As Bobby Digital, RZA is bent on having a good time, and “Digi Snacks” stands in playful contrast to the gloomier, more serious aesthetic of Wu-Tang’s material. Here, the moody blues of the Wu are replaced by Digital’s verbal romps and lively beats, which are sure to come alive on stage with Stone Mecca’s nimble assistance.
RZA’s cross-country road trip also celebrates the birth of another passion project: WuChess.com, an online social network where chess enthusiasts and newcomers alike can learn and battle. While Wu-Tang Clan is famous for the “36 Chambers,” RZA is now on a mission to introduce his fans to the 64 squares.
Do you have anything particularly outlandish or cool on your tour bus, like they show on MTV?
Nah, I don’t have anything exotic on here. I’ve got a shower, but I know you’ve seen that on other buses.
That does seem like one of the smarter and more practical luxuries to have.
Yeah, I’ve got my shower and my closet full of my clothes so I can just change on the bus or go to my hotel room. I’ve got my keyboard in here so I can make music. [Keyboard manufacturer] Roland actually just sent me a new machine called the Phantom G7, which is being released this week, and so we’re chillin’, playing with this. It’s hot! With this model, you can record your vocals as well as your music right inside the keyboard. I’ve got some good MCs here with me and we can make some good demos with this.
So even if you’ve got leisure time, you’re still really just working towards some project or other, aren’t you?
Yeah, I try to use my time effectively. That’s one thing I’ve learned, and I try to tell other people as well. For instance, I’m a chess player and that means I gotta read some books about chess if I want to become a master one day. They say it takes five years and I’ve got two years in so I’ve got a little way to go. I’m into philosophy, so I keep my books like that, too; I make sure I read 30 minutes a day. At the same time, I love the guitar and so I spend an hour a day playing on my guitar.
What inspired you to start WuChess.com?
I joined the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, which develops tournaments and things like that around different cities. What [HHCF founder] Adisa [Banjoko] brought to my attention was what I already felt like I was living, but I didn’t have nobody else that I could relate it to: the intersection between hip-hop, chess and martial arts. That’s what Wu-Tang was saying for a while. So I met Adisa, we clicked immediately and we started this thing to go around and teach young people about hip-hop, chess and martial arts as a means to better themselves and their situation. That’s what inspired me to form WuChess.
Why do you think chess helps people to better themselves?
Chess builds up mental strength, strategic thinking, analytical thinking and it also builds up what I like to call forward thinking. You have to think ahead. Like we told you on the Wu-Tang’s first album, a game of chess is like a sword fight; you gotta think first before you move. A lot of people, in urban communities especially, don’t think first before they move. But chess is something that trains you in that. You’ll have foresight, and you’ll be thinking in combination. That’s like in martial arts; when you’re fighting somebody, you have to deliver combinations. In hip-hop, when you’re flowing and saying the lyrics, you have to make sure that line after line is combinations of fat words and lyrics to make the listener feel like you’re a good MC.
That’s true.
So that’s the foundation of why I started the site. I hope to attract people to the chess world…it’s really interesting to see which minds and brains were chess players, from great inventors all the way to someone like myself. My buddy Forest Whitaker is also into chess. Many people, yo—I was doing this movie called “Repossession Mambo,” and I played chess with Jude Law. I want people to know it’s not just a world of nerds; it’s not just a world of white people or Russians. And WuChess is a platform where people of like minds can meet and sharpen their swords.
Man, please tell me that you kicked Jude Law’s ass in chess.
I did win that game with him.
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