Throughout his illustrious career, The RZA has always prided himself in discovering and nurturing some of the best young talent in hip-hop. On the heals of successful tour with RZA and another one planned for January, that trend continues to this day with the long-awaited January 20, 2004 release of Bobby Digital Presents Northstar.
Hailing from Long Beach, CA, Northstar consists of rhyme masters Christ Bearer and Meko. After discovering the pair in a 1998 chance meeting outside The Beat (a Los Angeles radio station), RZA spent the next few years helping Northstar develop their sound. In the years that followed, the duo appeared on a series of Wu-related projects including releases by the Wu-Tang Killa Bees (The Swarm Volume 1 and The Sting), the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's cult movie Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai and Popa Wu's album, Visions Of The Tenth Chamber. Finally free to fly on their own, RZA served as Executive Producer on Bobby Digital Presents Northstar providing production duties on selected tracks along the way.
"We knew that we wanted to get RZA beats for sure, but the beats we were looking for needed that banging sound," Meko says. "I know Christ Bearer likes the violins and the little stuff up in there. It adds that drama to it. We want you to see it more than just hear it."
Throughout the band's debut, Christ Bearer and Meko showcase their microphone skills that so endeared them to Mr. Digital. They paint a vivid picture of the danger of drugs on the moving "Duckie" and serve up a reggae-influenced slice of realness on the hard-core "Red Rum." Elsewhere, they salute their Muslim beliefs on upbeat "Luv Allah," (produced by European house legend Armand Van Helden). In addition to the RZA laced tracks, Bobby Digital Presents Northstar also boasts bone-crushing sounds from D.R. Period, Allah Mathematics and others. The Final track listing for Bobby Digital Presents Northstar is as follows:
01 : Luv Allah ft. Kinetic (Produced by Armand Van Helden)
02 : We Got It ft. Freemurder (Produced by Mathematics)
03 : Skit ft. Calvin Cooler
04 : Red Rum ft. Shacronz (Produced by RZA)
05 : Skit ft. Calvin Cooler
06 : Crazy ft. Tonebone, Midnight and Shoshot (Produced by Mix Jive Musick)
07 : Nuttin ft. 9th Prince (Produced by Armand Van Helden)
08 : Skit ft. Calvin Cooler
09 : See Me ft. Freemurder (Produced by RZA)
10 : 64 (Produced by RZA)
11 : So So Serious ft. TMF (Produced by Choco)
12 : Duckie (Produced by Mathematics)
13 : Ballin' ft. Suga Bang Bang & Solomon Childs (Produced by D.R. Period)
14 : Destiny ft. Kinetic (Produced by RZA)
15 : Black Knights of the Northstar ft. Doc Doom & Midnight (Produced by Mix Jive Musick)
