ODB: A Son Unique
This is the story of Old Dirty Bastard, aka Ason Unique, the magnetic secret weapon of the WuTang Clan and hip hop hall of famer. Photographer Khalik Allah takes us on a journey into ODB’s world, exploring the beliefs, background and experiences that shaped his unforgettable music. ODB was a radical, who lived a life of unlikely highs and heart wrenching lows. We go in search of this deeper, more complicated side to a man the mainstream media presented as a joke. ODB was known as a larger than life and comic rapper. Ol’ Dirty’s life was so much more. He spoke truth to power and paid a cost.
ODB: A Son Unique is produced by Novel and Talkhouse for USG Audio
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Our Editor's Take
ODB: A Son Unique is a podcast about Ol' Dirty Bastard. The host of the show is filmmaker and photographer Khalik Allah. He authored Popa Wu: A 5% Story in 2010. The documentary examines the life of the Wu-Tang Clan's spiritual advisor and a member of the Five-Percent Nation.
No hip-hop history is complete without a chapter on the Wu-Tang Clan. In the time of its greatest success, the collective embodied the East Coast sound. ODB was one of its most notorious members. The man who sometimes went by Ason Unique was a mess of contradictions. He was a prophet of hip-hop whose music defined the genre. He was the man who rode a limousine to collect a welfare check in front of the cameras.
ODB once organized a group of onlookers to save a toddler trapped under a car in Brooklyn. The next day, he stormed the stage at the Grammys. This podcast is Allah's attempt to correct the record on ODB. The media attention he seemed to court painted a clownish picture of the man. Through conversations and archival interviews, Allah wants to show the world the real Ason Unique.
Podcast host Allah returns to Putnam Avenue, New York. This is where Russell Jones (ODB's birth name) grew up in the 1970s. He plays old Popa Wu interviews and recalls spending time at the Jones home. According to Popa Wu, everyone in the Jones family had musical talent.
Older brother Ramsey Jones remembers getting regular calls from Macy's loss prevention department. ODB loved to "shop" there and was, Ramsey concedes, always well-dressed.
Allah also talks about ODB's struggles. He felt that his record label was stifling his artistic expression. Allah interviews Detective Derrick Parker, who was an officer in the NYPD. Parker talks about his encounters with ODB. Allah also chats with Raekwon and Buddha Monk about their collaborations with him.
ODB: A Son Unique paints a complex picture of the rap star. He was a flawed and brilliant man who made his mark on his terms. The eight-episode podcast makes a valuable addition to the annals of hip-hop history.
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