Capital Punishment (album)
Capital Punishment | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Big Pun | ||||
Released | April 28, 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1997–98 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 71:53 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
Various
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Big Pun chronology | ||||
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Singles from Capital Punishment | ||||
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Capital Punishment is the debut and only album released by rapper Big Pun during his lifetime, released on April 28, 1998. The album received critical acclaim, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200 charts and #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart for two weeks. It was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 1999 Grammy Awards, but lost to Jay-Z's Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. Capital Punishment is regarded as a classic because of Pun's technical efficiency and wordplay. It was also the first solo Latin hip hop record to go Platinum.[1]
Reception
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllHipHop | [2] |
Allmusic | [3] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+[4] |
Q | [5] |
Rap Pages | [5] |
RapReviews | (9.5/10)[6] |
Robert Christgau | [7] |
Rolling Stone | [8] |
The Source | [9] |
- Entertainment Weekly (7/17/98, p. 85) - "Everything about this Bronx-bred Puerto Rican rapper is generous, his 400-pound girth, his multiple rhyming within each line, and his talent for spewing out verses without stopping for breath." - Rating: B+[4]
- Q (6/00, p. 123) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Displaying huge lyrical prowess and the requisite 'sensitive' side...[the album] established Pun as a serious rival to Biggie Smalls and something of a ladykiller to boot....funk and fun aplenty....Outrageously good."
- The Source (6/98, p. 159) - 4 Mics (out of 5) - "He'll rhyme every possible word in a line because he wants to be twice as nice....Capital Punishment's all about execution."
- Rap Pages (9/98, p. 120) - 4 (out of 5) - "Big Pun is at his best with all barrels firing bullets lacing the air like embroidery on grandmama's quilt." [5]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Intro" | 0:33 | ||
2. | "Beware" | 3:15 | ||
3. | "Super Lyrical" (featuring Black Thought) |
| 3:28 | |
4. | "Taster's Choice" (skit) | 1:20 | ||
5. | "Still Not a Player" (featuring Joe) |
|
|
3:56 |
6. | "Intermission" |
|
0:21 | |
7. | "The Dream Shatterer" |
| 3:33 | |
8. | "Punish Me" (featuring Miss Jones) |
| 4:15 | |
9. | "Pakinamac Pt. I" (skit) | 1:35 | ||
10. | "You Ain't a Killer" |
| 4:14 | |
11. | "Pakinamac Pt. II" (skit) | 0:57 | ||
12. | "Caribbean Connection" (featuring Wyclef) |
|
|
3:24 |
13. | "Glamour Life" (featuring Fat Joe and Terror Squad) |
| 4:43 | |
14. | "Capital Punishment" (featuring Prospect) | 4:20 | ||
15. | "Uncensored" (skit) (featuring Funkmaster Flex) | 2:12 | ||
16. | "I'm Not a Player" |
|
|
3:41 |
17. | "Twinz (Deep Cover 98)" (featuring Fat Joe) |
| 3:49 | |
18. | "The Rain & the Sun" (Interlude) (featuring dead prez) |
| 1:49 | |
19. | "Boomerang" |
| 3:35 | |
20. | "You Came Up" |
|
|
3:54 |
21. | "Tres Leches (Triboro Trilogy)" (featuring Prodigy and Rebel-INS) |
|
4:19 | |
22. | "Charlie Rock Shout" (skit) | 0:26 | ||
23. | "Fast Money" |
|
|
3:48 |
24. | "Parental Discretion" (featuring Busta Rhymes) |
| 4:33 | |
Total length: |
1:11:53 |
Samples
Intro
- "Punisher Be Takin' Them Out" from Fresh
Beware
- "Theme for the Losers" by Henry Mancini
- "Shook Ones Part I" by Mobb Deep
Super Lyrical
- "One More Chance (Remix)" by The Notorious B.I.G.
