RZA As Bobby Digital in Stereo
Unlike their predecessors, who each released about an album a year, Master P and the Wu-Tang Clan dominated the mid to late 1990s with a hailstorm of discs that saturated the rap marketplace. RZA, the Wu'süber-producer, added to the storm withBobby Digital in Stereo, the soundtrack for a straight-to-video film directed, produced, and written by RZA under the alter ego Bobby Digital. Whether he's able to compete with Master P on the cinematic front remains to be seen, but the project surely confirms RZA's mastery of the production studio and of the hip-hop domain in general. Without sounding too threatening or gangsta, RZA--er, Digital--lays down street-lethal beats and rhythms that resonate with a futuristic cyberpunk theme. And while the songs are fairly free of melody, there are plenty of atmospheric keyboard noises, sound effects, and samples to keep things pumping.--Jon Wiederhorn