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Ol’ Dirty Bastard
THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF RUSSELL JONES
(D3)

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ODB’s charisma is not to be denied on The Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones. After all, this is a guy who conducted an MTV interview in a stretch limo en route to pick up his welfare check. It’s a confused world ODB lives in: in a handful of the disc’s amusing between-song skits, he expresses his overall disdain for white devils, only to team up with Detroit’s devilish white-rappin’ duo Insane Clown Posse for "Dirty & Stinkin’," where one of the clowns claims to be "dirty like Osama bin Laden’s toes." ODB’s Staten Island clique the Wu-Tang are absent (aside from Wu distant cousins Sunz of Man and Buddha Monk) here, which means that the disc doesn’t benefit from the RZA’s Midas-touch production. Instead, the RZA’s patented analog drum and violin loops are replaced with sparse West Coast–style beats, perhaps with the idea that Dirty’s snarling and growling will carry the load. That’s understandable when you consider that some of the Wu-Tang’s most potent tracks ("Diesel," "Rawhide," "Duel of the Iron Mic") feature ODB commandeering the mike. But Trials is too big a letdown for even ODB’s delivery to save. For starters, the disc is cluttered with guest verses from Mack 10, E-40, and No Limit’s C-Murder. And three of the best cuts — "C’Mon," "Reunited," and "Dogged Out" — feature rehashed lyrics from ODB’s first album.

BY CHRIS CONTI

Issue Date: April 18 - 25, 2002
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