Hey, it's Jeff Zito and thanks for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please hit that subscribe button. Would love a five star rating and please leave a review. And of course you can go back and check out all of our past guests and episodes on celebrityjobber.com. What would have become of some of these people if they didn't get their big break? What would they be doing? For my guest today, Robert Fitzgerald digs things weren't easy. He was faced with eight years in jail after a shootout in Ohio back in 1992. He said, quote, when they said not guilty, my face stuck in a smile for three days. I was just walking around town thinking about my daughter, my wife. Right then I said goodbye to anything that would have put me in that situation again. I was up on trial on an attempted murder charge. I was a motherfucking fool with all that knowledge in my head and ending up there. End quote. This is the story of a man getting a second chance and taking full advantage of it. He's a rapper. He's a record producer, a composer, an actor and a filmmaker. Who was Robert Fitzgerald digs? What was his first job or jobs? His big break. You're about to find out. Wu Tang Clan's RZA is my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, give a five star rating and leave a review. Check out all our past episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you put it. What if these celebrities weren't famous? What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out. Aha, AKA Bobby Digital. What's up? In the building. What's up man? Really great day. I got my blazer on today. I've been wearing this blazer for a few days. Like not a few days. Like I got like, I'm traveling. Right. So all I got is like five blazers. Right. I've been traveling for like 10, 12 days. So it's like I'm circulating. This one, I realized I had it on. You see this? On the Jason Lee show. Oh, that was, yeah. Anyway, it looks, I only have one. I only have one. So you got five. Dude, first of all, I'm a real big fan. I'm from New Jersey. I do a radio show on the Jersey Shore 959, The Rats. So it's really cool talking to you. Can you, I mean, I just saw the trailer for one spoon of chocolate and so I had no idea to quit in Tarantino was involved with this. I was blown away. You know, you think, do you ever think back to like a young RZA? You ever think back to a young Robert Diggs? You think like, Hey, after the second chance that you got writer, producer, director, rapper, record producer, filmmaker, composer, did you ever dream this would be your life back then? I mean, I may have dreamed it, but the live the dream. Can you make it to that dream? Can you make it to those points? That's the magic of it, right? That's the grace. You know, that's why I give all praises due to Allah every day. I'm thankful. I'm grateful. That's the grace. And I will honestly tell you, Jeff, that some of these accomplishments were very unattainable. I saw them as unattainable. Mostly as a film director, I would cut school and go hang in movie theaters. You know what I mean? And then when I was going to school, I didn't have a nickel for the bus, so I would walk. But when I walked, I would entertain myself with movies in my own head, like make up movies and make up stories. And people thought I was crazy because it's like I'm walking and talking to myself a little bit. You know what I mean? But that was the kid I was. And then of course, I got into negativity and negativity that took me down a rabbit hole that just caused pain, destruction. It even death of some good people that I loved because that's how the streets are. But when the second chance came and I was advised by my mother, advised by my heart and my soul to stay positive, everything changed. And then the dreams started coming to reality. So, you know, I read the Bible, you know, I read the Bible since I was a kid and it says for every positive, for every negative action you do, we give you a negative and we turn. But for every positive, we multiply you. You know what I mean? And I've been through for what I multiply by doing positive. It's pretty just an incredible story. I mean, looking back at your history, I just wanted to get into one spoon of chocolate for a little bit as I just watched the trailer. Quentin Tarantino involved. You were writer, producer, director. Was this all in your head a long time ago? Did it just come to you a few years ago? Where did the film start in your mind? Well, the first attempt at the screenplay started in my 2011. I got about 40 pages done and I got stuck. I couldn't continue. I tried again around 2015 before I did a cutthroat city and I got stuck again, maybe another five or 10 pages. But in 2023, during the writer's strike, I was able to, on the back of a tour bus, New York State of Mind tour with Wu Tang and Nas, driving across our country. This movie came out of me like a calling. Pays by pays by pay. I mean, fast, fast. And