Bobby Digital in Stereo is the debut solo album by the American hip hop artist RZA, a member of Wu-Tang Clan. It was released on November 24, 1998, and was certified Gold on February 5, 1999, by the RIAA. It is a well-received experimental album which is based on a story featuring him rapping as an hedonistic, fun-loving alter-ego Bobby Digital and showcasing a unique keyboard-driven sound (rather than samples) RZA called digital orchestra, receiving mostly positive reviews.

Origin of Bobby Digital
It came from a really good bag of weed one day, right? I was in my studio. My birth name is Bobby Diggs. So at the time, creatively, I felt like I was in a digital frame. I felt like I was in high-speed, where everything was digital, in numbers, mathematics. I said to myself at the same time that as Bobby Digital, I could use a character to describe some of the earlier days of my own life. Partying, bullshitting, going crazy, chasing women, taking drugs. At the same time, I would mix in my love for comic books. It was a mixture of fiction and reality together to make a character I thought would be entertaining, and I could utilize that character to get fans into me as an MC, as a lyricist, and also following the path of my life. It's like pre-RZA. It's what The RZA struggles not to be, in a way, you know what I mean?[1]

Music
Lyrical content

On the pseudonym and character of Bobby Digital, which dominated the album's lyrics, RZA later stated:

I had to live in a way that I don't really live ... I got to dip my weed in honey, and I had mad bitches around me. I probably fucked with 50 bitches this year ... women are queens. But if they don't know that themselves, Bobby will prey on them. He'll treat them like bitches if they don't realize that they're queens. I had to get Bobby out of me, or else I'd be emotionally unbalanced. Bobby Digital is just me feeling my nuts. RZA is my heart.[2]


Consequently, the albums lyrics are considerably more aggressive compared to the spiritual, self-reflective, socially aware lyrics RZA has been known to employ on Wu Tang group albums.

Production

The sound of the album is largely keyboard-driven, but there are still samples. On the sound of Bobby Digital, RZA stated:

I learned how to play chords and progress the chords -- I got together at least 16 or 17 different keyboards for this album. I always liked orchestras and strings, so I composed a digital orchestra.[3]


References

1. ^ http://www.wutang-corp.com/news/article.php?id=356

2. ^ http://wuforever.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=63&page=1

3. ^ http://wuforever.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=63&page=1

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