In the news release accompanying Cap D’s “Return of the Renegade,” the Chicago MC notes that he wanted to make an album solely for the sake of hip-hop instead of “dropping politics … or using music as a way to write stories.”
Yet less than three minutes into the record he’s laying out his latest mission statement: “I rock it for the babies out in Darfur … for Katrina victims by the French Quarter.”
The difference, Cap D said, is in the intent. With “Insomnia” he set out to make a bold political statement. This time around the man born David Kelly was content to let the material come together naturally, whether that meant traveling back in time to rescue Malcolm X on “Shabazz” or spitting a little “Street Knowledge.”
“I moved away from the politics for me, but it wasn’t like I abandoned it,” Cap D said. “There’s too much important stuff going on in the world for me to do an album and not say anything.”
The rapper, who is married with an 8-month-old son and a successful career in corporate law, has increasingly less time to dedicate to his art. As such, the music is as much about the simple joy of creating hip-hop as the message, and it’s this carefree energy that fuels “Renegade.”
Cap D also found inspiration from unlikely sources: the rhymes of radio-friendly rappers like 50 Cent.
“Coming up in the school I came up in it was always about writing the most clever lyric,” D said. “But you can learn a lot from [50 Cent]. He’s not a great MC by any stretch of the imagination, but he can deliver a great song.”
There’s also an overriding Asian influence on the album, from the torch-lit temple and shadowy samurai figure on the record’s cover to the string-laden beats, which sound lifted from an Akira Kurosawa film. On a trek to China, Cap D toured ancient temples and began envisioning himself as a mythic character, locked away in training and waiting for the opportunity to explode on his enemies.
“That’s how I felt when I was out there — like a spiritual warrior,” he said. “That’s part of being an MC. You always feel slept on and underrated. But I fight back using hip-hop where others use [weapons].”
Cap D
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace St.
