The Survivor

Rapper O.D.B. dies at recording studio

Saturday, November 13, 2004 Posted: 9:43 PM EST (0243 GMT)

Russell Jones, aka O.D.B., was a founding member of Wu-Tang Clan, a popular rap group.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The rap artist O.D.B., who lived a life as wild as his lyrics, collapsed and died inside a recording studio Saturday, his record label said. He was 35.

O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, according to a statement from Roc-a-Fella records.

O.D.B., also known as Ol' Dirty Bastard, Dirt McGirt or his legal name of Russell Jones, was a founding member of the hit rap group the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s. With his offbeat, unorthodox delivery, he segued into a successful solo career and released several hit singles.

But he was frequently in trouble with the law, mostly for drug possession.

In February 1998, he crashed the stage at the Grammy Awards and hijacked a microphone from singer Shawn Colvin as she accepted an award, apparently upset over losing the best rap album Grammy to Puff Daddy.

He complained that he spent a lot of money for new clothes because he thought he was going to win. The rapper later apologized. Later in 1998, he was wounded in a shooting during a robbery in his apartment.

In 2001 he was sentenced to two to four years in prison for drug possession; plus two concurrent years for escaping from a rehab clinic. He was released in 2003 and immediately signed with Roc-a-Fella.

O.D.B. would have turned 36 on Monday

dyxlecis gril

holy ****.

i don't know why, but that's my reaction.

*Maria*

..WHAT?

That's...sudden.

CrabbyCancer69

Cinsere'

OMG!...Wow, that's sad news...so many celebs have been passing away lately.

Ambular

Wow, 35, that's young...I wonder what actually caused it? Heart problems? Just too many drugs? It's not very clear...

I was never much of a fan, but it's still sad though. And very sudden.

LittleMilkJug

I would be pretty pissed about losing to Puff Daddy too.

wanderer78

Wow. What a shocker. He was so young.

I think he had kids too.

SweetLisaLisa

He had like a whole football team of kids.


He probably died of heart problems due to drugs.

Age-a-licious

He has like 13 kids, I think. That's more than a football team.

This is really sad 'cause he would've been turning 36 tomorrow.

Milt Palacio

Yes, he did have 13 kids believe it or not.

He was a character. I will never forget the MTV news special after the first Wu-Tang Clan album came out, and they showed ODB going down to get his food stamps even though the album had gone platinum.

Age-a-licious

That's when he took all his kids w/him.

The last special they did on him was when first got out of jail. Everyone was soo surprised to see that he had gained all that weight, he used to be like 25 pounds when wet then he had blown up to like 250 pounds. I think it was because he had gotten off of drugs during jail/rehab.

Ruby_Slippers

its so sad....


I loved is rapping style... has anyone from wu tang made any comments?

Lovesbitch

I'm sure it probably had to do with his drug use. Even if he did get clean in jail and hadn't been using them recently (although i don't really believe that) they could have still caused serious damage to his heart.

Then again, I heard that a person who has a heart attack in their 30s is actually more likely to die than an older person having a hearattack because it shows that there was something seriously wrong with there heart.

mh67511

They kept airing this over and over again on MTV...I was watching Boiling Points and I think every hour they aired the pre-recorded message at the same time each hour. Too bad he's dead but I found it kind of humorous: "We interrupt Boiling Points to bring you the following imporant message: Old Dirty Bastard is dead." I thought it was a joke at first.