Wu-Tang Clan founder and rap royalty RZA has been behind some of hip-hop’s most notorious beats and now, the legend is back once again — linking up with Grammy-nominated producer DJ Scratch for their newest album Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater.
Like the majority of RZA’s work, the album is a tribute to some of the classic Kung Fu films he grew up watching. The album’s intro tells the story of his alter ego “Bobby Digital” and how he will eventually fight RZA, all over the cinematic and soul-sampled production that RZA has built his legacy on his entire career. Each song features sampled dialogue and effects from Kung Fu movies — creating the atmosphere of simply watching them with RZA as the protagonist.
Besides rapping, RZA has been developing his acting resume lately. Just last year, the producer could be found in the action movie Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk, and this year, he’s lending his voice to the Minions franchise for their latest installment. He’s also executive producing his autobiographical series Wu-Tang: An American Saga which is entering its third and final season on Hulu.
Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater is RZA’s first full-length album since his 2016 collaboration Anything But Words with Paul Banks of alternative rock band Interpol fame. For DJ Scratch, this is some of his first beats produced since he was behind the boards for “Boomp” off of Busta Rhymes Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God.
For those hungry in need of more old-school hip-hop over some classic-sounding production, RZA and DJ Scratch deliver it all here.
Listen to ‘Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater’ by RZA and DJ Scratch below!
