Hot 21 Radio

Ol' Dirty Bastard

With his spiky hair, broken teeth, slurred raps and taste for hard partying and unpredictability, Ol' Dirty Bastard became one of hip hop's great, eccentric wild men. As a founding member of legendary New York rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, he helped create one of the genre's most innovative sounds with references to martial arts movies, surrealism, drugs and cartoonish violence. ODB's solo debut Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version (1996) came with that trademark oddball style, reaching Number 7 in the US and earning a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap album. His lifestyle led to numerous run-ins with the law, he was arrested for failing to pay child support to one of his 13 children and he was shot in the stomach in 1994, but his legend continued to grow with guest appearances on tracks by Mariah Carey, Blackstreet and most memorably on Pras' hit single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are). His second album Nigga Please (1999) reached Number 10 and produced the cracking collaboration Got Your Money featuring Kelis, but his erratic behavior increased and he spent a month as a fugitive in 2000 before being found dead in 2004 from a drug overdose.