RZA as Bobby Digital – Bobby Digital In Stereo

Bobby Digital In Stereo

For RSD 2023 Bobby Digital’s origin story is revisited on an exclusive colored vinyl offering. In November of 1998, Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA unleashed his first solo record, and his memorable alter-ego, Bobby Digital. Bobby Digital In Stereo is essentially a soundtrack. A soundtrack to a Blaxploitation/martial arts film that never was – at least outside of the imagination of the artist and the listener – as RZA channels the martial arts superhero (or perhaps anti-hero) inspirations of his youth into his Bobby Digital persona. The recording follows a loose storyline of RZA’s endeavors as Bobby Digital – out to enlighten the people of the projects to the poisons of the hood that surrounded them every day. Production-wise, the release features a different approach from RZA’s work with Wu-Tang – a layered experimental keyboard driven sound instead of dusted sample-heavy beats – a technique RZA called the ‘Digital Orchestra.’ Bobby Digital In Stereo rode to number 16 on the Billboard top 200 – peaked at number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop albums chart – and went on to RIAA Gold status. Bobby Digital In Stereo is now regarded by many as the best of RZA’s Bobby Digital projects.