RZA

RZA (pronounced the rizza, born Robert Diggs, July 5, 1969 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, USA) is an African American producer, rapper and the leader of the hip hop crew Wu-Tang Clan. He was also a member of the group Gravediggaz. As well as producing almost all of the Wu-Tang's albums, he has also produced many of their solo and affiliate projects, as well as releasing a succession of solo albums (two under the alter-ego Bobby Digital) and composing the scores for several movies.

Wu Tang Forever

The success of Wu-Tang Forever, which hit number one on the charts after selling 600,000 in its first week, also marked the end of RZA's "five year plan"; at the group's inception, he promised the group if he had total dictatorial control of the Wu-Tang empire, it would conquer the hip hop world within five years. After Forever's success, RZA ceased to oversee all aspects of Wu-Tang product as he had previously, delegating much of his existing role to associates such as Oli "Power" Grant and his brother Mitchell "Divine" Diggs, and giving each Clan member more individual control. This move was designed to enable the Wu-Tang empire to expand further and further into the fabric of the hip hop industry, and in accordance with this an extremely large amount of Wu-Tang music was to be released over the next two years. This had already to some extent begun on Wu-Tang Forever, which for the first time featured RZA delegating much of the beatmaking duties to other producers in the Wu-Tang camp, such as his proteges True Master and 4th Disciple (known as the Wu-Elements) and Inspectah Deck. During the 1997-2000 period RZA ceased to produce every Wu-Tang solo album as he had done previously, but continued to contribute usually one or two beats on average to each record as well as receiving an Executive Producer credit. He also released his first solo effort titled RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo in 1999 (see 1999 in music). This was an experimental concept album featuring him rapping as his hedonistic, fun-loving alter-ego Bobby Digital and showcasing a unique keyboard-driven sound RZA called "digital orchestra", but it received mixed reviews. He also reformed with the Gravediggaz for the album The Pick, The Sickle & The Shovel, a calmer and more mature album than their horrorcore-oriented debut.

Related Topics:
Wu-Tang Forever - True Master - 4th Disciple - Inspectah Deck - RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo - 1999 - 1999 in music - Gravediggaz - The Pick, The Sickle & The Shovel - Horrorcore

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After helming another Wu-Tang group album titled The W (his production on which received much praise) and providing narration to a Clan greatest hits album titled RZA Hits, RZA released another Bobby Digital album, 2001's Digital Bullet. Digital Bullet was an attempt to develop Bobby Digital further, and the album followed a loose story arc which saw the character becoming more "enlightened" and more disillusioned with hedonism as the album went on.

Related Topics:
The W - 2001 - Digital Bullet

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