RZA Gets into Digital Mind Frame for the Fonda

He's starting to look more like a neo-soul singer instead of the ruckus-bringer from the early '90s. I guess that's what becoming a Hollywood composer and actor will do to you. The change has actually brought him a fair amount of flack from his brethren for his softened, more focused beat production on the Wu's recent “8 Diagrams" album.

But fear not, RZA loyalists: Superhero hedonist alter ego Bobby Digital is back. Some of RZA's previous incarnations have also included his first rap persona, Prince Rakeem, and the “horrorcore" emcee RZArector, but his often goofy Digital character has so far outlasted the others -- this is his third album under the guise. To be sure, the video for his soon-to-be released solo album (you can stream some of it off his MySpace page) shows him perched on the edge of a building, like some sort of marble-mouthed Batman, ready to save the children. Listen for the ghostly, gutteral warble of ODB on the track.

To his credit, RZA's musical palette has expanded and developed. Maybe it's been his focused study of jazz theory and musical chord progression, as he's said in countless interviews.