Ol' Dirty Bastard

The album's sound was noted by several music writers as being as "raw and gritty" as 36 Chambers, with RZA and 4th Disciple producing beats of an even more minimalist and stripped-down style than on the group's debut album.

In this same year, Ol' Dirty Bastard collaborated with Mariah Carey for the remix version of her single "Fantasy".

It was around this time that Ol' Dirty Bastard gained notoriety when, as he was being profiled for an MTV biography, he took two of his three children by limousine to a New York State welfare office to cash a $375 welfare check and receive food stamps while his latest album was still in the top 10 of the US charts.

The entire incident was filmed by an MTV camera crew and was broadcast nationwide.

Although he had recently received a $45,000 cash advance for his first solo album and was earning a cut of the profits from the Wu-Tang Clan's debut album, Ol' Dirty Bastard was still listed as eligible for welfare and food stamps due to the fact that he had not yet filed his taxes for the current year.

Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004), better known by his stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard (often abbreviated as ODB), was an American rapper.

Russell Tyrone Jones was born on November 15, 1968, in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, New York City.

He and his cousins Robert Diggs and Gary Grice shared a taste for rap music and martial arts-style movies.

Jones, Diggs, and Grice (later known as Ol' Dirty Bastard, RZA, and GZA respectively) formed the group Force of the Imperial Master, which became known as All in Together Now after their successful underground single of the same name.

They eventually added six more members to their group, calling it the Wu-Tang Clan.

His stage name was derived from the 1980 Chinese martial arts film Ol' Dirty and the Bastard (also called An Old Kung Fu Master, starring Yuen Siu-tien).

According to fellow Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard's name was also a reference to the unique nature of his rapping and, specifically, the fact "there ain't no father to his style."

He was one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, a rap group primarily from Staten Island, New York City, which rose to mainstream prominence with its 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

His professional success was hampered by frequent legal troubles, including incarceration.

The group released their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, receiving notable commercial and critical success.

Ol' Dirty Bastard's solo career began March 28, 1995, at the age of 26.

His first solo album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, spawned the hit singles "Brooklyn Zoo" and "Shimmy Shimmy Ya", which helped propel the album to platinum status.

His caseworker revoked his eligibility after seeing the MTV segment, and the incident was presented by critics of welfare as representative of the allegedly widespread abuse and fraud that led to the significant welfare reforms enacted in 1996.

He and a friend ran to the accident scene and organized about a dozen onlookers, who assisted in lifting the 1996 Ford Mustang—rescuing a 4-year-old girl from the wreckage.

She was taken to a hospital with first and second-degree burns.

Using a false name, Ol' Dirty Bastard visited the girl in the hospital frequently until he was spotted by members of the media.

In 1997, Ol' Dirty Bastard appeared on the Wu-Tang Clan's second and most commercially successful work, the double album Wu-Tang Forever.

He had fewer appearances on this album than the group's debut, contributing to one solo track ("Dog Shit"), three verses ("Maria", "Reunited", "Heaterz"), one hook ("As High as Wu-Tang Get"), and a spoken introduction/refrain ("Triumph").

In February 1998, Ol' Dirty Bastard witnessed a car accident from the window of his Brooklyn recording studio.

The evening following the traffic accident, Ol' Dirty Bastard rushed on-stage unexpectedly as Shawn Colvin took the stage to give her acceptance speech for Song of the Year at the 1998 Grammy Awards, and he announced he had recently purchased expensive clothes in anticipation of winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album that he lost to Puff Daddy.

As Ol' Dirty Bastard took the stage to a round of applause, he asked the audience, "Please calm down, the music and everything. It's nice that I went and bought me an outfit today that costed a lot of money today, you know what I mean? 'Cause I figured that Wu-Tang was gonna win. I don't know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. You know what I mean? Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best. Okay? I want you all to know that this is ODB, and I love you all. Peace!"

The incident was widely covered in the media.

The morning after the Grammy Awards, he appeared on The Howard Stern Show, to discuss the incident.

In 1999, Ol' Dirty Bastard wrote and recorded his second studio album, Nigga Please, between jail sentences.

The album received notable commercial success, although it failed to parallel the critical praise of his debut.

This release included the single "Got Your Money", which garnered worldwide chart success.

The song was produced by The Neptunes and featured chorus vocals by R&B singer Kelis.

In 1999, Ol' Dirty Bastard was paid $30,000 to appear on Insane Clown Posse's fifth studio album, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers.

Completing his track in two days, his recording consisted of his "rambling about bitches".

Insane Clown Posse re-recorded the track and re-edited Ol' Dirty Bastard's vocals in order to form four rhymes out of his rambling, titling the song "Bitches".

In 2001, with Ol' Dirty Bastard again in jail for crack cocaine possession, his record label Elektra Records made the decision to release a greatest hits album (despite there being only two albums in his back catalog) in order to both end their contract with the artist (see below section), and to profit from the publicity generated by his legal troubles.

After the contract with Elektra was terminated, the label D-3 Records released the album The Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones in 2002, composed of tracks compiled without Ol' Dirty Bastard's input.

In 2003, the day he was released from prison, Ol' Dirty Bastard signed a contract with Roc-A-Fella Records.

He died on November 13, 2004, of an accidental drug overdose, two days before his 36th birthday.

Ol' Dirty Bastard was noted for his "outrageously profane, free-associative rhymes delivered in a distinctive half-rapped, half-sung style".