RZA Albums (8)
'Afro Samurai: The Resurrection'
Release Date 1/27/2009
Tracks 17
Label TVT
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What The Critics Say
Since the release of the first Bobby Digital album ten years previous, so much has changed for RZA and his whole Wu-Tang empire. Of course there's the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard plus the Wu's resurgence and their 8 Diagrams album, but what this final entry in the Bobby Digital trilogy is most colored by is RZA's recent soundtrack work and the Wu's move from major-label powerhouse to a free and thriving, free indie crew. Digi Snacks is as homegrown but not nearly as over the top as its cover, and while you won't find the dynamic productions and powerful hooks that fueled the first two albums, this is a fantastic marriage of RZA's pimp-ish superhero character and the mysterious, suspenseful grooves found on his Ghost Dog or Kill Bill soundtracks. That may sound like his Afro Samurai album, but there's more of the head-bobbing, haunted-house vibe here with slow grooves dominating tracks like the single "You Can't Stop Me Now" and the aptly titled "Creep." Like "Creep," both "Try Ya Ya Ya" and the great "Good Night" feature the Erykah Badu/Billie Holiday-sounding vocals of Thea van Seijen, whose affiliation with Massive Attack perfectly describes the landscape Digi Snacks is leaning toward. Save the Jay-Z sample guest producer David Banner brings to "Straight Up the Block" and the pimp hand the Bobby character shows frequently throughout, the world of mainstream hip-hop fails to penetrate the album, making this the most unique entry in the trilogy. Fans of the first two albums might find it difficult to adjust, but Digi Snacks brings that "through the looking glass" feeling and offers a murky world unto itself, one where Wu-Tang Batmans and blaxploitation anime seem entirely possible. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The soundtrack to the anime series Afro Samurai is executive produced and, for the most part, also produced by the RZA, the ideal option to apply hip-hop to Japanese animation. The RZA has always been known for his deep admiration of the martial arts, and he knocked his first scoring opportunity -- Ghost Dog, which is best heard on the JVC Japan edition -- out of the park. With credits for Kill Bill and Blade Trinity also under his belt, he smoothly transitions into Afro Samurai, composing a hard-hitting intro, several incidental pieces, and a handful of MC-led tracks, with brief appearances from the likes of Big Daddy Kane, GZA, Talib Kweli, Suga Bang, and himself. On Ghost Dog, he worked a sparse, gritty gracefulness; here, the feel is more epic, sleek, and turbulent, with dialogue (including plenty from Samuel L. Jackson as Afro, the protagonist in search of avenging his father's killers) laid over a generous amount of the score material. A pair of nearly torrid, reverb-heavy slow jams come from R&B duo Stone Mecca, who sound somewhat contemporary while owing much to Michael Henderson's and Prince's steamiest falsetto ballads (and that's no gripe). Another outside R&B cut, produced by M1 and featuring vocalist Maurice, is too pleasant and clean-cut to really fit into the flow of the program. As a bonus, or an enticement for RZA fans who might feel skeptical about a project not wholly reliant on RZA and rhymes, four tracks from a future Bobby Digital album are added. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
'The Birth of a Prince'
Release Date 10/7/2003
Tracks 16
Label Sanctuary
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What The Critics Say
RZA's first full-blown "RZA as RZA" solo album is not The Cure, the long-promised masterpiece that has gathered a great deal of mystique throughout the years. Hampered by a valley that's thankfully cleaved by some considerable peaks, Birth of a Prince is instead a durable addition to the Wu-Tang legacy. By no means is it a masterpiece, and it's not even one of the best Wu-Tang solo albums -- but it has enough going for it to prevent most of the followers from losing interest. Following the all-but-completely unheard The World According to RZA -- an ambitious project featuring lyricists representing continents other than North America -- as well as arriving almost simultaneously with his contributions to the score of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (beneath the CD cradle is an ad for the film, and the disc is kicked off by a reference to it), Birth of a Prince neither diminishes nor bolsters RZA's stature. Along with an ineffective middle patch, some of the guest appearances hold the record back. The Megahertz-produced "We Pop" serves up a vicious dose of zapping funk, but one of the worst verses in the history of hip-hop ("All y'all can see is the back of my jersey/Blowin' in the wind goin' back to Jersey/Off to Brooklyn, left ya back in Jersey/I was doin' a buck-90 like a throwback jersey"), delivered by an uncredited up-and-comer(?), kills the effect. The opening and closing thirds show RZA firing on nearly cylinder -- lyrically inspired, conceptually dense, sequentially tight. While many will no doubt see this as an unfocused record, those who take it on more of a song-by-song basis will value it as a respectable addition to RZA's body of work -- an addition with plenty to offer amid some weak tangents. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
'The World According to RZA'
Release Date 4/28/2003
Tracks 18
Label Virgin
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'Digital Bullet'
Release Date 8/28/2001
Tracks 18
Label Koch International
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What The Critics Say
Digital Bullet is RZA's second album under his latest alias, as Bobby Digital. It's no shock that he brought Bobby back; the first Digital outing, Bobby Digital in Stereo, was a high mark in the Wu Tang Clan producer's prolific career. What is a bit surprising is the sound of this effort, which frequently stretches all the way back to the mystical murk of the Clan's first album, Enter the Wu-Tang. The muffled beats and disorienting, late-night soundscapes of that hip-hop classic have been imitated countless times since its 1993 release, but nobody does 'em like the Rizza, and uneasy tracks like "Must Be Bobby" and "Domestic Violence Pt. 2" seem to bring him full circle -- as does the presence of several Clan members, including the jailed ODB. Even the nods to the mainstream -- "Glocko Pop" and the swaying single "La Rhumba" -- seem, like RZA's best work, to have arrived from a slightly different dimension. Meanwhile, there is a storyline to this installment of the Digital story, but as on In Stereo, listeners have to use some imagination to fill it out; RZA's rhymes are often as evocative and opaque as the kung-fu flicks he loves. But as always, he creates tracks that are more about atmosphere than message -- and when he's on his game, as he is here, it's hard to argue with that approach. ~ Dan LeRoy, All Music Guide
'Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai: The Album'
Release Date 4/11/2000
Tracks 19
Label Sony
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What The Critics Say
Depending on who you ask, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is either a piece of cool meditation on the rules of combat or an ultraviolent glamorization of thug life. The same can be said of the music chosen for the soundtrack. It is aggressive yet calculated, exuberant and orderly and smooth and jagged. With songs from the Wu Tang Clan, Kool G Rap and North Star among others, this soundtrack is worth checking out. ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
'RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo'
Release Date 11/24/1998
Tracks 21
Label V2
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What The Critics Say
RZA's first solo album, the soundtrack to a film involving experimental self-transformation, has many of the same fractured strings and crisp, staccato beats he made trademarks on Wu-Tang Clan recordings. In fact, this could well be a Wu-Tang album, even more so than the legion of other related albums. The only contributors to the project are Wu members (Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah, U-God, Inspectah Deck) or relatives (Killarmy, Masta Killa, Sunz of Man). Bobby Digital in Stereo is also a more focused work than the last Wu-Tang Clan album (Forever), and just a bit more diverse. Though the hooks aren't as big and the raps aren't as upfront, this is a producer's album, designed to showcase RZA's talents in the control room, not in front of the mic. ~ Keith Farley, All Music Guide
