Didn’t I Blow Your Mind. More on that in a minute. Disc 1 however, takes a bit of a different approach, showing its influences on its sleeves without overtly incorporating samples into the mix. Never Seen A Pimp Like Me features a Zapp-influenced chorus and a sedate but funky sample supporting Mr. Capone-E’s sing-song, rapid-fire rapping. The tracks range from erotic (Wet Dreams, for example, more than earns Dedicated 2 The Oldies 2 its parental advisory sticker) to the gangster; as one might expect when you have tracks featuring rappers named Mr. Criminal and Stomper (Spreading Worldwide) or Hi Powered Soldiers (Still On The Come Up) you will find cuts on Disc 1 of Dedicated 2 The Oldies 2 that you do not want blaring on your sound system when you get pulled over by the local gendarme on a traffic stop. On the other hand, Let Me Love You Girl is an absolutely perfect love song, one of the best single tracks in the genre since Crazy. The track also demonstrates that Mr. Capone-E is not a bad vocalist, not at all; what he may lack in range he makes up for in depth. The fact that Let Me Love You Girl followed by a hard core gangsta track, Gun On My Lap, merely demonstrates that someone paid major attention to sequencing. Disc 1 never drags for a second, is never boring.

Disc 2 of Dedicated 2 The Oldies 2 begins with a spoken word rap over a doo-wop background that bridges the two genres so well that I can hardly stand it. It’s a short track titled Oldies Intro, and while ordinarily I find the genre hallmarks of skits, intros and outros unnecessary at best and profoundly irritating at worst, I love this one. It just gets better. I Made A Choice is…let’s call it doo-rap, and it’s outstanding, combining the best of rap and doo-wop, with a drum, sax, and keyboard riff and a sung chorus (and again, Mr. Capone-E’s vocals aren’t bad at all) combined with a warts and all assessment of poor choices looked upon realistically but without regret. There are, unfortunately, a couple of downers on Disc 2, one coming early, titled Ordinary Guy. This track features Joe Bataan, appropriately named because his vocals on this track are like a forced death march. He does much better on The Cloud, later on the disc, is a fine, mid-1960s New Orleans type vehicle. Mr. Capone-E is the star here, however, as it should be with great, great tracks such as Show Me, a fine example of 1960s Philly R & B that name checks Barbara Mason (yes!) and Somebody Please, a smooth, Chi-Lytes-style track with a social message. The real surprise, however, is the appearance of The Delfonics on Didn’t I Blow Your Mind. I mean, I didn’t even like the song when it was a hit originally, but hearing this, with the Delfonics on the chorus, and Mr. Capone-E on the tip, brought shivers to my spine and tears to my eyes. Do You Yourself A Favor, which follows it, is a verbal beat down on Mr. Capone’s enemies over a girl group chorus, is a classic. Like I said, doo-rap. You heard it here first.

Remember what I said about a two-CD rap project? This one is impossible to resist. Great from beginning to end. But if you’ve got a grown folk in your house who doesn’t get rap, play them Disc 2 first. They’ll love it.