DIGI SNACKS (INTRO)A kid reads a sort of
Liquid Swords-esque comic book intro,
then RZA spits some hot fire over some shit that doesn't really sound
like rap music. It's got all these (fake-sounding) strings and horns
and what have you.
LONG TIME COMINGLyrically, this picks up right where
Digital Bullet left
off. I'm reminded of how much I enjoy this shit. But what's up with
this track's sub-Neptunes bounce? RZA never made tracks like this
before. Why now?
YOU CAN'T STOP ME NOWIf you were one of the eight people who kept the King Gheedorah
album on repeat back in '03 or whatever, you're gonna have a hard time
listening to this and not thinking MF Doom flipped this way better.
Otherwise, it's not that bad for what it is.
STRAIGHT UP THE BLOCKA David Banner record on a RZA album? I suppose it could have been worse. It's not nearly as obnoxious as his work on
Tha Carter III. (Is anything?) Other issues here: whatever the effect is on RZA's voice, and the Jay-Z sample on the chorus.
BOOBY TRAPAnother one of these ones that sounds like he's rapping over some
garbage incidental music he put together for the Adult Swim network.
And then there's the chorus. This might have actually been salvageable,
if it wasn't for the chorus.
TRY YA YA YAThis, on the other hand, I enjoy, despite its bizarre chorus. It's
got that "La Rhumba" feel to it. They should shoot an Uncut video for
this. If they don't maybe I'll make my own. Any ladies wanna volunteer?
GOOD NIGHTThis one goes that last one one further by actually being about sex.
It's extra-shitty though. The girl on the chorus sounds like Erykah
Badu. Don't let me find out the RZA caught Baduism.
NO REGRETSRZA might have just pioneered a new genre on this one: Skinemax rap.
If only he would have gotten someone to play a sax solo right there at
the end. Koch Graveyard probably didn't have it in their budget.
MONEY DON'T OWN MEOne of these ones where he bribes a really old black person
(probably with some PCP) to lend guest vocals. Think "Chrome Wheels,"
or whatever that garbage was from side two of
8 Diagrams.
CREEPSadly, this is not a cover of the Radiohead classic that they're too
good to play in concert anymore, regardless of how much you pay. Nah,
this is just some garbage, with Fake Erykah Badu and some of RZA's
Cali-based weed carriers (you can tell because of the accents).
DRAMAThe "Bong Bong" drums an eight year-old banging on a piano Fake Chrisette Michele = kids, stay off the crack!
UP AGAINAnother one that kinda works despite itself. The eight year-old
piano player from the last track is back, and RZA gets introspective in
his verse a la "You Can't Stop Me Now."
PUT YOUR GUNS DOWNLike if Rick Ross decided to make an anti-Iraq War anthem. But Def
Jam didn't want to pony up too much for the production, because he's
got a lot of fans in red states.
LOVE IS DIGI (PART II)Not a particularly worthy follow-up to the original. Not that the
original was such a landmark, but I'm developing a newfound
appreciation.
O DAYRZA kicks some of his zig-zag wisdom over a track that's fairly
conventional-sounding, if not actually that good. I suppose at least
there's no salad metaphors. However, he does call Ol' Dirty the
greatest rapper of all times right at the end of this.
BONUS TRACKFeminist broads, of which I'm sure none has even heard of this
album, would get a kick out the rape metaphor RZA employs on this one.
COMMENTS: As it turns out, I probably shouldn't have bothered. It's
not so much that the RZA has completely lost it, it's that he's not
even playing the same kind of music he used to play. And this new
shit's just not that good. This is like another
8 Diagrams, except with RZA and his weed carriers in the place of the rest of the Wu.