it was meant to be. I think for various reasons. One, it's a great piece of art. I hope your listeners go out and see it and feel the art and feel the uncomfortableness, feel the anger, the energy, the excitement, the warmth. It's really a nice amalgamation of emotions. But then also, I hope they're saying the use because we're both in the industry, is that when I did the film, a lot of people was out of work. This film came as a savior for about 100, 150 people who didn't have a job because it was a strike. Yeah. So, and so a part of me says like, man, it was meant for this, for them. It was like, forget what was meant for me. It was meant to help them as well. And when I see the actors and the ADs and grips and gaffers and everybody who has had a chance to see the product now that we had our premiere, everybody just loves it and appreciates what they did and what it is. And, dude, all these jobs, right? I just I just rattled off all these jobs. You know, we're talking your latest job is as a filmmaker, by the way, hits theaters May 1st, one spoon of chocolate. Tell me all of these jobs. You said that, you know, they were unattainable. You thought they were. I mean, I would think that they're unattainable. OK, what was your very first job? The very first thing you did to earn a living? The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. What was your very first job? The very first thing you did to earn a living? The very first thing I did was sell newspapers on the Verrazano Bridge. OK. Is that where Jimmy Hoff is at? I was probably working. I was working for his cousins. All right. OK. OK. OK. I'm going to stand out and, baby. Right. But we sold newspapers on the bridge. That's my first. Let me give you my first three jobs. So you're going to get that. OK. That's my first job selling newspapers on the bridge. Right. I made 30 bucks, 15 bucks a day. Was what I made. Second job selling oranges and apples downtown Brooklyn. OK. Third job. Pitting screws in a box down on Franklin Street, right next to a pepper shop. So you sneeze in all day, counting screws and weighing screws and putting them in a box. A monkey could do it, but a man got the job. Right. And you can't sit down. Right. But you were you were hustling too at the time, too. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I well, that job, I made enough money in that job and I can say this out loud. When I made about five hundred dollars after saving my money, I went and bought some weed and went entrepreneurial. Got out of the got out of the nuts, the screw selling business and start selling things to make people go nuts. Right. And I sold. I sold. I sold because marijuana is legal now, but in those days was illegal. But I sold it right on Wall Street. So a lot of great ideas that came in the in the 80s. I helped with my marijuana. Right. Right. What about mom and dad? What about their jobs? What did they do? Well, my father was a factory worker, but he left at the when I was at the age of three. So my mother kind of became a single mother, raised 11 of us. So, you know that. And really, to be honest, the the welfare system supported my family for years. We were food stamps. Like I said, I'm the kid that walked to school because I didn't have the nickel for the bus. You know, I mean, so if I got a chance to get some extra dollars, my mother ended up with my and I'm my sentence. My mother ended up with my stepfather and had more children with him. You know, still one family, but he was a he was a straight up street hustler. So he was in and out of jail. But when he was home, and I always think I'm for this. When he was home, this is like now I'm like 11 or 12, you know, I'm getting. You know, he would go out, hustle, come on, maybe have a thousand dollars. And he'll give me twenty five dollars. And I'll take all my little brothers to the movies. You know, I mean, and those days were me watching those kung fu movies. Those that's my beginning entry until I was able to sell newspapers or sell things and start buying my own stuff. You know, 11 he helped out. I tell my god, 12, 13, I was like, I'll get my own money, 14 of my own money. So so, you know, you know, this is New York. This is New York life. So I mean, you can name a lot of us. You could go ask Ray Kwan. You probably get a similar story. My story is a little heavy because it's 11 of us, bro. Yeah, I mean, that's it. And we lived in a two bedroom apartment. So my wife always tells me this and you can get a joke out of this. I I don't like no small rooms, bro, even in the hotel. They could squeeze another geotomy because. I'm I need space, bro. I'm used to somebody feeding my nose. Right. You know what I mean? Right. What do you think about where and I don't know if this was a gradual climb for you, you know, but can you tell me of a particular moment that happened to you? You're a young guy, maybe you're with Wu Tang, you're just getting together. But