- "It's Logic" by Canibus
- "I Must Break You" and "Adrian Pleads With Rocky" from Rocky IV
Still Not a Player
- "A Little Bit of Love" by Brenda Russell
The Dream Shatterer
- "Funk & Wagner" by Don "Sugarcane" Harris
Pakinamac Pt. 1
- "Off the Books" by The Beatnuts
You Ain't a Killer
- "With a Child's Heart" by Michael Jackson
- "Summer Madness" by Kool & the Gang
Caribbean Connection
- "Ready or Not" by Johnny Osbourne
Glamour Life
- "The World Is a Ghetto" by George Benson
I'm Not a Player
- "Darlin' Darlin' Baby" by The O'Jays
- "Darlin' Darlin' Baby (Sweet, Tender, Love)" by Steve Khan
Twinz (Deep Cover '98)
- "Deep Cover" by Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg
Boomerang
- "Le Bracelet" by Alain Goraguer
You Came Up
- "Don't Ask Me" by Ramon Morris
Tres Leches (Triboro Trilogy)
- "I Ain't No Joke" by Eric B. & Rakim
- "Las Vegas Tango" by Gary Burton
- "The Start of Your Ending (41st Side)" by Mobb Deep
- "Guillotine (Swordz)" by Raekwon
- "Shaolin Shadow Boxing (English Version)" from Shaolin and Wu Tang
- "Method Man by Wu-Tang Clan
Parental Discretion
- "Hydra" by Grover Washington, Jr.
- "Le Bracelet" by Alain Goraguer
Personnel
Credits for Capital Punishment adapted from the album liner notes.
- Armageddon – featured artist
- Denise Barbarita – assistant engineer
- Carlos Bess – mixing
- Big Pun – executive producer, primary artist
- Black Thought – featured artist
- Busta Rhymes – featured artist
- Sean Cane – A&R
- Chris Conway – mixing
- Cuban Link – featured artist
- Cus – mixing
- Dahoud – producer
- Danny O – producer
- dead prez – producer, featured artist
- Domingo – producer
- "E" – mixing
- EQ – producer
- Fat Joe – executive producer, featured artist
- Funkmaster Flex – featured artist
- Paul Gregory – assistant engineer
- Che Harris – A&R coordination
- Daniel "PhotoChop" Hastings
- Troy Hightower – mixing
- Tom Hughes – assistant engineer
- Ken "Duro" Ifil – engineer
- Wyclef Jean – featured artist
- Inspectah Deck – featured artist
- Joe – featured artist
- Ju-Ju – producer
- Jugrnaut – producer
- Knobody – producer
- Ola Kudu – creative direction
- Adam Kudzin – engineer
- L.E.S. – producer
- Matt Life – executive producer
- Laurie Marks – A&R coordination
- Mike D. – A&R
- Minnesota – producer
- Miss Jones – featured artist
- Nastee – engineer
- Frank Nitty – producer
- Nomad – producer
- Prodigy – featured artist
- Prospect – featured artist
- Roc Raida – scratches
- Rockwilder – producer
- RZA – producer
- Schott Free – A&R
- Tony Smalios – engineer, mixing
- Triple Seis – featured artist
- Showbiz – producer
- Soundboy – engineer, mixing
- Kevin Stone – assistant engineer
- Nikos Teneketzis – mixing assistant
- Kieran Walsh – engineer
- Gregory "Gold" Wilson – assistant engineer
- Ted Wohlsen – mixing
- Trauma – producer
- Young Lord – producer
- Leon Zervos – mastering
- Mike Zulu – producer
Album chart positions
Year | Album | Chart positions | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Billboard 200 | Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums | Top Canadian Albums | ||
1998 | Capital Punishment | 5 | 1 | 11 |
Singles
Year | Song | Hot 100 | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | Hot Rap Singles | Rhythmic Top 40 | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | "I'm Not a Player" | 57 | 19 | 3 | - | 7 |
1998 | "Still Not a Player" | 24 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
"You Came Up" | - | 49 | 43 | - | - |
See also
References
- ↑ "Gold & Platinum - Big Pun". RIAA. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
- ↑ AllHipHop review
- ↑ Allmusic review
- 1 2 Entertainment Weekly review
- 1 2 3 "Big Punisher - Capital Punishment CD Album". Cduniverse.com. 1999-08-24. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
- ↑ RapReviews review
- ↑ Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
- ↑ Rolling Stone review
- ↑ Alvarez, Gabriel (June 1998). "Review: Capital Punishment". The Source: 159–160.