In preparation for his long-delayed and soon-to-be released album, Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater, RZA just dropped “Fate of the World,” the second single from his DJ Scratch-produced record.
Produced by RZA (born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) and Danny Hastings, the “Fate of the World” video is a thematic continuation of the story told in the music video for the album’s title track, released early-February, in which the rapper reprises the role of The Abbot, leading a group of kung fu students in learning the Tao of Wu while also serving as a mysterious spiritual guide for the same young boy featured in “Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater.”
In the stirring track, the socially conscious musician invokes Allah, God and other spiritual forces as he describes what he sees as the current state of human society. “Despotism, capitalism, socialism/Forgot the wisdom, now we sitting in a rotten system,” he says. Anchored by the forceful “The fate of the world is in your hand” hook, RZA leads a chant-like call to action throughout the song: “Left, right, come together/Put your hands up/The Wu-Tang is forever”
In a statement about the album RZA said: “Lyrically the hip-hop part of me had a chance to re-emerge during quarantine,” “Giving Scratch the reins as a producer and me taking the reins as an MC, that’s what frees me up creatively and lets me play more with lyrical gags and lyrical flows because I don’t have to be focused on everything.”
Now available for pre-order, Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater is a concept album with RZA is pitted against his aggressive alter-ego, Bobby Digital, the persona the rapper (born ?) first adopted with the release of Bobby Digital In Stereo in 1998.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Jørund Føreland Pedersen