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Is RZA Firing Blanks?

A Review by

Goc


B...O...B...B....Y.....DIGI....DIGI...TAL is back with another CD, Digital Bullets. I wasn't a big fan of RZA's first solo CD, but I know there were more than a few fans out there, two on our staff even (Huff & Vertigo). Most of the tracks on the last album sounded to me like a crackhead with too much electronic equipment at his disposal. So with that said, I'm obviously not expecting much from this album. This could bode well, as if it's even decent it will easily surpass my expectations, but going into anything with a bad attitude usually leaves you in one. Well, enough of that, let's get to the actual CD and see if RZA is on target or if he's just firing more blanks.

SHOW YOUR LOVE Surpsingly the CD doesn't start off with a funky Wu-Tang intro of any kind. Instead we get just a little Bobby Digital chants and then the song starts right in. If the rest of the CD sounds as good as this track, I'm really going be proven wrong.

Track Rating: $1.50

CAN'T LOSE It's obvious to see where this track got it's title, throughout the entire song the words "Can't Lose" are chanted constantly. It's so loud at times you can't even hear the actual raps. Thankfully it calms down at times, but it's still way too annoying for you to ever want to repeatedly say this song. It sounds like your damn CD player is skipping, I piss.

$0.25

BREAK BREAD On this track RZA is helped out by female rapper, Jamie Summers (sp?). I'm not up on the Wu-Tang female rappers, or wherever this chick came from, but she's pretty solid. Some of the lyrics sound like straight freestyling, but a decent song and a nice hook.

$1.00

GLOCK GOES POP Now this is something I can mark out for. You know why, two words...Method Man. This is straight classic Wu-Tang. I'm severly down.

"It gets down and dirty like your mom's pots and pans."

$2.00

MUST BE BOBBY – This is straight Bobby Digital to the T, and I'm not a huge fan of his style of voice, but if you like it, this will be right up your alley. Decent stuff, but I'm not a fan.

"Those who can't draw the crowd still tracing."

"Bow down to the great Bobby digi, digi."

$0.75

BROOKLYN BABIES– This is an ode to Brooklyn with an R&B type hook. There's some other clan members around, but since I'm not a huge fan I can't figure out who's who. It's none of the big names, but some foolios are around, but they still can't bring this song up.

$0.50

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - This is a straight shit talking song, and could perhaps be the first case of verbal domestic violence. It's pretty comical on the first listen, but I don't think anyone is going to play it very often. It's good ish for anyone who's pissed at women though.

$0.50

ALLAH – This is a beat that is instantly recogonizable as a RZA beat, which is the first of it's kind so far on the CD. Pretty slow and boring track, nothing you're going to rewind to, but not bad by any means.

$0.75

EVERYBODY PLAYS THE FOOL – This track borrows the hook from the classic song of the same name. It's an interesting take on the song, and works pretty damn sweet. A nice song.

$1.50

LA RUMBA - Now this is just plain weird. RZA doing a Ricky Martin sounding beat and having a latin chick sing. It's definitely interesting, that much is for sure. It's different, althougth it sounds somewhat out of place, it's still worth your time. And oh yeah, Method Man comes around for some verses...can't complain about that.

"My name's Bobby, and I usually don't dance too much."

$2.50

BLACK WIDOW PART 2 – This is dedicated by Ol' Dirty to all his "babies mothers." Now any song that starts off with a dedication to that is going to be straight comedy. Personally I think ODB couldn't rap to save his life, but sometimes he's comedy, which he is definitely here.  You'll enjoy it, but I don't know for how long.

$1.00

BULLETS (Shady) – This hook is as catchy as a song can get. There's a very smooth female voice which is a complete extreme opposite to the "I sound like I eat glass" voice of RZA. The other foolios that are around for this track show up RZA, and in the end this is good stuff. I'm definitely diggin' it.

$2.50

THIRSTY – You get hit up with a serious amount of Digital sound effects to kick this one off, and I can't help but love 'em. The background of this song starts off with a phone call that goes bad. It's weird as hell, I can't get into it.

$0.25

BONG BONG – This track has a type of Asian movie sounding background. The hook seems thrown together by a bunch of drunkards in the studio. But this track is okay, I guess.

$0.50

THROW YOUR FLAG UP – This is a song where every one can shout out their respective crew, hometown, website (haha), or whatever. The beat is pretty annoying, and as always RZA just sounds like he's rapping off the top of his head.

"You spit for the geeks, I spit for Long Beach."

"He shouldn't have shot his tongue first, he shoulda shot the gun first."

$0.60

BE A MAN – Good luck understanding most of the raps on this one, this is Bobby just ripping off rhyme after rhyme with no stops to breath. This song has a positive message, and is pretty decent once you can actually decipher it.

$0.75

RIGHTEOUS WAY – Every hip hop CD has a song with a reggae sounding track on it, and this is Bobby Digital's. I'm not really down with the trend, but when it's done right, it's good stuff. But on this one, it's way too much singing and not enough rapping.

$0.50

BUILD STRONG – This is track starts off with Bobby getting "deep" as he does little more than talk over the beat. After a while he actually starts rapping, and attempts to get emotional. The lyrics and the beat work together pretty damn good.

$1.00

SICKNESS – This song doesn't finish up the CD amazingly by any means, but it's solid RZA. But this CD hasn't done anything more to make me a RZA fan, it's just proved that he's got his niche, and probably won't get much more than that...ever.

$0.70

 

I can't believe it, I made it through a full Bobby Digital CD. I didn't exactly hate it, but it's nothing I would pay my hard earned money for. I think RZA fans will enjoy it, but it's not going to get him any new fans. I'd also like to mention that the version of this CD that I reviewed was an early copy, and I believe there's been a reordering of tracks and even some have been left of the commerical release. According to CDnow.com, there are only 15 tracks, while in this version there are 19. But of the tracks I did like, it looks like all of them are on the commercial release, so it shouldn't affect the final rating much. I just figured, if I had the tracks, I might as well tell you about em. Well, enough of that, here's the final score for Digital Bullets, personally I think it's a little higher than it should be, but I'll leave that up to you...

Album worth: $19.05

Album price: $14.99

 


-Now that you've read something, he's written. Wouldn't you like to find out more about The Goc? Here you go.


-Interested in buying this CD? Look no further: RZA - Digital Bullet.


 


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