Cappucino is the third and final single from

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a ...

's album ''

Eyes on This ''Eyes on This'' is the second studio album by American hip hop recording artist MC Lyte. It was released on October 3, 1989, via First Priority and Atlantic Records, and was produced by Audio Two, Grand Puba, the King of Chill, Marley Marl, ...

''. It was published on August 2, 1990. In its single version it is a remix by Ivan "Doc" Rodríguez of the original version of the album produced by

Marley Marl Marlon Lu'Ree Williams (born September 30, 1962), better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge Houses, Queen ...

. In this song MC Lyte seeks to warn about violence around

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

s and addictions. In October 1990 it peaked 8 on the

Billboard Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio statio ...

, being her third consecutive single in the top 10 of that chart. "Cappucino" was listed in the ''Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era'' (2005) by Bruce Pollock.

Conception and composition

In the song Lyte tells how she goes to a cafe in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and once there she is murdered after being caught in the crossfire of rival

drug dealers The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types ...

. So Lyte says she feels ''"on the other side/between lives"'', where she meets various people who have had deaths associated with violence and the use of

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

. Later Lyte tells that everything has been part of a dream and that she was glad to realize this when she woke up, feeling everything as a warning message. Then she makes a description of the Cappuccino and ends the song saying that now she prefers tea because the Cappuccino seemed to ''"too fly for me"''. The original version on the album is produced by Marley Marl, but the single version is a remix by Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez. Another of the Remixes included in the single is produced by

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a me ...

and

Terminator X Norman Rogers (born August 25, 1966), known professionally as Terminator X, is an American DJ best known for his work with hip hop group Public Enemy, which he left in 1998. He also produced two solo albums, '' Terminator X & The Valley of the ...

from

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Samples

The original version contains a sample of The Blackbyrds's "Spaced Out" bass. The remix incorporates vocal samples from

The S.O.S. Band The S.O.S. Band (sometimes written as S.O.S. Band; abbreviation for Sounds of Success) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B and Boogie (genre), electro-funk musical ensemble, group who gained fame in the 1980s. They are best known for the songs ...

's " Just Be Good to Me" and

The Dells The Dells were an American R&B vocal group. Formed in high school in 1953 by founding members Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale, and Michael and Lucius McGill, under the name the El-Rays. They released their first r ...

's "Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation", the bass from

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations for Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang w ...

with

Siedah Garrett Deborah Christine "Siedah" Garrett (born June 24, 1960) is an American singer and songwriter who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Brand ...

's "

Don't Look Any Further "Don't Look Any Further" is a song by American singer Dennis Edwards featuring American singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett, released in April 1984 by Motown from the singer's Don't Look Any Further (album), debut album by the same name (1984). Th ...

" and drums from Fantasy Three "It's Your Rock". It also includes a sampling of Lyte herself on the charity single " Self Destruction".

Music video

The music video was directed by Ric Menello, who had previously worked for the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

and was released on November 1, 1990. For the video the remix of Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez, who also has an appearance, was used. In the book ''Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture'' (2007), the writer Jennifer R. Young would comment on the video: It was included on his compilation video album ''Lyte Years'' (1991).

Appearances

"Cappucino" was included in his compilation albums The Very Best of MC Lyte (2001), ''The Shit I Never Dropped'' (2003), and ''Cold Rock a Party - Best Of MC Lyte'' (2019). On May 1, 1991, Lyte performs the song on "Yo! Unplugged Rap", the first

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

to feature rap artists. Her performance was praised by

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and nonfiction book author. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...

, who commented "MC Lyte performed her song ”Cappucino" like a rapping

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

: Lyte brought out the soul in her lyrics."

Critical reception

In his review of the album Eyes on This, critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

highlighted the song "the narrative tone of "Cappucino"—part fable, part metaphor, part confessional revery, part dumb it-was-only-a-dream—is avant-garde." For his part, Mike Boehm of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

would comment Bruce Pollock listed the song in his book ''Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era'' (2005), which he described as "Spunky Brooklyn rapper visits the next world." In hindsight, Damon Brown of ''RapReviews'' would criticize the song, commenting that "doesn’t even make any sense", while in his review of the album Alex Henderson of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

considered Cappucino as "Undeniably, the CD's standout track".

Single track listing

12" Vinyl

A-Side

# "Cappucino" (D.J. DOC Remix) (5:24) #*Produced by Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez # "Cappucino" (Remix Instrumental) (5:24) #*Produced by Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez

B-Side

# "Not Wit' A Dealer" (Chuck D & Terminator X Remix) (4:00) #*Produced by

and

# "Not Wit' A Dealer" (Audio Two Remix) (3:51) #*Produced by

Audio Two Audio Two was the Brooklyn, New York hip hop duo of rapping, emcee Kirk "Milk Dee" Robinson and DJ Nat "Gizmo" Robinson, best known for their first hit "Top Billin'". History The duo's debut single, "Make it Funky", was released in 1987, bu ...

# "I Cram To Understand U 1990" (D.J. DOC Remix) (4:43) #*Produced by Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez

Cassette

A-Side

# "Cappucino" (Edited Remix Version) (3:40) #*Produced by Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez

B-Side

# "Not Wit' A Dealer" (Chuck D & Terminator X Remix) (4:00) #*Produced by

and

Personnel

Credits are taken from the liner notes. *Executive-Producer – Nat Robinson *Lyrics By – MC Lyte (tracks: A1, A2) *Lyrics By, Music By – Milk (pistas: B1, B2) *Music By – Gizmo (tracks: B1, B2), Marley Marl (tracks: A1, A2) *Written-By – Audio Two (tracks: B3), Lyte (tracks: B3)

Charts

References

{{authority control MC Lyte songs 1989 singles 1989 songs Atlantic Records singles Songs about drugs Songs written by MC Lyte Song recordings produced by Marley Marl