Book Review: Phases & Stages

Digging For Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB

Ol' Dirty Bastard's life wasn't an act. From Ason Unique and Osirus to Big Baby Jesus, the late Wu-Tang Clan MC embodied myriad personalities, yet whatever you were getting was full-on authentic. Jaime Lowe's Digging for Dirt gives a legitimate visual, even if it has just as much trouble staying in one place as its subject, Dirt McGirt. One minute Dirt's "bridling at whatever lame leading questions I had written down ... and answering most of the others curtly," and another he's doing promo for 1995's Tha Carter III-inspiring Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version by rolling up for food stamps in a limousine. Lowe's strength lies in her ability to convey how ODB's personas actually carried some weight. Joe Bananas and Prince Delight weren't nicknames thought up during rap ciphers like Johnny Blaze and Pretty Toney. They were part and parcel of Dirty's schizophrenia. It's also their consummation that led to Russell Jones' premature death in 2004. Hard enough living as the charismatic and celebrated Ol' Dirty Bastard, Jones had to take on so much more than he asked for.