4. Ol’ Dirty BastardReturn to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
The first five years of the Wu-Tang Clan, the body of work from 36 Chambers onwards, are really huge to me. I didn’t stop listening to them. I even read both of RZA’s books. It was like this five year plan by RZA to make this body of work for everyone. There’s many things I love about RZA’s production, he uses their voices or their personalities like how anyone would orchestrate instruments. I put together a live band for Nonpareils and I don’t want to sound like some mastermind or controller like RZA, it’s much more passive, but I choose people to play with me where they can be themselves, based on personality and just letting them make their own decisions. I think that that’s really evident on this particular album because you can tell he had to stretch the vocal material and work with the free spirit who embodies and lives the stories they’re telling. Ol’ Dirty Bastard is the spirit of these stories that are coming through the music. That’s what’s so unique about ODB, when he raps or when he sings, they always say there’s no father to his style.
