With his posthumous release A Son Unique enduring endless delays thanks to the diminishing specter of Damon Dash (who signed ODB to Roc-A-Fella in 2003 and spearheaded the project), ODB currently has only two solo albums to his credit. (The pathetic 2002 cash-in attempt The Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones was a callous hodge-podge of an album that had little to do with Dirty.) Seemingly for the sake of symmetry alone, there are now two best-of retrospective collections dedicated to the man's tragically brief solo career as well: 2001's label-contract fulfilling The Dirty Story and this highly repetitive, largely unnecessary 16-track CD/DVD combo. The existence of such a superfluous disc is even more idiotic considering Return to the 36 Chambers and N**a Please are both so chock full of classic material that listening to them straight through is an undeniable pleasure that needn't be tampered with.*
Given the shamelessly exploitative nature of this release ("Let 'em know you're Dirty!" spouts a craven insert promoting ODB ringtones), there are a couple of short-but-sweet bonuses for hardcore fans on the accompanying DVD. The extra disc features his excellent, insane music videos for "Brooklyn Zoo", "Shimmy Shimmy Ya", and "Got Your Money". A hip-hop answer to Weezer's "Happy Days"-sampling "Buddy Holly" video, "Got Your Money" tries the same trick with Dolemite to hilarious effect, inserting obviously mis-matched ODB footage from the "Shimmy" clip to make up for then-troubled artist's absence. And Dirt's Funkadelic, brain-fried performance in the pre-Austin Powers afro flashback clip for "Shimmy" may be the best visual depiction of his genius ever recorded.
But, fact is, those videos aren't new and you've probably seen them many times before. The only footage included that fans may not be familiar with is a 1995 TV "interview" that sees ODB, the RZA, and a small army of hangers-on walking, talking, drinking 40s, and spontaneously freestyling through the streets of New York ("Niggas comin' through the trees like a salamander/ Bitin' like a piranha/ But I'm bitin' you back like a Black Panther!" goes one spectacular Dirty outburst). It's as brilliant as it sounds. At one particularly inspired point, Dirt puts forth an ambitious Wu mission: "Destroying all that negativity that's in the world, we emblemishing [sic] all that!" Also, during a rare moment of relative calm, he sadly predicts future problems, "I already witnessed death, kid-- and the death was to be dead mentally." Whether he's inadvertently spitting at the camera lens or advertently fogging it up, the too-short exhibition of all things Dirty will undoubtedly, and sadly, having you wishing for more of his singular charms.
No matter how good the uncovered footage is, though, it's probably not worth the almost $20 list price. For the real story, the uninitiated would be best served by doling out a few more bucks and picking up Dirt's two accomplished solo LPs.
