R.i.p. Odb

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OFF TOPIC: Rapper Ol Dirty Bastard (O.D.B.) just died!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041114/ap_on_en_mu/obit_odb

Rapper O.D.B. Collapses, Dies in Studio

1 hour, 31 minutes ago

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

NEW YORK - The rap artist O.D.B., whose utterly unique rhymes, wild lifestyle and incessant legal troubles made him one of the most vivid characters in hip-hop, collapsed and died inside a recording studio Saturday. He was 35.





O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, and was dead by the time paramedics arrived, said Gabe Tesoriero, a spokesman for O.D.B.'s record label, Roc-a-Fella.


The cause of death was not immediately clear, but O.D.B. had recently finished a prison sentence for drug possession and escaping a rehab clinic. He would have turned 36 on Monday.


O.D.B. — also known as Ol' Dirty Bastard, Dirt McGirt, Big Baby Jesus or his legal name of Russell Jones — was a founding member of the seminal rap group the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s. With his unorthodox delivery — alternately slurred, hyper and nonsensical — O.D.B. stood out even in the nine-man Clan, which featured such future stars as Method Man, RZA and Ghostface Killah.


The Wu-Tang blueprint was for each member to pursue solo projects, and O.D.B.'s were among the best. He released hit singles such as "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "Got Your Money," and appeared on remixes with artists like Mariah Carey.


"There's nobody like him in the game," RZA told The Associated Press in an April interview, when asked if O.D.B. could resume his career after prison. "He's got a lot of problems he's got to iron out, of course, but as far as a one-of-a-kind person, a one-of-a-kind artist, he's one of a generation, one of a lifetime. He's a very rare commodity."


But as his fame increased, so did his erratic behavior, and fans came to expect the unexpected from O.D.B.


When MTV News followed him around at the height of his popularity, he took the camera crew and several of his kids (he was said to have more than a dozen, by numerous mothers) to the welfare office — in a limousine — to get an allotment of food stamps.


And he received them.


In February 1998, he crashed the stage at the Grammy Awards and hijacked a microphone from singer Shawn Colvin (news) as she accepted an award, apparently upset over losing the best rap album Grammy to P. Diddy (then known as Puff Daddy (news - web sites)). He complained that he spent a lot of money for new clothes because he thought he was going to win. The rapper later apologized.


Over the years, he was wounded in shootings and arrested on a veritable laundry list of charges, including menacing security officers, illegally possessing body armor, driving with a suspended license, shoplifting and threatening a former girlfriend.


In 2000, after escaping a court-ordered stint in a California rehabilitation center, authorities searched for him for a month. He was finally arrested in Philadelphia — three days after performing in a New York City concert with his Wu-Tang clique.


He was sentenced in 2001 to two to four years in prison for drug possession, plus two concurrent years for escaping from the clinic. He was released in 2003 and immediately signed with Roc-a-Fella.


He heralded his return with a news conference alongside singer Carey — pop fans may know him best for his memorable cameo on her hit "Fantasy," featuring rhymes like "me and Mariah, go back like babies with pacifiers."


Tesoriero said O.D.B. had been working on his comeback album for more than a year and was almost finished.


"Russell inspired all of us with his spirit, wit, and tremendous heart," Roc-A-Fella founder Damon Dash said in a statement. "The world has lost a great talent, but we mourn the loss of our friend."


His mother, Cherry Jones, said she received the news of her son's death in a phone call, which she called "every mother's worst dream."





"To the public he was known as Old Dirty Bastard, but to me he was known as Rusty. The kindest most generous soul on earth," her statement said. "Russell was more than a rapper, he was a loving father, brother, uncle, and most of all, son."
 
damn, wtf, I popped into work and these guys were talking about him, but in the past tense, now I know why.....

Thats a shame, RIP dirt McGirt, Big Baby Jesus aka Old Dirty Bastard...
 
its screwed up cause at school every1 as a joke was saying if he died his record sales would probably sky rocket and that was on Thursday, now this just totaly ****ed me up.
 
damn, obd's flow was so fukked up u just had to love it... that crazy muhfukka used record every second bar and then fill in the rest after when in studio... rest in peace dawg...

wu-tang clan ain't nuttin to fuk with
 
**** THAT...je veux pas le croire....un des plus originaux MC of all time, je suis vraiment attrister d'apprendre ca(et de le voir sur le site de VH1)....SHIMY SHIMY YAAAAAAHHHHH.

