Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys

Sam Pollard & Jason L. Pollard / United States / 2024 / 88 min

Few people nod in recognition when they hear the name Russell Jones. Ason Unique probably doesn’t ring many bells either. But ODB – or Ol’ Dirty Bastard – probably does: all names associated with the American rapper from the most important rap group of the 1990s, Wu-Tang Clan. Ol’ Dirty Bastard was the soul of the group – a wild, loud and totally unpredictable bundle of energy. 

But he was also father and husband Russell Jones. And he was the religious Black man Ason Unique, born during the race riots of the 1960s when the country’s Black population had to fight and die for even the smallest rights. He was a multicolored Hulk who changed color depending on who was looking at him. But as his stardom grows, he spins more and more out of control.

He has countless affairs, dabbles in drugs, gets shot, falls into crime and ends up in prison. And when he is released, he is swallowed up by people who want to spin gold on him. Unique private and archival footage tells the brutal story of the legendary rapper from his Bronx upbringing, through his Wu-Tang Clan heyday, to his untimely death on a dark night in 2004.