![JSWISS featuring Chandanie - LML [VIDEO]](https://www.birthplacemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/JSWISS-218x150.jpg "JSWISS featuring Chandanie – LML [VIDEO]")
Kanye, Diddy, Shawty Lo and hip hop in general owe Ol’ Dirty Bastard a huge #salute for his larger-than-life personality and inimitable style
We take certain things for granted from our rappers today — the baby mama drama, the lyrical assaults, being part of a collective of other rappers, doin’ it all for the ‘Gram, and various “Imma let you finish” interruptions during awards shows.
And because hip hop’s now-gen as a whole tend to have little knowledge or respect for their elders, and doesn’t necessarily know the origins of many of the things they currently hold near-and-dear as commonplace, it seems that history has forgotten where some of these memorable styles originated from.
Fortunately, you have me to remind you.
If you’ve ever cheered (or jeered) Kanye West on for his awards show interruptions — if you’ve ever marveled at the baby mama drama from Ludacris, Shawty Lo, or your favorite Love & Hip-Hop star — if you’ve ever wondered how many other members there are of Dipset, G-Unit, MMG, or any other rap collective that has 50-11 signees, affiliates, members, and “potnas” — if you even spent ONE SECOND either appreciating “Milkshake” by Kelis, rappers who do it for the Vine, the Puff Daddy/Puffy/P. Diddy/Sean Combs variations of name changes, or any type of lyrical slaughter, you have one man — and one man alone — to thank for all of it.
Russell Tyrone Jones — a/k/a Big Baby Jesus, a/k/a ODB — a/k/a Ol’Dirty Bastard, one of the founding members of the mighty Kings of Staten Island, the Wu-Tang Clan.
He left this Earth too soon — just two days before his 36th birthday — more than ten years ago, in 2004, an unfortunate casualty of an accidental overdose of cocaine and tramadol.
Time — that many splendored beast, that trickster of memory and healer of wounds — has relegated the late, great ODB to the annals of a fusty history, somewhat revered by oldheads, and all-but-forgotten to the youngsters.
And oh, what fools these mortals be.
Let’s first start with his contributions to the mighty Wu-Tang Clan, contributions which could never be underestimated by any serious rap fan. ODB, RZA, and GZA were all cousins, and came together to form a hip hop collective the world had never seen, first known as the Force of the Imperial Master, then All in Together Now. When they added six more members to their line-up — Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killa, U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killa (Cappadonna would be added later) — they became known as Wisdom of the Universe, and the Truth of Allah for the Nation of the Gods Clan… and then, to us all, the Wu-Tang Clan.
To understand and appreciate the complexity of the type of mind that would be instrumental to such a name’s creation is, indeed, another story for another day. Suffice it to say that the Nation of Islam produces some very, very enlightened ‘heads. And while some may have viewed ODB’s style as “clownery” (indeed, he’s known as Wu-Tang’s Clown Prince), the fact of the matter remains, there was also an intelligence to his actions. An almost-supernatural ability to understand, intrinsically, what would set off the collective pop culture consciousness of the day. In many ways, Ol’ Dirty Bastard was a trendsetter and progenitor for many of the things we see as commonplace in rappers today.
Would ODB have done it for the ‘Gram, if he were alive today? No question about it. Consider what he did for MTV back in 1997:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrvnLpLjTuA?rel=0&w=420&h=315]
In case you’re wondering, yes, he’s going to pick up his welfare check. Wearing a fur. In a limousine. With the MTV cameras rolling. With some of 13 children (that he knew of) surrounding him. (He would later serve time for failing to pay child support for three of the thirteen known children.)
The look on Kurt Loder’s face says it all.
Imagine how viral that would have been if social media was around in the early 1990’s. Imagine how many Instagram memes he would have spawned!
French Montana needs to cut Wu-Tang a check every time he posts one of his ratchet-ass Instagram videos, because he owes one to ODB.
But it wasn’t just the fact that he had his finger on the pulse of pop culture — and knowledge of just how to aggravate it — that made ODB memorable. He also, quite frankly, was an absolutely brutal — and brilliant — rapper. Exhibit A: “Brooklyn Zoo,” the first single off the seminal classic solo album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version.“ (And yes, that’s his ACTUAL welfare card on the front cover art.)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3re3Qf7JaE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
To put this in perspective, kids who were born in the same year that this was released are now legally old enough to drink in the United States. Twenty-one years ago, this song was new… and yet, in 2015, it still sounds brand new, easily able to go up against — and best — the hip hop of today.
Later on, he helped introduce us to a woman who would later use her milkshake to bring all the boys to the yard:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKw5mBh4rYs?rel=0&w=420&h=315]
(Yes, he references Dolemite in the video… because, at that time, hip-hop ‘heads knew their history…)
And if Kanye’s “Imma let you finish…” speech was somehow new and revolutionary to you, you clearly weren’t privy to this incident during the Grammys back in 1998:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNHS8b9C7I?rel=0]
Imma let you finish, Kanye, but ODB’s upstaging of Shawn Colvin (I know…WHO?) was the greatest upset of all time. OF ALL TIME! Say thank you to ODB, Kanye. SAY THANK YOU!
It was Method Man who gave Russell Tyrone Jones his moniker. On “Can It All Be So Simple,” track 5 of Wu-Tang’s classic Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album, Method Man remarked that Jones was the Ol ‘Dirty Bastard, because “there’s no father to his style.”