VisualNoiz salutes the late whacky hip hop musician ODB, founding member of the Wu Tang Clan.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard AKA Dirt McGirt AKA Russell Jones complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio today.
He was just days away from his 36th birthday on Monday.
Partial Discography
Wu-Tang
Enter The Wu-Tang – 36 Chambers (1993)
Disciples of the 36 Chambers (2004)
Ol’ Dirty Bastard
Return to 36 Chambers (1995)
Nigga Please (1999)
His shining moment was of course the 1998 Grammy awards, where he stormed the stage and stole the microphone from Shawn Colvin. He has spent a lot of money on new clothes to show off when accepting his award and was upset about losing the best rap album award to Puff Daddy. He apologized later.
Recording with Wu Tang whenever he wasn’t incarcerated, ODB gave his all on every track. His unmistakable character will be missed by Wu Tang friends everywhere.
We tip our hat to you, ODB. For keeping your style real and being who you wanted to be… even when that meant legally changing your name every few years to reflect who you are at THAT moment.
The press release of the 1999 compilation disc Wu Tang Forever states:
Like a giant sponge, each track absorbs your brain cells into the group’s complex, multi-layered world of edgy Wu-Tang ghetto-speak. Once inside, shocking scenarios, inspired revelations, tragic truths and even wall-to-wall Wu-Tang insanity take over. It’s all delivered in Wu’s infamous, totally unpredictable, wild verbal combat style. “We’re comin’ off with the crazy nigga shit that can’t nobody touch,” says Ol’ Dirty Bastard, whose confusing, effectively surreal 1996 “Fantasy” duet with mega-pop star Mariah Carey, is an example of how far Wu-Tang’s tentacles reach into music’s mainstream. Yet, they still maintain respect and support from real hard-core hip-hop heads, and do so without selling-out. If anything, the mainstream bought in.
