January | 2009 | Amalgam Digital Blog

Capone: Man, every N***a and they mother been downloading CD’s. I don’t download Hip Hop CD’s, the CD’s I download got Sound FX on them, you know, like quotes from movies and stuff like that. I wouldn’t download another rappers CD because I really don’t listen to many rappers.

AmalgamDigital.com: So, what is the last album you bought from the store?

Capone: The last album I bought was that Kanye, That’s my number 1 rapper right now.

AmalgamDigital.com: I was reading another interview you had where you listed your top 5. I thought your top 5 was pretty standard until I seen you put Kanye up there at the # 6 spot, can you share some reasons why?

Capone: Life is standard, you know what I’m saying, some people wake up, brush they teeth, eat breakfast and hit the street everyday. At the end of the day, I got my standard shit that I listen to but I listen to that Kanye everyday too. So, I wouldn’t put him in front of those people but I felt like he needed to make the list. I remember when I first met Kanye West, he was Kanye back then, we was at a fashion show with Marc Ecko and Marc is my dude he held me and Nore down for our whole career. He said do you know who this is? This is Kanye, and I was like yeah I know Kanye. He was mad humble, you know? None of the arrogance, now I see Kanye and I want to be like that dude, man.

AmalgamDigital.com: So do you agree that Kanye opened some doors for a whole new wave of artists?

Capone: Yeah man, like Lupe and even Common man, I was always a Common fan, I always thought his Lyrics were dope but I respected him a lot more when he got with Kanye, he went to a whole new realm in my eyes.

AmalgamDigital.com: Are there any new artists out there that have caught your attention?

Capone: There are a lot of new artists that I like. You got Uncle Murda, you got Maino, I even got this new dude, Charles Reed, we did a couple joints together, He’s a dope R&B artists. All across the board man, because I don’t just listen to Hip Hop, there’s a lot of fresh talent.

AmalgamDigital.com: Tell me how your approach or experience with the CNN albums compares to what you did or experienced with your solo album?

Capone: You know, with my CNN joints I was working with a partner, that’s like having four brains, you know two sides to each of our brains, so we’re in there with a bunch of thoughts, ideas and emotions and all of it goes into the music. When I record, I like to go in and be in a tranquil environment, I like to think about my life when I’m in there, you know? Capone is a totally different artist than what you get from the CNN albums.

AmalgamDigital.com: Nore has embraced this whole Internet thing, what’s it going to take for you to embrace it as well?

Capone: I need a gimmick, I ain’t got beef with nobody, I ain’t trying to lose weight like Nore and I ain’t smack Ransom like Joe Budden. I don’t want any of that, I got two felonies and I can’t afford no more. Shout out to Nore, He’s got the blog on lock, 57th ave.com, but I got the footage, I just don’t want to put it out there if it ain’t going to get no hits. I’m not trying to sit in front of the camera and talk about nothing, so I’m taking my time with it because it’s all about the content.

AmalgamDigital.com: How do you feel about the Internet’s role in the music business, has it made your job easier or harder? (ring tones, digital downloads, blogs/video blogs)

Capone: It’s a new outlet, a new way to make money out here. Capone N Noreaga are not like Brittany Spears and Nelly, they don’t really need the blogs like we do. This gives artists who make great music an opportunity to get exposure; it’s a different playing field.

AmalgamDigital.com: Considering that the current state of Hip Hop does not completely reflect New York Emcees, what is CNN’s role in the current world of music?

Capone: Well, you got dance music, you got reggae music, you got Hip Hop and then you got that uplifting music, 9 times out of 10, when I meet people they don’t just tell me they like the music, they always got a story to go with it. It’s like when that Yung Joc song came out, I was going super bonkers to that shit in the club, but the dude who is on the corner and his mother got AIDS and his baby’s mother is sleeping with the whole neighborhood, he can’t relate to it. So songs like ‘Blood Money’ or ‘Black Gangster’ or War Report or The Reunion in itself, those people who relate are the people who make me feel I have a purpose in Hip Hop.

AmalgamDigital.com: This goes back to that argument that respect doesn’t reflect sales. So from a business standpoint how do you get those fans to cop the album?

Capone: You can’t even go by sales now, the way things are right now, you just got to go by fans and hope they role with you. Everybody is not going to buy everybody’s album, I don’t care how much of a real fan you are, you can’t afford it. As long as they listen and understand the message, someday down the line they’ll go cop it when they got the money. I felt like we could have done Double Platinum if Penalty would have shipped more records. They didn’t ship enough records, so people who want to hear our classics got to download our shit now, just to hear it. So I don’t even care any more.

AmalgamDigital.com: From an artist standpoint, how have the record companies you’ve been in business with in the past failed in marketing the CNN Brand?

Capone: The CNN brand should have been like the DTP Brand, like the G-Unit Brand. It’s like when you got Coke and Baking Soda you’re going to make crack no matter how you look at it, when you got dope beats, a dope artist and a good manager, you’re going to make hits and you need someone to sell those drugs, or records in this case, so when you and the record company ain’t on the same page, it’s not going to work, that’s what happened with Tommy Boy not so much with Def Jam because Def Jam was because of the leadership change.

AmalgamDigital.com: So what do you want the world to know about Channel 10?

Capone: The album is out in March, it’s dope, 18 tracks, no skits and we went hard on this, we did this album with so much ease because me and Nore missed each other man, the fans are going to hear it. We back baby!

AmalgamDigital.com: Do you feel like your past legal troubles have hindered your career?

Capone: Hell yeah, when the Hot 97 thing popped off we were working on my album on Def Jam (Pain, Time & Glory.) So I was supposed to drop and then Hot 97 banned me and Lil Kim for like a year in a half, and the only reason they let Nore live is because he wasn’t there. What I respect about Kim is she’s a female she can bounce back any way she wants. It’s hard for me, everyday I record a song, there’s 40,000 other ni**as putting out music.

It doesn’t matter if I’m Capone, so here I am and I can’t get a record played at radio so I had to fall back and push Nore’s project at the time. Once Nore’s joint popped off that’s when Def Jam changed the players up there and that affected everybody.

AmalgamDigital.com: Tell us a little bit about your future solo plans?

Capone: The album is called R.I.P. or Revenge Is a Promise. Right now I’m taking revenge on the haters, you know, everyone that said I couldn’t do this, it’s revenge time baby, It’s scheduled for June, I got Reakwon on there, Busta Ryhmes, Freeway is on there and my dude Charles Reed. I ain’t going to kill y’all, I’ll just tell you Revenge Is a Promise, you feel me?

AmalgamDigital.com: You got anything else you want the world to know?

Capone: I just want the world to know that I’m bout to get on my blog game, you know because people are requesting me. You can check us out on the European tour; we’ll be in Europe starting January 22nd.

• www.myspace.com/caponennore
• www.youtube.com/caponennore