Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA had to vent.
RZA had been the leader and longtime producer on Wu-Tang hit albums, like the rap group's classic debut, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)."
On the eve of the release of the Staten Island, N.Y., group's last album, 2007's "8 Diagrams," Wu-Tang rapper Raekwon went public in a minor mutiny and expressed his dissatisfaction with the album's production, which was being overseen by RZA.
"That wounded me," RZA said over the phone in California. "And that made me just . . . do more push-ups."
After the release of "8 Diagrams," the rest of the members of the Wu-Tang Clan toured the country without RZA and refused to perform any songs from the new album.
This is why RZA said he's done doing business — but may still collaborate musically — with the Wu-Tang Clan: You can't have millions of dollars invested in an album and then not promote it.
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"Once you're in the ring, you've got to fight," RZA said in his distinctive sleepy drawl.
He's not sure if "8 Diagrams" will be the last Wu-Tang album, but after the debacle, he took an offer from KOCH Records to make another record as his alter ego, Bobby Digital.
"I kind of got the hip-hop vengeance in me," he said.
The result is "Digi Snacks," which blends subplots of oppression and self-belief with a reinvigorated RZA, rapping on one of the more solid Wu-Tang-related releases since Ghostface Killah's "Fishscale."
Evidence is in songs such as "Long Time Coming," a dark walk through the cloudy city of RZA's thoughts, and the gritty Far Eastern hum of the first single, "Can't Stop Me Now."
In his career, RZA has been known to adopt several personas depending on what a song called for, using aliases like Bobby Steeles for violent rhetoric. But he's mostly known as the more introspective, intelligent and zen Wu-Tang member.
On the two previous releases, 1998's "In Stereo" and 2001's "Digital Bullet," RZA uses his Bobby Digital character to exercise the more antisocial aspects of his personality, from misogyny to self-destruction.
"I strive to be positive in a lot of parts of my life, but I had a lot of negative things I had to go through first," he said. "I don't talk about them too much. I don't glorify them at all, but as the character Bobby Digital, I can flashback to it."
"Digi Snacks" doesn't completely abandon that, but it also finds Bobby Digital meditating and reflecting a little more.
He says he doesn't want to give away anything from his Tuesday show at the Rialto Theatre, but he promises excitement.
"Most writers have said I bring a unique energy when I'm onstage, with the group and without the group," he said. "I think you're going to see that energy. And I think ya'll in Arizona are going to appreciate it because we coming with a good spirit."
• What: RZA as Bobby Digital in concert with Stone Mecca.
• When: 8 p.m. Tuesday.
• Where: Rialto Theatre, 318 E.Congress St.
• Cost: $23 in advance, $24 day of show.
• More info: myspace.com/rza and rialtotheatre.com.
