Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater (Deluxe Video Album)

Back in the late ’90s, when the Wu-Tang Clan and its various members were making New York hip-hop classics, the group’s spiritual leader made a seemingly sudden pivot. RZA, then known for fusing cinematic signatures and Five Percent wisdom with grimy boom bap, shocked many when his first proper solo album leaned into a decidedly electronic mode with lascivious lyricism. A new persona inspired by the exploitation films of his youth, Bobby Digital became a profane fixture of his subsequent projects, up to and through 2008’s Digi Snacks. Nearly a decade and a half later, RZA returns to this once-controversial role for Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater. In a twist that feels straight out of the movies, Bobby Digital finds himself pitted against RZA in a battle that’s deeper than rap. DJ Scratch, a hip-hop legend in his own right both behind the ones-and-twos and in the studio, tackles all the production here, leaving RZA to focus primarily on emceeing in the voices of the two personas. After an explanatory “Intro”, this existential dichotomy presents itself across standoffs “Fate of the World” and “Pugilism”, showcasing just how refined RZA’s become as a rapper. And with Scratch’s beat selection closer to the 36 Chambers sonics than those of Bobby Digital in Stereo or Digital Bullet, it’s one of the most gratifying projects to come from the Shaolin Cinematic Universe in years.