Boon Documented: "What I Learned From Ol' Dirty Bastard" (Chapter 2)

While 1993 was one of thee most memorable and pivotal years for me as a rap music fan, I was still just a little kid.?I was doing typical kid stuff like going to school and daycare, playing outside with friends, riding bikes and sucking at basketball (more on that later).

It was impossible for me to keep up with everything going on in the world of rap music.?So, when Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) hit the scene that year, I totally missed it.?In fact, I was three years behind by the time I caught up.?But there was one particular member who struck me first before I knew anything about the Wu-Tang Clan.

It was 1995 when I heard “Brooklyn Zoo” the same way I heard Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang” in ’93.?I was playing on my cousins’ Super Nintendo when the song’s intro started blaring from Dejo’s bedroom.?All I could hear was somebody shouting. ?

“What!?! Nigga, you could never f*ck with me, my nigga!! I’ll f*ck you up right now!! WHAT!?! WHAT!?! WHAT!?!”

I thought: What in the world is going on in there??It sounded like Dejo was cussing somebody out over the phone.?I started walking slowly towards his room, listening from the hallway as the “argument” continued.

“… bust your motherf*ckin’ ass, boy! I ain’t no motherf*ckin’ joke! You know who you talkin’ to!?!”

Once I made it to Dejo’s room, I noticed he wasn’t on the phone at all.?He was just looking through his closet for something to wear for the day.?All the commotion was coming from his stereo.?Immediately after somebody in the background of the track yelled, “He ain’t sayin’ nothin’, f*ck him!!!”…. ***BOOM***

“I’m the one-man army, Ason?/ I never been tooken out / I keep MC’s looking out!”

The beat dropped with a hard 808 hit and one of the most charismatic and rawest voices I’ve ever heard.?I gave my cousin that frozen look again and asked who it was.?When he said “ODB”, I thought about the time I asked my mom to buy me N.W.A’s album for Christmas.?This time I knew better to ask what his initials stood for.

Dejo: Ol’ Dirty Bastard.? ?

Welp, that's not going on my Christmas list. So I had Dejo dub me a copy of the song.?“Brooklyn Zoo” became an instant favorite of mine, and remains one to this day.?It was unlike anything I heard before.?ODB’s delivery sounded maniacal yet controlled.?And I couldn’t get enough of those warped and dissonant piano chords.?The whole song made me feel like I could dropkick a hole through a brick wall. ?

While knowing nothing about Wu-Tang, I became an instant fan of ODB, but he wasn’t the first member I heard as a solo artist.?Method Man dropped his project in '94, and I’m embarrassed to say this, but I didn’t like “Bring the Pain” or "You're All I Need" featuring Mary J. Blige when it first came out.?Yeah, I know. "Shame on a nigga". But I was only 11 years old, so cut me some slack. I wasn’t ready for Mr. Meth yet.???

Even when I bought Shaquille O’Neal’s cassette single, “No Hook” featuring Method Man and Prince Rakeem “The RZA”, I was still oblivious to the Wu.?Nobody else I knew seemed aware of that song, but it was my joint!?In fact, “No Hook” came out around the same time as “Brooklyn Zoo”.?But I didn’t see neither one of the music videos.?So, I had no idea who the “R-Z-A” guy was or what he meant when he said:

“Let’s have a festival / Wu-Tang killa bees, we... Suuuuuuuu!!!!!!”

It wasn’t until the summer of 1996, when I finally became aware.?I was watching Rap City when RZA’s “Wu Wear: The Garment Renaissance” featuring Method Man and Cappadonna came on.?It felt like I was watching a 4-minute informercial, hooking me into their brand like the perfect fish bait.?Suddenly, I was in a trance with Method Man telling me it’s time for my 13-year-old ass to catch up to the Wu-Tang Clan: “Ain’t what’chu want, baby. It’s what’chu neeeed….”?

Once I felt that “killa bee sting”, it all started to make sense after years of being introduced to various members, songs and music videos in scattered bits. I had a whole lot of catching up to do.?So, I started by purchasing the “Wu Wear” single, which finally exposed me to the legendary “W” symbol that would soon drive my 8th grade art teacher nuts!!!??

Mr. Vigen probably thought I was in some kind of gang.?I incorporated the Wu-Tang symbol into every single project in my art class.?If the assignment was to draw a flower, mine’s would be a black-and-yellow Wu rose with a swarm of killer bees flying around it for a taste of that sweet Shaolin nectar.??

Having to play catch up with The Wu was no daunting task for me as I became more and more obsessed.?Once I finally got to hear Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and all the solo projects up to that point, my anticipation for the group’s sophomore album was unmatched.?By that time, I had a slew of favorite rap duos and groups including; A Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, Mobb Deep, Tha Dogg Pound, Crucial Conflict and more. They were all unique and had their own sounds, but there was something particularly different about Wu-Tang. ?

With the combination of kung-fu movies, cartoon and comic book references along with their variety of styles, personalities, aliases and alter egos; Wu-Tang was like a faction of real life super heroes to me.?Although I was a huge fan of the X-Men, all I had back then was the cartoon, a video game, some action figures and a few comic books.?From a live-action standpoint, today’s kids have The Avengers and Justice League.?I had Wu-Tang.

For young Black boys like me in the 90’s, Ghostface Killah was our Tony Stark (literally). Cuts like “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’” rivaled any fight scene from Marvel’s Infinity War.?And whenever I walked home from school blasting “4th Chamber” in my headphones, I felt like a superhero on my way to defeat a squad of villains all by myself.?

Were they “perfect” role models??No.?But I was never looking to these rap stars to be my "father figures".?I was a creative kid with a wild imagination and big dreams, hungry for inspiration beyond anything I’d ever seen in my small hometown. They made me feel like there was something special within myself to tap into someday like they did.?I could sense that this movement was something created from nothing. Wu-Tang was pure alchemy. ???

Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface soon became my personal favorite rappers of the group on a technical level, but Ol’ Dirty Bastard will forever remain my favorite Wu-Tang Clan member overall.?I had no idea that RZA was the mastermind behind the music production because I still knew absolutely nothing about how beats were even made.?Therefore, my appreciation and lessons from RZA came later. ?

But what I learned from ODB, was the power of authenticity as an artist.?To me, he was the representation of uninhibited confidence in oneself, not from the position of arrogance, but from the position of comparing yourself to no one, and whole-heartedly being Y.O.U.?

He didn’t make me want to be like Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He made me want to be like Solomon Vaughn without shame and worry of what other people might think of me.?That can come with being misunderstood by a lot of people with the most basic of perceptions.?But any creative person who has experienced the true courage and power of being 100% authentic, no matter how uncomfortable it may make others feel, has to respect ODB’s contribution to the art.????

I had no idea that almost 20 years later, I would spend a whole day educating my wife on the impact and influence of Ol’ Dirty Bastard as we cleaned our apartment with Return to 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version on full blast.?She kept asking questions with genuine interest and admiration.?And after I had her record vocals for a bridge to one of my most bizarre songs, she asked me:?

Wife: You know who I was channeling with that?

Me: Who?

Wife:?ODB.

Me:?…. I f*ckin’ love you. ?

Last but not least… the most important lesson I learned from Ol’ Dirty Bastard growing up was plain and simple:?

“Wu-Tang is for the children.”

R.I.P.

Russell Jones a/k/a ODB a/k/a Ol’ Dirty Bastard a/k/a Big Baby Jesus a/k/a Dirt McGirt a/k/a Osirus a/k/a Ason Unique a/k/a My favorite Wu-Tang Clan member of all time

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