Cappadonna (born Darryl Hill, 1969) – After growing up as friends with many of the Clan members, Cappadonna made his debut as an affiliate of the Wu-Tang Clan on Raekwon’s hit single “Ice Cream“. He was also a guest star, along with Raekwon, on Ghostface Killah’s solo debut album, Ironman. He made his first appearance on a Wu-Tang Clan album in 1997 on Wu-Tang Forever on the single “Triumph“. Following his appearance on Forever, he contributed significantly to the group’s third studio album, The W, at which point his appearances were no longer marked with “Feat. Cappadonna”, as they had been on Forever. After a falling out with RZA the next year over royalties, he did not appear at all on the group’s subsequent album Iron Flag. He eventually reunited with the group for their concert at 2004’s Rock the Bells, and appeared on 2007’s 8 Diagrams.
Cappadonna’s status as an official member was at one point unclear. While long referred to by both the group and fans as the “unofficial tenth member”, there was no confirmation on whether he actually became the official tenth member following the death of Ol’ Dirty Bastard. MTV.com’s biographies of both him and the group claim that he is an official member. However, while his vocals on 8 Diagrams were not marked with “Feat. Cappadonna”, much like his contributions to the group’s The W album, he does not appear on the front cover with the original eight living members, and is not featured in the album’s booklet with a picture, although he is included in the group’s shout-out’s sections. A 2007 interview about the Clan before the release of 8 Diagrams also claims that RZA officially added him as a member, but there were no quotations or statements to back up this claim within the article. He would also appear credited as a member on the 2012 Wu-Tang Clan song “Six Directions of Boxing” off the soundtrack for RZA‘s The Man with the Iron Fists and be confirmed to be working on the group’s sixth studio album. Cappadonna would be one of the most significant workers on the sixth album A Better Tomorrow. More recently, multiple publications such as NME, XXL, HipHopDX, and MTV[have referred to Cappadonna as an official member of the group. In 2014, RZA definitively clarified Cappadonna’s status as an official member stating that Cappadonna had been an official member of the group since the group’s 8 Diagrams album.
