Throwback Thursday: Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Brooklyn Zoo
Russell Tyrone Jones aka Ol’ Dirt Bastard aka ODB aka Dirt McGirt aka Osirus aka Dirt Schultz aka Big Baby Jesus aka Rusty (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004) was one of the Wu-Tang Clan. Ol’ Dirty Bastard simultaneously brought a measure of humor and a touch of the absurd to the Wu-Tang Clan. Often noted for his unusual microphone technique where he half rapped half sung half hummed his rhymes in each song. Jones’ stage name came from a 1980 kung fu film entitled Ol’ Dirty. The Bastard comes from Method Man claiming that there was “no father” to Jones’ style.
Jones was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1968, as were his cousins. He and his cousins Robert Diggs and Gary Grice (later known Ol’ Dirty Bastard, RZA, and GZA) shared a unique taste for rap music and kung-fu style movies. The cousins formed a rap crew over time, adding six more friends and associates to form The Clan. They released their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s solo career began in 1995, making him the second member of the Wu-Tang Clan to release a solo album, following Method Man’s 1994 effort, Tical. Released on March 28, 1995, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version spawned the hit singles “Brooklyn Zoo” and “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”, which helped propel the album to platinum status. The album’s sound was as raw and gritty as 36 Chambers, with RZA and 4th disciple producing beats.
In 1999, he found time to release Nigga Please between jail sentences, which received much success and was even more bizarrely warped than his debut. This release included the single “Got Your Money” produced by The Neptunes.
Jones collapsed at approximately 4:35 p.m. on November 13, 2004 (two days before his 36th birthday) at The RZA’s recording studio (36 Records LLC on West 34th Street in New York City). He was pronounced dead at 5:04pm. His funeral was held in Brooklyn and drew a crowd of thousands. The official cause of death was a drug overdose; an autopsy found a lethal mixture of cocaine and the prescription drug Tramadol.
In November 2009, a video documentary about Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s life, Dirty: The Official Ol’ Dirty Bastard Biography, was released. The documentary features interviews and stories from Wu-Tang members, affiliates, and family members, as well as old interviews and live footage
Discography
Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version (1995)
Nigga Please (1996)
The Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones (2002)
Unreleased: A Son Unique
-Welcome aboard & thanks for flying.
