Ol' Dirty Bastard died Saturday. Read Pitchfork's obituary.



I'm sad about this.

I have a favorite ODB story that I'll try to dig up and append to this post.

Rest in peace, Dirt McGirt.

...here's one good ODB story:

In November 1997, Ol' Dirty Bastard was arrested for failing to pay nearly a year's worth of child support -- around 35,000 dollars -- for the three children he had with his wife, Icelene Jones (by this point, he'd fathered a total of 13 children, beginning in his teenage years). Things picked up in February 1998: he started his own clothing line, dubbed My Dirty Wear, and along with several protégés [sic], he rushed out of a New York recording studio to help save a four-year-old girl who had been hit by a car and lay trapped underneath.

The very next day, at the Grammy Awards (where the Wu had been nominated for Best Rap Album), there followed the incident that truly established the Ol' Dirty legend. During Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech for her Song of the Year award, ODB rushed the stage seemingly out of nowhere, clad in a bright red suit. He took over the microphone and launched into a rambling complaint about buying an expensive new outfit but losing the Grammy to Puff Daddy, whom he described as "good" but not as good as his own group, because "Wu-Tang is for the children." Hustled off-stage after this puzzling, oddly timed outburst, ODB was the talk of the next day's news reports, and many mainstream outlets had to find ways of avoiding the "bastard" portion of his name. He further confounded the public by announcing in April that he was scrapping his Ol' Dirty Bastard alias (which headed up a long list that included Osirus [sic], Joe Bannanas [sic], Dirt McGirt, Dirt Dog, and Unique Ason) and calling himself Big Baby Jesus. None of his explanations in interviews even verged on coherence, and the press never took the switch all that seriously; even the erstwhile Big Baby Jesus himself seemed to forget about the idea after a short time.

Wu-Tang is for the children.

But my favorite ODB story has always been the time he was wanted by the police but showed up for a Wu-Tang gathering anyway. Wait for the money quote:

"I think they're ready for some old shit," said a leather-clad Method Man, facing the crowd alongside Raekwon and U-God. The exclamatory response assured the crowd that it was time to bring it back to where it all started -- back to a time when you could find the entire Wu-Tang Clan on stage together at once; a time when the whole crew could form like Voltron at the drop of a beat; a time when Ol' Dirty Bastard wasn't AWOL. When the luring piano licks of the classic ODB single "Shimmy Shimmy Yaw" tingled the spines of a readily frenzied multitude, a baggy-outfitted man wearing a fluffy orange coat emerged from the background of on-stage spectators and began dropping the infectious hook, "Oh baby, I like it raw." It took but one moment for the entire crowd to realize that the gritty voice belonged to none other than Ol' Dirty Bastard; therefore, it took no time at all for the foundation to shake relentlessly.

Unfortunately, it could only last so long. After spitting only one verse, the music stopped and Ol' Dirty Bastard was ready to flee the scene of the crime, but not before pardoning himself.

"I can't stay up here much longer, y'all . . . you know they had ODB on lock-down," he said, his voice basically drowning from the crowd's hysterical feedback during his dialogue. "The whole fuckin' world was after me. But I'm survivin', y'know what I'm sayin'? Dirt Dog had to come through . . . y'know what I'm sayin'? Just like a fly on your window pane, I'm here lookin' right at you. The cops is after me, so I gotta get outta here."

The cops is no longer after you, Ol' Dirty. RIP.