In a lot of the interviews for the first Bobby Digital record, you
talked about how you were really blacked out on that character for a
long time, that you were really lost in it. Do you feel like that’s
been the case with the subsequent Bobby Digital records, or do you feel
like you have a different relationship to that persona now?
I think I have more concise control of the character now. I always
used the character as an outlet of other energies, you know what I
mean? With the first Bobby Digital album I always talked about Robert
De Niro—how he could be an actor in one movie and be the
Godfather, the next movie he’s a fucking psychopathic killer, na’ mean?
Cape Fear. I can use the character at will, and I think that’s
a good thing for me, but I think it’s gotten better over time. I think
in the beginning he was yellin’ and flippin’ and now he has more
control over it.
I’ll give you a little story about the [new] record
[Digi
Snacks]. It starts off with a little kid reading a scroll about a
virtuous scientist in the 21st century experimenting with a potion
called “Digital Elixir.” And this transforms him into a powerful being,
like a Jekyll and Hyde sort of thing. He struggles with the good and
evil inside of himself, while saving the lives of others. Another
classic tale of the dangers and benefits of drugs, [laughs]
you know what I’m saying? And that’s what it’s all about. It’s like,
drugs are dangerous, and they’re beneficiary. The same thing you use to
kill a headache is the same shit niggas go to party with, which is
fucking ‘caine, na’ mean? Codeine, cocaine, and all that shit, so
there’s a danger to it, and there’s a benefit to it.
Do you feel like Bobby Digital is a format in which you’re looking
at the more serious value of things like Marvel Comics—things
that people might be real deep on as kids and then come to greater
understandings of later in life?
Definitely, definitely. Marvel, that’s a great example because some
of the shit in Marvel Comics came to life and shit. And the stuff that
didn’t come to life still resonated so much in the thread of our
society that you got movies making $250 million, $300 million in a
couple of months, based on childhood fantasies and childhood ideas, you
know what I mean?
I was reading something yesterday—my son was actually reading
it to me, looking at the news, and he comes across a story about Obama.
First, he’s looking at the entertainment news: He came across a story
about Iron Man and Indiana Jones, and how they made
$200 million or something like that in a couple of weeks. And then he
went on to a story that said in the last 17 months, John McCain’s
campaign only raised $117 million; meanwhile, Obama’s campaign had
raised about $267 million in the last 16 months, which is less time,
more money. That’s big, right? Yeah, but look at this—fucking
Indiana Jones made that in three weeks! Iron Man did
it in a month! So it’s like, yo, who’s the real stars and powers and
minds and movers of our fucking world, na’ mean?
Do you think your whole career as solo recording dude since Wu-Tang
blew up is always going to have something to do with Bobby Digital,
that that character will always be an element?
Yeah, I think so, because like I said the character is a strange
mixture of reality and fiction. The fiction is just from my comic-book
background, my martial-arts background, science fiction, you know, so I
used those elements for entertainment in my music and my lyrics. But
the nonfiction of it is that, yo, I struggle like this in life. I
struggle with certain decisions, certain mentalities. And I know that
there’s a lot of shit that, you know, I did wrong, and there’s a lot of
shit that I missed from not doing wrong.
Like, for me, being the RZA and being the Wu-Tang Abbot and being a
father-figure type of individual, and not only for the Clan but for the
fans—how I look doing some stupid shit? Like, I remember one day
I was in Vegas with Raekwon, we was all in Vegas and this was like
right after ’97, so it’s one of the first years I went outside, ’cause
I didn’t come outside for years, na’ mean? So I was acting crazy,
partying my ass off, grabbing bitches’ asses, jumping onstage, took the
mic from some other performer nigga, running through the crowd,
grabbing liquor—I just was having a great old time, right?
[Laughs] I mean, that night we wind up having girls in the
hotel room, I remember having a blanket wrapped around me buck naked,
you know what I mean, not giving a fuck, yo. And I’ll never forget this
time in Vegas because I was totally freaked out wild and Raekwon was
like, “Yo, god, you can’t be acting like that. You the Abbot! You can’t
be acting like that. You can’t do that.” Like I can’t do that, and he’s
right, I can’t do that. But I can do it, but I can’t do it, because the Abbot can’t do it.
But Bobby can do it, and so Bobby Digital was born. This was all the
process of him being born, so about ’98, ’99, he came. Because, yo, I
can’t say this or act like this as RZA, so I got to put a character on
it now. 
RZA as Bobby Digital plays Tues June 24, Showbox Sodo, 8 pm, $20
adv/$25 DOS, all ages. With Stone Mecca and the Saturday Knights.