With a symphonic ballet, US rapper RZA is now experimenting with classical music.
Inspired by the finding of an old Tommy Hilfiger book bag filled with notebooks he had filled over five years starting at the age of fourteen, he started working on the record during the pandemic. The lyrics are about life and love as a teenage Robert Diggs, who grew up in the Brownsville housing projects in Brooklyn, New York, and later Staten Island.
He sensed there was a tale to be told. Obviously, the language should be changed to reflect the rap style, which is his most well-known musical genre. But it changed and became something else.
“As I read these lines, I can’t help but think back on all the youthful romance and discovery. the initial instance of drinking or smoking. All of this is expressed in my lyrics, which read like a poetic diary. Initially, I believed that I ought to rap it. since I’m a well-known rapper. But I later decided that I should just compose music for it.
