The Wu-Tang brand name is to hip-hop as Good Year is to tires. When the Clan is involved, you can be certain you're dealing with a quality product. RZA's long-awaited solo album is no exception. Sure, his Wu-Tang brethren pop up all over the place, and a little help from friends like Ghostface Killah, Method Man and ODB is something any hip-hop artist would be a fool to refuse. But BOBBY DIGITAL ultimately belongs to RZA alone. Dark and atmospheric, it presents a very personal world, constructed by RZA to pull the listener into a unique audio experience. Beat-heavy but not really danceable, well-produced but hardly slick, BOBBY DIGITAL is an expertly textured, occasionally unsettling journey, with the Wu-Tang sound nothing more than a jumping off point. Fans of the clan won't be disappointed, but they'll most likely be surprised.|
Rovi
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
Rovi