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November 15, 2004
R.I.P., O.D.B.
I'm going to take a break from my regularly scheduled criticism of other people's hard work to note the passing of one of my favorite rappers of all time, Ol' Dirty Bastard, aka Drit McGirk, aka Big Baby Jesus. On the first Wu-Tang Clan album, Method Man explains why ODB has his name: "because there ain't no father to his style." I would argue that Dirt had some distant stylistic ancestors: Biz Markie and Flavor Flav come to mind. All 3 MC's were breaths of fresh air in an otherwise stale world of derivative flow and subject matter. Flavor and ODB filled the role of the clown, interrupting their groupmates' dour seriousness with welcome doses of comic relief. Rest in peace, Ol' Dirty. You will be missed.
The illustration below is courtesy of Mike Reddy, reprinted here with permission. It originally ran in The Lowbrow Reader, a small-press comedy magazine that includes what would be one of Ol' Dirty Bastard's last interviews. His vaguely frightening insanity has rarely been on better display; order a copy of issue #4 to see for yourself.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at November 15, 2004 12:59 PM