"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
'Ol Dirty Legacy
rogue Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 : VAGRANT, TRAMP
2 : a dishonest or worthless person : SCOUNDREL
3 : an individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation
4 : What ODB was, really
(BTW, perhaps a parental warning should be in order about this post. I'm going to be quoting some things that may easily offend. But if you have kids, you need to read this, you need to know what's going on behind those closed bedroom doors and those walkman headphones.)
The beat is silenced. Finally. But the damage is done.
The 'ol dirty bastard is dead. No, I haven't suddenly started cursing in this blog, that's his name. ODB. You might have heard of him. Frankly, in the last couple of days you might have heard little else.
Then again, maybe you have heard of him under another name. Maybe you heard of him as a member of Wu Tang Clan, or as Russel Jones aka ODB aka BZA aka Unique Ason aka Osirus aka Dirt McGirt aka Dirt Dog aka Big Baby Jesus.
Yeah, Big Baby Jesus. I understand he tried to get his name changed legally to that one. That would have been rather odd, I think, for his three children.
Oh sorry, did I say three? I meant thirteen, with a multitude of women. This guy was nothing if not prolific. It appears that cows make more cows, pigs make more pigs, and bastards make more bastards.
Well, it's not like he didn't warn everyone. Here's some vastly poetic and artistic lyrics from his widely distributed and poignant ode to hormonal desire (and major explicit language warning here) "I Want Pussy":
Stink hos (repeat 6X)
I want pussy for free, I want pussy for free
You can not have my money
I want pussy for free, look, I want pussy for free
I want pussy for free, I want pussy for free (for freeeeeeeee)
I ain't givin none of y'all girls money shit fuck y'all
Love ya but fuck ya let bounce this ball
Screwface ya bitches put food on y'all
He won't slip, won't trip, won't ever fall
Bitch you better obey me, better not betray me
Callin the cops sayin this is his baby
Pussy for free, baby, I don’t want none of yall havin my money
I want pussy
Maybe it's just me, but when I see it just laid out like that, in print, I find it horrendously repulsive. It's crude, demeaning, low class, selfish and about as far from "art" as a person could conceivably get.
But that's just me.
Maybe if we look at another lyric? Perhaps the title song of his bestselling album (do your kids own this one?) "Nigga Please":
Watch your shit fall like Rome
I'm immune to all viruses
I get the cocaine it cleans out my sinuses
Just for slinging *nuh* I get a quarter a mil
I'll have it raining ice drops the size of automobiles
Kill all the government microchips in my body
I'm the paranoid nigga at your party
I kill all my enemies at birth!
Shut the fuck up!
Bitch and let my slide my hands up your skirt
Nigga please!
Chorus
Nigga please!(You could never fuck with the dog)(x5)
This man's mind lives not in the streets, but in the ditch. And he wants lots of company.
Now where in the cosmic order of things did ODB (or should I refer to him as Mr. Bastard?) place himself? Did he think he was a kindred voice to older, mature black men who understood the experience of living and growing up in the streets? I don't think so. Did you watch the 1998 Grammy Awards? Check this out:
Daily Hip-Hop News:
ODB Bumrushes Grammy Stage
Thursday - February 26, 1998
by Q
Last night at the Grammy Awards, Puff Daddy won the award for Best Rap Album over Wu-Tang Clan. We all knew that Puffy would win, since the Grammys is mostly awards for popularity rather than talent, but Ol Dirty Bastard saw it a different way.
When the winner was announced for Song Of The Year, Ol Dirty bumrushed the stage, gave a quick kiss to Erykah Badu and went in to a 20 second speech:
"Please calm down. I went and bought me an outfit today that cost me a lot of money, because 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. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best. I want you all to know that this is ODB, and I love you all, peace."
Wow. This guy wanted your children, folks. He wanted your kids to listen to him, to be like him.
I'm sick at my stomach.
Mr. Bastard had an eventful life, including multiple encarcerations and arrests in multiple states, mostly for drug charges. It was a lifestyle he advocated, and lived. An existance full of unabashed self worship and carnal consumption, no matter the cost and no matter to whom.
Dirt Megirt...that's my motherfucking name
Love to flirt...that's my motherfucking name
They said "Who wanna be an MC?"
I am the original G-O-D
Making young ladies scream (is) my speciality
See my style, different from yours
Make young bitch want to drop their drawers
So now he's gone. Struck dead in his "prime" (perhaps by the REAL G-O-D?) On a site especially set up for the purpose, his fans leave heartfelt comments. Voices not only from the United States and the UK, but from Germany, South Africa, Ecuador, Italy, Tanzania, Mozambique, Serbia and on and on. The comments are chilling to read.
"I miss You. I can't see You, but I feel You, I feel Your soul. You know this, no matter how You still got my love."
"One of the Greatest Man Ever Lived...All I can say iz that I'm glad I've been coeval with him... " ("coeval"?)
"u are our Big Baby Jesus...just rest..."
"god rest big baby jesus ,'big baby jesus just cant wait nigga fuck that he cant wait' respect** to tha truth ODB REST IN PEACE FROM THE DIRTY SOUTH-UK odb changed my life after Nigga PLease i didnt wanna hear another lyricist-odb uk salutes u"
And perhaps the most arresting of all: "You will be missed and always loved. Thank you for inspiring me."
(Sigh.)
Enough.
Sorry, I can't say "Rest in Peace." I don't want you to rest in peace. Look at what you've done, at the seeds you planted.
Somebody has to pay for this mess.
And somebody has to clean it up, you 'ol dirty bastard you.
Mister courageous O.D.B.
You need to recognize he's a P-I-M-P
You need to recognize, you need to recognize
Bitches and niggas'll recognize
Look, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh
(BTW, perhaps a parental warning should be in order about this post. I'm going to be quoting some things that may easily offend. But if you have kids, you need to read this, you need to know what's going on behind those closed bedroom doors and those walkman headphones.)