can you tell me that pivotal moment in time? A phone call, a record deal. Hearing your song on a radio or an interview, can you tell me a specific moment in your life that changed everything for you? Like the next you're like, man, I have a feeling things are going to be different from now on. Yeah. That's her and put that in there on the radio on not just on the radio, but on WBLS in New York City. Wow. Yeah, bro. That moment because it took we was, you know, it was my own record company. I'm part of the group. I put all my savings into this, as you know, I decided to go positive instead of negative and it's you're hearing it on the college radio. You're hearing no stretch and barbedo. And then it plays prime time on WBLS and bro, every everybody felt it. Always tell the story. Ray Quam was there at that same moment. Ray Quam's about five, five. I'm telling you, he jumped up and almost hit the ceiling. That's how I saw this guy go up. And all of us, it was such a moment of elation and achievement. And it was like, yeah, yeah. And I mean, and I would say this to you, it was one of the best feelings in my life. And I don't know if anything truly compares to it. But what is at least 50 percent close to that is your the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, bro. Bro Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I'm coming from Obama. Oh, if I get that, that's who you want. Right. I mean, that's that you guys are big. My buddy Orlando Orlando Davis, who does morning radio in Tampa, Florida. He's like, you got to obon this guy's got big nuts to ask. Oh, introduce him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This guy got big nuts. I probably do got big nuts. Well, OK, hey, what's that now? And what you want? That's right. Well, you know, you talking about it. And that's right. Unbelievable. Can you tell me a little bit about the movie? I mean, tell me a little bit about what it's what it's about. It's it's a little fantasy. It's it's crazy, right? It's well, yeah, it's I mean, it's inspired by true events. It's it's it's it's about a military convict who gets out of jail. He's trying to find a new life. He he he only has family in Ohio. His parole officer let some go there, like. And then when he gets there, you know, and you know, when you get on parole, you need to address. You know what I mean? Well, and his his cousin gives him an address by signing his name to the deed of the house. So he's now he always has a place to go. And it looks like life is going to get good for this guy. But it goes down. There's a lot of trouble in this town. There's a lot of insidious things happening. It's corruption. And that corruption ends up on his doorstep. And he has to make a make a decision to the beast, to get out or to take something out. Any of this autobiographical. And a lot of it is inspired. A lot of it is inspired by some of my travels. Some of it is inspired. You know, the character is named unique. I named him after old dirty bastard. You know what I mean? And then, of course, there's there's there's there's there's some a beast story in it that I don't want to give a spoiler. Yeah, but the beast story is pretty dark. And but there's articles and there's evidence that this is happening. You know, the value of life is being very diminished. You know, I mean, because the value of life is being turned into profit. And that that's that's a subplot that happens in this film that will have you grabbing your seat. Well, it's very this is very Quentin Tarantino. Wu Tang, Eli Roth type type energy right here, bro. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. Celebrity Jobber. But if the song's not on WBLS, I mean, ever think about what that. What would you be doing? What would your life be? If that didn't happen to you, what would your life be like? What would you be doing? I'll be trying still. You know what I mean? Once I decided that I had to go the positive route and be an artist. And live that artist. Let me say something to you, bro. I've been writing songs since I was nine years old. OK, and I've been, you know, I bought my first pair of turntables at 11. You know, 12, we got an echo box. 13, we got microphones before that we was rapping through the headphones. You know what I mean? The the aspiration to create is bent in me when we used to make tapes. I would say one last thing to you. Before we had turntables, one of those little old tape recorders you could press play. Absolutely. Yeah, bro. We would get a shoebox and comic books and use them as drums, a bass drum and snare and just wrapping to the tape recorder. Wow. We were this is it was destined. This is me, old dirty bastard, his brother Ramsey. Ramsey is also the name of one of my characters in the film. My brother, Devine, my brother, King. And eventually that leads to, of course, the judge of our cousin. And then eventually by the time I'm 16, Method Man moves to Staten Island and it's just it's this is if it wouldn't work, then we would have kept trying. And it's just like in the film business right now for me, bro. This is my fourth film, my fourth feature film. And I love it. I think that the stories I'm telling will have impact today, but even more impact tomorrow. And I'm going to continue to do my best to share them. In theaters, one spoon of chocolate and Wu Tang's RZA, a.k.a. Bobby Digital and the building. So good. Hey, man, honor. