RZA will pull his 1998 alter ego Bobby Digital to the present, resurrecting the character with the help of a series of new releases. Coming on July 22, 2022, RZA will share a graphic novel and soundtrack, both called RZA Presents: Bobby Digital and The Pit of Snakes. The first single off of the soundtrack, “We Push,”  was put out June 10, 2022. Both are already available for preorder, the graphic novel here and the soundtrack here. 

The graphic novel will be released via Z2 Comics. RZA says, “The character Bobby Digital getting his first official first graphic novel is a long-overdue achievement. Growing up as an avid comic reader, it’s an honor to add my creativity to this amazing platform of storytelling. Z2 Comics understands that music artists resonate in the comic book/graphic novel world and this relationship is destined to grow.”

Listen to the song and view the accompanying visualizer here:

The visualizer allows for a sneak peek at what the graphic novel will entail, bringing to life a variety of still frames drawn in a comic book style. The video shows a yellow mask-clad Bobby Digital in a predominantly black-and-white world facing his foes. His powers and actions are accompanied by traditional comic book onomatopoeias: “kra-ka doom” and “k-sh!” make appearances in the visualizer. 

The song describes a perseverance shown by those who start out with nothing and rise to the top. In the chorus, RZA says: “Take it from me/The Shaolin M.C./We get all the money/But we get no sleep/We push.” 

He also describes the juxtaposed ugliness and glamor found in success: “I kept AK’s in my trunk/Diamond chips in my front/Crack capsules in my jaw/My face looked like the mumps/Icy links on the neck.” Also in the bridge, he says: “You respect how we flaunt/Brother Rae kept a closet full of Air Force 1’s/How does it feel to have everything you want?/Except the thing you really want/We grew up to be kings/They thought we would only be pawns.” 

He wraps up the song by insisting that everything is not as it seems, that fame and success are far more flawed than they are made out to be: “All that you see is not what you see/There’s more to the story/This shit ain’t easy.” 

RZA Presents: Bobby Digital and The Pit of Snakes swiftly follows RZA’s Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater, an album produced by DJ Scratch released March 4, 2022.

Photo Credit: Owen Ela