Closer to the inviting, bright lights of Hollywood than the gritty, stinging alleys of Staten Isle, Robert "Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah" Diggs releases his eighth soundtrack. This work is released as the musical background of the anime television miniseries of the same name scheduled on Spike TV, a Paramount channel, based on the manga of the same name made by Takashi Okazaki. The soundtrack is a good showcase for some of the minor Killa Beez affiliates and friends of RZA: guests are Suga Bang, Free Murder of CCF Division, Lil Free (I can only go guessing and assume he's Free Murder's younger brother), Stone Mecca, Reverend William Burk of Achozen, Beretta 9 of Killarmy, 60 Seconds of Sunz of Man, Dexter Wiggle, Black Knights, Division aka CCF Division, True Master and Thea Van Seijen. In addition to them, external guests Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Big Daddy Kane, Maurice and Jay Love participate. Last, but not least, the only present interpreter of the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA.
To compose the soundtrack, 25 tracks (4 bonus tracks under the pseudonym of Bobby Digital) and 62 total minutes, The RZA combines short instrumental pieces, frayed skits from the cartoon and some kung-fu movies, some rapping tracks, some spoken word tracks and some rnb ballads. The result is a fairly irregular and inconstant disc, where the instrumentals sound like refreshing choices that precede and follow those made in rap, they're often better. Q-Tip is good in his song, Talib is average, Daddy Kane makes the best song of the tape together with GZA in "Cameo Afro", closed by the hook sung by Suga Bang. The other guys aren't committing: "Take Sword Pt.II" could be one of the most interesting tracks, with 60 Seconds Assassin and True Master, the Wu-Element producer who works here as a rapper, but they both deliver in spoken word, with a very slow and ordinary rapping style, on a good ballad beat.
Stone Mecca makes two ballads that are decent, but you don't want to listen to them again. RZA produces almost the entire album except the songs by Stone Mecca, self-produced, "Baby" by Maurice, another ballad whose clean rhythm is created by M1 of dead prez, and "Insomnia", beat provided by Jay Love. Despite the almost total absence of songs that have a minimum replay value, the lack of personality of almost all the performers and the constant monotony and generically apathetic atmosphere that one breathes throughout the whole listening, the soundtrack sounds pretty good all the time: RZA seems to have finally found the way to squaring the circle after about seven to eight years from his first and last decent solo record, the American version of the "Ghost Dog" soundtrack.
The music is good: it seems obvious, but I think it's not a phrase that I have often used in describing one of the solo projects of one of the best producers of the nineties. Probably, looking at the quantity and quality and variety of Steelz' baked classics, one could even say that he was the best in that period. Then, to ruin the whole record, the bonus tracks arrive under the moniker Bobby Digital where the boy starts messing everything up and messing up unnecessarily, even recycling his own lyrics ("Glorious Day" has half of his guest verse in GZA's "Fam Members Only") on seedy rhythms and with a cumbersome delivery style. There was no need, no one missed it, except The Abbot himself who decides to revive the character and blow up his second-best solo project of the decade.
Distributed by Koch Records, the tape receives light critical acclaim and fails to dig its way to the charts. The sound is clean, the rap, well, maybe it's better if you get on this record without too many pretensions. Not recommended, 5.5/10.
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