Bobby Digital - Digi Snacks
[Koch]

The great man behind the Wu Tang Clan, MC and producer RZA (Robert Diggs), is back under the alias of Bobby Digital. This is his 4th solo album release and his 3rd under this name. "Digi Snacks", released on Koch records, is the follow up to Digital Bullet, which came out back in August 2001. He has since stated that the long awaited album "The Cure" will be his final solo release. He will end it as an MC and concentrate more on his movie directing career, which some fans will more than likely be disappointed about.

This year RZA headlined at the Futuresonic 2008 Urban festival of Art, Music and Ideas. Performing as Bobby Digital to promote his new album, the festival was to celebrate the creative spirit in this genre. He appeared in a showcase for leftfield hip-hop.

The first single off the album, "You Can't Stop Me Now" (featuring fellow Wu Tang member, Inspectah Deck) was released back in march 2008. On the track, RZA samples a version of the Barret Strong/Norman Whitfield composition, "Message From A Black Man". This has also been done by MF DOOM in the past, who used the sample for the "King Geedorah" album, "Take Me To Your Leader". People might rate MF DOOM's version as a better job but, who cares? RZA's does work too and has got a good sound to it overall.

"Straight up the Block" is produced by David Banner and also features samples you've probably heard before. This time it's from "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", off Jay-Z's "The Black Album". It has a few background vocals, including Monk and Kinetic, with RZA altering his voice to try and make the song work better. All in all though, this is one of the let downs on the album.

"Good Night" features Thea on vocals, Tamika Layton on backing and Crisis doing some of the raps. RZA is all about getting down and dirty in this one. It's not as extreme compared to what we normally hear from him and in all honesty you can either take it or leave it.

In "Booby trap", which features Dexter Wiggles, I think he tries to confuse you a bit with his lyrics. The chorus is a bit out there: "Stop, it's the booby trap, would you rather have a digi or a scooby snack? Digi snack yeah! While we living in a booby trap". While these are a bit odd, the beats still flow with the rest of the album.

In all, the album does work. The beats are generally good and nearly all the tracks are worth a listen, especially for any of his fans or fans of Wu Tang as Stone Mecca appear on several of them. The tracks which stand out would have to be, "You Can't Stop Me Now", "Try Ya Ya Ya" and "Drama". Some of them do get a little repetitive but it is listenable from beginning to end and is definitely worth hearing. It's not his greatest and after listening to it, I think everybody will agree, he can do a lot better. It's not the worst thing to ever be released though. RZA has definitely been experimenting with this album by trying many different and unique sounds. I must say, despite it not being his best work, I think it rates much better than some of the cheesy hip-hop that's out these days.