bigd99999's Full Review: RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo by RZA
Since 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), various members of the Wu-Tang Clan have gone off to do their solo projects, and been extremely successful. Classic releases from Gza, Method Man, ODB, Ghostface and Raekwon slammed upon us as they proved that they were arguably the greatest group in the history of hip hop music. However, some feel the true power behind the Wu-Tang Clan's debut, as well as their early solo albums, was the production. The mastermind who sat quietly behind the boards and produced the majority of each and every first-generation Wu-Tang solo album was Rza the Abbott. Besides being the mastermind behind all of the Wu-Tang productions, he also took the mantle of masterfully and flawlessly producing the Killarmy, Sunz of Man, Gravediggaz, and Killah Priest albums. It was only a matter of time before Rza the Abbott, a.k.a. Prince Rakeem, released his own solo debut album. However, instead of using his monicer of the Abbott of the Wu-Tang Clan, he showed us a new personality. Now he was the futurisitic producer / rapper Bobby Digital. We got a glimpse into Bobby Digital's mind in his debut album: Rza as Bobby Digital; In Stereo...
Track List & Rating
1. Intro (NOT RATED)
2. B.O.B.B.Y. (4 1/2 Stars)
3. Unspoken Word (4 Stars)
4. Slow Grind African (NOT RATED)
5. Airwaves (3 Stars)
6. Love Jones (4 Stars)
7. N.Y.C. Everything f/ Method Man (4 Stars)
8. Mantis f/ Tekitha & Masta Killa (4 Stars)
9. Slow Grind French (NOT RATED)
10. Holocaust (Silkworm) f/ Holocaust, Dr. Doom, Ghostface Killah (5 Stars)
11. Terrorist f/ Killarmy & Black Knights (4 Stars)
12. Bobby Did It (Spanish Fly) f/ Islord, Timbo King, Ghostface Killah, Jamie Sommers (5 Stars)
13. Handwriting on the Wall f/ Ras Kass (3 Stars)
14. Kiss of a Black Widow f/ Old Dirty Bastard (2 1/2 Stars)
15. Slow Grind Italian (NOT RATED)
16. My Lovin' Is Digi (3 Stars)
17. Domestic Violence (2 Stars)
18. Project Talk f/ Baretta 9 (2 1/2 Stars)
19. Lab Drunk (3 1/2 Stars)
20. F*ck What You Think f/ Islord & 9th Prince (4 Stars)
21. Daily Routine f/ Baretta 9 (3 1/2 Stars)
The first interesting thing about Rza in his Bobby Digital form is the production. Virtually gone are the dark, gritty and grimy soundscapes heard on the first two, namely the first, Wu-Tang album. Instead, Rza decides to jazz it up a bit with a bunch more synthesizers, which probably explains why he calls himself Digital. A change in production, at least to me, isn't really too bad, as long as it sounds good and matches with the subject matter, lyrics, and overall feel of the track. However, on Rza as Bobby Digital; In Stereo, the production quality drops horribly low. Rza uses a bunch of weird and stupid sounds which dont match whatsoever. I prefer Rza's darker work than this. At times, this album can also be dark, but the majority of the time its a lot more light-hearted than anything else.z
Skipping past the basic, useless "Intro", we get to "B.O.B.B.Y", a perfect opener to Rza as Bobby Digital; In Stereo. Rza starts out by spelling his name, Bobby Digital, for the chorus, and then kicks into a flow. Rza kicks some pretty tight rhymes on this track, with its own inserts of intelligent braggadiocio and clever punchlines. This instrumental is very different than anything Rza has done before, but its good. It has a very sombre sound, with fast pianos, violins, a thumping spitting bassline, and a double drum loop. Very nice opener to this album. Rza continues the same braggadiocio lyrics on "Unspoken Word", which is of course, abstractly produced. The lyrics are top notch, but the production is rather bizarre, with a weird guitar and bass mix, and a chipmunk loop which is good, but gets annoying after about a minute, yet its still a solid track. "Airwaves" features the same verse that he kicked from Sway and Tech's "The Anthem", only with an extra verse added on to the end, and the same beat. If you like the Sway and tech track, then you'll like this, but in my opinion, its too short.
Rza proceeds to describe his city, with a guest appearance by fellow Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, on "N.Y.C. Everything". Rza raps a pretty descriptive and narrative verse about the mentality of the streets of New York, and Method Man comes in with the same idea, only inserting a tiny bit of braggadiocio, in the style of Meth. Nice lyrics, and a nice beat. The beat uses some bizarre samples, a scaling low-keyboard, chimes, bells, and a hard hitting drum and bass accompaniment.
Bobby is joined by Ghostface, Holocaust, and Dr. Doom on the first crew joint "Holocaust (Silkworm)". All four emcees on this track drop ill f*ckin battle rhymes, with the Wu-Tang mentality, loaded with memorable punchlines, metaphors, similes, and wordplay. Everybody comes out strong, but i personally enjoyed Rza and Holocaust's verses the best, to me they were the most clever of the bunch. The instrumental is a sombre low-key xylophone, repetitive snare, old school drum and clap mix, with an R&B chorus which fits with the lyricism evenly and perfectly. Another track "Bobby Did it (Spanish Fly)" follows the same formula, only with different emcees. Everybody drops awesome battle raps and braggadiocio, in an abstract sound. The instrumental features a scaling snare, quick piano / violin, and some bizarre synthesized sounds which are difficult to pin-point. The track has a tiny bit of spanish flavor, but not too much, specially in the lyrics department. This is one of the best cuts on this album.
Bobby decides to get lyrical, recruiting the amazing Ras Kass, the legend who brought us Soul On Ice for the lyrical track "Handwriting on the Wall". This is would have been one of my favorite cuts on the entire album, problem is its too short. Rza gives us a dark instrumental, with a changing piano melody, a bizarre synthesized scaling violin, giving it a unique feel. Problem is... its TOO Short, so it loses points. For those fans who don't know, this is the second collaboration on a Wu album from a non-Wu-tang member. The first was Nas on Raekwon's album. Haha... some useless trivia.
On "Domestic Violence", Rza gives us a glimpse into domestic violence. This is excellent subject matter, and you gotta believe this is the track that inspired Eminem's Kim. Rza basically argues with his girlfriend, and rhymes while doing it. At times, he describes what he's going to do to her, and other times, he just pokes fun at her being fat. The subject matter makes the track sound good, but dont be decieved. Its virtually unlistenable at times, and way too loud, specially for a producer like Rza. The instrumental is mediocre and the lyrics are subpar and uninspired. The only redeeming factor is the punchlines that Rza throws, but thats it.
The last listenable track on here is "F*ck what you Think". Nothing much to say about here, except that its another crew joint with tight rhymes, and a darker, but not dark enough, beat. Rza is joined by Islord and 9th Prince on this track. Rza rhymes battle rhymes, mixed with introspective lyrics about kids and violence. The flow of these three rappers is on-point, and the beat is soft and low, like something Rza would produce for Wu-Tang Forever or something. A relatively good track.
Rza as Bobby Digital; In Stereo was a big dissapointment from me. Its not just the change in production, which doesn't bother me too much, but its the fact that the quality of the overall production has detetiorated more and more. Not to mention that a lot of the tracks on this album are just plain average, or boring, which is something that the Wu-Tang Clan has hardly ever commited the crime of doing, at least, until this album. This was an extremely mediocre release, specially by one of the best producers in Hip Hop, but i still think that if you have some spare change, its worth picking up for the good, memorable tracks, but be ready to push the skip button more than just a few times.
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