RZA as Bobby Digital

Digi Snacks

Koch Records

Rating: 3/4

Parliament-Funkadelic once sagely recognized that “America Eats Its Young,” but I doubt even those forefathers of rap could’ve predicted how hip-hop would eat its old. While the rock world reveres its veterans (see: Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton), hip-hop’s here-today-gone-tomorrow aesthetic tends to reserve icon status for those who live fast and die young (see: Tupac, Biggie).  As the visionary mastermind behind Wu-Tang Clan, RZA was a primary architect of the ’90s hip-hop sound, producing over a half-dozen hit records in as many years. But despite concocting masterful soundtracks for films such as Ghost Dog and Kill Bill, RZA has seen his star fade a bit in recent years as knob-twiddlers such as Timbaland stole his thunder, with even Raekwon criticizing him as a “hip-hop hippie.”  If Digi Snacks is too esoteric for hip-hop’s mainstream, it also proves RZA remains one of the genre’s most artful innovators. Like the Wu’s 8 Diagrams, the third Bobby Digital LP showcases his impressive maturity and musical growth, from the bluesy groove that drives the throwback reminiscence of “You Can’t Stop Me Now” and the thrilling boom-bap dissonance of “Drama” to the sultry funk of “Try Ta Yi Ya.” It’s not a perfect album—the copious singing occasionally undermines the impact of RZA’s dense rhymes—but it’s more than good enough to prove the man one of the most original artists in hip-hop.