RIP Russel Tyrone Jones aka OLD DIRTY BASTARD

WU TANG FOR EVER MOTHERF**KER....et sa celebre phrase...Wu tang is for the Childrens.
 
:( R.I.P Old dirty .....

Saw him once with da Wu in florida opening for Rage against the machine
busted on stage with a 40oz *tu*



Russell Jones was born in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, New York, and was raised on public assistance. His cousins, known now as RZA and GZA, introduced him to hip-hop and by the early '90s they had formed the Wu-Tang Clan. Jones took on the name Ol' Dirty Bastard because there was no "father" to his unique style, although he would assume numerous monikers over the years, including Osirus, Joe Bannanas [sic], Dirt Dog, Unique Ason, Big Baby Jesus and Dirt McGirt.

After the massive success of the Wu's debut, 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), the members began launching solo careers, first with Method Man and second with ODB's 1995 release, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, which featured "Shimmy Shimmy Ya."

His second album, 1999's N---a Please, featured his biggest hit, the Neptunes-produced "Got Your Money" (which introduced Kelis to the world), but by then his music played second fiddle to his odd behavior and trouble with the law.

Dirty's best-known antic came at the 1998 Grammy Awards, when he took the stage and interrupted Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech to complain that the Wu-Tang Clan had lost to P. Diddy in a different category (see "Ol' Dirty Bastard Tells Why He Stormed Grammy Stage"). Along with being awkwardly timed, the moment will be forever remembered because of Dirty's peculiar declaration: "Wu-Tang are for the children!"

And back in 1994, ODB invited MTV News to spend an afternoon with him. On camera, he loaded several of his kids (he was said to have more than a dozen, by numerous mothers) into a limousine and proceeded to drive to a welfare office to collect food stamps.

While ODB was talked about for engineering comical moments, for a time his frequent arrests overshadowed anything else he did.

Although he was convicted of second-degree assault in New York in 1993 (the only violent offense ever proven against him) and was shot in the stomach by another rapper in Brooklyn in 1994, ODB's real tussles with the law started in 1997, when he was arrested for failing to pay nearly a year's worth of child support for three children he had with his wife, Icelene Jones.

In 1998, he pleaded guilty to attempted assault on Icelene and two months later was shot in the back during what he said was a robbery of his Brooklyn home (he walked out of the hospital, disobeying doctor's orders).

Later in 1998, he was arrested for shoplifting a pair of $50 sneakers in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and accosted a security guard at the House of Blues in Los Angeles and was charged with making "terrorist threats," charges he again faced only months later after he threatened to kill an ex-girlfriend.

In early 1999, ODB was pulled over in New York for a traffic violation and was accused of firing a gun at officers, although those charges were later dismissed when the police failed to prove their claims. A few months later, while being cited for a parking violation in Los Angeles, he became one of the first citizens arrested under a new California law that made wearing a bulletproof vest illegal for convicted felons (see "Ol' Dirty Bastard Arrested For Wearing Bulletproof Vest").

Two months later, he was picked up in Queens, New York, for running a red light and was arrested when police found crack in his Mercedes-Benz (see "Ol' Dirty Bastard Arrested; Police Claim To Have Found Crack In Rapper's Car").

After two more arrests for traffic violations, including another one where he was found with crack, Dirty was sentenced to three years' probation and one year in a residential drug-rehab facility in Pasadena, California. (During court proceedings, he was scolded by the judge for falling asleep and calling a female attorney a "sperm donor.") Ten months later, after a disagreement with the staff, he walked out of the court-mandated rehab and became a fugitive.

A month later, two days after appearing onstage with the Wu-Tang Clan in New York (see "Performance By Fugitive ODB Stuns Wu-Tang Clan Crowd"), he was arrested in the parking lot of a McDonald's in Philadelphia by an officer who recognized him because her son was a fan.

ODB was then sentenced to two years behind bars (see "ODB Gets Two Years For Fleeing Rehab, Violating Probation"). He spent most of that time at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York (where Tupac Shakur once served). While in prison, reports surfaced that ODB was suffering mental illness and was suicidal, although his reps denied them.

When he was released from prison and psychiatric care in the spring of 2003, Dirty quickly signed with the Roc and began recording as Dirt McGirt (see "Ol' Dirty Bastard Hits Campaign Trail With New Album").
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his crazy style is irreplaceable
 
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