New York- Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the troubled rapper known as much for his run-ins with the law as his innovative hip-hop style, died in a Manhattan recording studio yesterday.
An autopsy was scheduled for today, but police said it appeared he succumbed to natural causes.
A founding member of the groundbreaking Staten Island rap group the Wu-Tang Clan, ODB – whose real name was Russell Jones – collapsed on the floor of 36 Records LLC just two days short of his 36th birthday.
He was pronounced dead at 5:04 p.m., officials said.
“This ain’t no joke. This is real life, just like you lose your mother, or your brother,” said fellow Wu-Tang rapper GhostFace Killah, when ODB’s body was brought out of the W. 34th St. studio three hours later.
“This is a big loss,” said Killah, who said ODB had complained to others of chest pain. “But I guess he’s with the Father now. He’s in good hands.”
ODB, who also dubbed himself Big Baby Jesus, Osiris and Dirt McGirt, had been preparing a comeback album for Roc-A-Fella Records and was slated to perform in a Wu-Tang reunion show at Continental Airlines Arena last Friday night.
But he didn’t show – leading one of his worried fellow rappers to make a public plea from the stage.
“Method Man said, ‘If you see Ol’ Dirty Bastard on the street, tell him his family loves him and they miss him,'” said fan Samara Goldhect, 25, of Manhattan, who attended the show.
ODB spent most of his last afternoon in the fifth-floor studio, where a 911 call was made at 4:45 p.m., officials said. It was not immediately clear who made the call or who else was in the studio when ODB collapsed.
Paramedics could not revive him. There was no apparent drug paraphernalia found at the scene, a source said.
After Wu-Tang exploded on the music scene in 1993 with the album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” ODB became as notorious for his erratic behavior as his hit singles “Brooklyn Zoo” and “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.”
He was shot at least twice, and fathered at least 13 children with several women. He drew national attention when he rushed onstage during the 1998 Grammy Awards to complain when he didn’t win.
He was charged with attempted murder, shoplifting and drugs, and spent time as a fugitive before getting collared in a McDonald’s parking lot in 1999.
He attempted suicide before entering prison, but upon his release in 2003, he vowed to clean up his act.