August 2, 2001

RZA As Bobby Digital Feat. Method Man / RZA : The Rumba / It Must Be Bobby

Two new cuts from Wu-Tang's RZA, as himself and in his Bobby Digital persona...

Two sides of the same coin from the Wu-Tang Clan mainman and erstwhile producer. 'The Rumba' finds his alter-ego - as typical B-Boy Bobby Digital - in a Latin frame of mind.

Along with an electronic approximation of the famous South American shuffle beat, a Spanish chorus, and wayward piano flourishes, there are the usual tag-team rhyme antics with Method Man and two other unnamed, hungry MCs. All in all, the first single lifted from RZA's upcoming album comes across as a light-hearted ode to seduction in ghetto clubs, striking a balance between Latino and African-American areas of the projects.

For its part, 'It Must Be Bobby', creamed off the 'Fat Beats' compilation, navigates more familiar waters. Some mad piano sample pounds away over a beat that seems designed solely for the purpose of RZA's ranting. And rant he does, with a non-stop flow, starting from a local corner store or bodega, proceeding through boasts about Wu-Tang's commercial clout, and ending up with an affirmation that he still loves to let off on the microphone. It's basement hiphop as usual, true to the artform's original principles, if not as alien or startling as it seemed seven years ago.

Dele Fadele