Return To The 36 Chambers - Ol' Dirty Bastard

R.I.P. O.D.B.

Biography. I have chosen to write a biographical account of the mans life. It isnt strictly part of the review but I believe this informs the listener what they are listening to: a one off person with a colourful history that made his music as individual as he was. Its important to me, but if it aint to you then please skip it. The review proper starts below.

Russell Tyrone Jones was born on the 15th Nov ...
...died in 2003 under mysterious circumstances - drug related probably.

You may or may not have heard of The Old Dirty Bastard of the Wu Tang Clan. Or perhaps you may know him by one of his many aliases – they include Osirus [sic], Joe Bananas [sic], Dirt McGirt, Dirt Dog, and Unique Ason, and at the end of his career calling himself Big Baby Jesus too.

No-one really knows why he took all these names – or at ... more

R.I.P. O.D.B.

Biography. I have chosen to write a biographical account of the mans life. It isnt strictly part of the review but I believe this informs the listener what they are listening to: a one off person with a colourful history that made his music as individual as he was. Its important to me, but if it aint to you then please skip it. The review proper starts below.

Russell Tyrone Jones was born on the 15th Nov 1968. He ended up leaving 13 kids behind when he died in 2003 under mysterious circumstances - drug related probably.

You may or may not have heard of The Old Dirty Bastard of the Wu Tang Clan. Or perhaps you may know him by one of his many aliases – they include Osirus [sic], Joe Bananas [sic], Dirt McGirt, Dirt Dog, and Unique Ason, and at the end of his career calling himself Big Baby Jesus too.

No-one really knows why he took all these names – or at least I don’t and have not been able to find out even during pretty extensive research (if anyone knows - tell me - I’d be well interested!) No one seems to know except, that is, in the case his original moniker; “The Old Dirty Bastard” - He was christened this because there was no father to his rapping style – a true original. Dirty seemed to half rap, half sing his lyrics, and kept it grimy and, well, dirty, all the while with an eye on the “real” - an adherence to the code of the Brooklyn streets he came from.

I’m telling you all this because not knowing about this man before buying a record by him is missing out on the whole experience. Here we see an entertainer and a true individual. Plagued by mental illness and drug problems until his untimely death in 2003 the life of Ol’Dirty has perhaps more in common with many of the rock stars of years ago than with the lives of Puff Daddy and other so called “peers”. Think Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, or Keith Moon of The Who, crossed with Dolemite, Sid Vicious, and Richard Pryor. A crazy mix of ghetto insanity and raw talent.

The roots of the Wu-Tang Clan lay in the earlier crew All In Together Now, formed by cousins Rakeem, the Genius and Ol' Dirty Bastard. The musical backing to the group often one of stripped down beats, with samples culled from kung-fu movies.

Indeed “Return to the 36 Chambers” the Wu’s first album as a collective took its Title from a film, and is littered throughout with voices from 70’s Kung Fu flicks. It sounds a bit cheesy now possibly, but when it came out this was a revolutionary sound – nothing like this had really been done before. The waves made by this first album were massive, and ODB was not the only member of the collective to release a solo album on the back of it.

Definitely a Jekyl and Hyde character, Russell Jones seemed to be on one hand completely mad, and on the other a real bona fide genius. Making appearances in court on terrorist charges, traffic charges, drug charges, then going on the run. Next saving a four-year-old girl trapped under a car on the street outside his studio. Getting shot whilst being robbed one minute, the next stealing trainers from a shoe shop, then getting shot again in the street. At his trial talking dirty to the assistant D.A., interrupting said trial to take noisy sips out of a bottle of chocolate milk, and shout “Skunk!” every now and then.

If it were not for the feeling of worry about the man, his life was a joy to watch unfold. His drug problems were not clear at the time – it seemed as though these were all fantastic publicity ruses that really entertained us (well, me at least then) while the likes of P.Diddy and J.Lo were running around Hollywood circles, doing their fake-ass media dahling thing. ODB was a tonic.

Album
68 Mins, Released 1995

Cover Art : Its a picture of his welfare ID card! Yes!

1. Intro
2. Shimmy Shimmy Ya
3. Baby C'mon
4. Brooklyn Zoo
5. Hippa To Da Hoppa
6. Raw Hide
7. Damage
8. Don't U Know
9. Stomp, The
10. Goin' Down
11. Drunk Game (Sweet Sugar Pie)
12. Snakes
13. Brooklyn Zoo II (Tiger Crane)
14. Protect Ya Neck II The Zoo
15. Cuttin' Headz

This album, produced in the main by RZA with ODB handling three of the tunes himself, is great! RZA knows his production - Dirty even says it himself: "My beats are slammin' from the rugged programmin'”.

The intro is rude! Very rude! Raises a smile but I’m sure you’d end up skipping it after the fist couple of listens though, it’s a bit immature.

“Shimmy Shimmy Ya", “Baby C’mon”, "Hippa to da Hoppa", “Stomp” and "Snakes" are vintage Dirty at his absolute finest. “Damage", "Proteck Ya Neck II the Zoo" and “Drunk Game”(sweet sugar pie) are perhaps not quite so good, but to make up for it there are excellent guest appearances on several of the tracks too. Method Man and Raekwon show up on "Raw Hide", and both cane the track – check out Meth’s beatboxed whip noise – classic! Although it's not one of Rae's better verses, Method Man shows what an amazing MC he can be.

GZA appears on "Damage", and even though it's not the best beat on the album, GZA borrows some of Dirty's lyrical intensity to deliver some excellent rhyming. Ol' Dirty and RZA make an amazing team when they trade verses, and they prove it on "Cuttin' Heads". Ghostface, 60 Second Assassin, Buddah Monk, Killah Priest, and others appear as well. But, as is expected, not one of them come near stealing Ol' Dirty's thunder.

The rest of the tunes are a mixed bag. I’ve discussed them with friends and everyone seems to have a different opinion. Mine is that they are OK but not really worth an exclusive mention in this review.

Overall if you are looking for an album to play at your church reading group this week, this isn’t the one. If you like crazy psychedelic East Coast rappers with drug problems and no inhibitions, then this will be right up your alley. Personally I fall somewhere in the middle, but there is enough excellent music on this record so that it gets my vote. Hope you hear it and like it. I give it 9 outta 10
 

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