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jeff. Great talking to you, brother. Thanks. Take care. His mother admired the Kennedys. So named her son, Robert Fitzgerald, digs. And his mother raised 11 children in a two bedroom apartment and said that the welfare system food stamps provided for his family growing up. Walk to school because he didn't have the nickel to take the bus. I mean, just think about this for a minute and where this guy is today. Writer, producer, director, rapper, record producer, composer, actor, filmmaker, he went from that to where he is today. Yeah, he said he dreamt, but he didn't realize how his dreams were attainable. He was involved with some petty crime and some drug dealing. Street hustler and was charged with attempted murder when he was living in Steubenville, Ohio for a little bit, was acquitted of that charge, which gave him what he refers to as his second chance. You can easily see how this guy took advantage of that second chance and how easily things could have gone the other way for RZA. You know, his first wave of success was with the rap group Wu Tang Clan at a Staten Island, which was basically immediately following his acquittal. And he mentioned how the moment that changed his life forever was hearing their song, Protect Your Neck on a real radio station, WBLS in New York, not a college station or an underground station like a real station. He mentioned hearing that song, Protect Your Neck on that station, pivotal moment in his life. And like I mentioned earlier, Wu Tang Clan, a cultural phenomenon. Ray Kwan, Method Man, Old Dirty Bastard, DeGizza, Inspector Deck, Ghostface Killa, Mastakilla, You God and of course RZA. From there got into acting, you know, some movies like Funny People, one of my favorites, Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, American Gangster. I mean, honestly, too many credits to mention. It's unbelievable. A film score composer and now writer, producer, director for the new film, One Spoon of Chocolate, which is presented by Quentin Tarantino. You know, RZA's other films, you know, like Man with the Iron Fist, the group Wu Tang Clan, they all have this like Kung Fu kind of undertone, which he mentioned earlier in his life. His mom hooked up with this guy that ultimately became his stepdad and he was a street hustler and he would come home with a thousand bucks and he would give RZA $25. He would take all his brothers and sisters to the movie theater to watch these Kung Fu movies, kind of where it all started for him. So you see how that kind of shaped him and influenced him. Yeah. And then he said he needed his own money. So talked about his first jobs, one of them selling newspapers on the Verrazano Bridge, which connects New Jersey and Staten Island. I jokingly mentioned if that was where Jimmy Hoffa was buried. See old rumor up there. He's in the concrete of that bridge. He laughed and also mentioned how he worked for Hoffa's cousins, meaning maybe he was involved with the mob a little bit. It's the life in the streets of New York. He said he also sold fruit and like did something separating screws, which was next door to a pepper store. Sneezing all day. He said he was also a street hustler selling some marijuana, you know, and then got caught up with the wrong people and got that second chance. And man, did he take advantage of that? I could have talked to this guy for hours. Fascinating story of success. Rapper, record producer, composer, actor, film maker. Robert Fitzgerald digs, aka the RZA, aka Bobby Digital. Writer, producer, director of the film, one spoon of chocolate in theaters now. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast. Streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you listen to podcasts, please subscribe. We love a five star rating. Leave a review. Pass guests and episodes online, celebrityjobber.com. Follow on Instagram, celebrity underscore jobber underscore podcast. Also, YouTube.com slash the at sign celebrity jobber. And for bonus content, check out our sub stack, which is sub stack.com slash celebrity jobber. Things could have really gone the other way for Robert Fitzgerald digs. But it seemed like his mother had big plans for him. She named him after the Kennedys. And I'll tell you what, she was right. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast. Big guests coming up like comedians Jim Brewer and Cedric the entertainer. Until next time, I'll see you then. I'm Jeff Zito.
