Ol' Dirty Bastard: Return To The 36 Chambers - The Dirty Version (CD)

It's safe to say that hip-hop has never seen an album like Ol’ Dirty Bastard's 1995 solo debut Return to the 36 Chambers. The brief glimpses of ODB's unhinged genius provided by Wu-Tang Clan's landmark Enter the Wu-Tang album two years earlier were begging to be expanded on to a larger canvas, and, with RZA guiding production, the album promised to give Dirty the creative license to make one of the most bizarre, entertaining and original LPs in hip-hop history. With his raspy, drunken flow and dark sense of humor, Dirty fearlessly attacks from all angles, throwing himself fearlessly into punchy rhyme attacks (“Damage,” with GZA), drugged-out party jams (the monster singles “Brooklyn Zoo” and “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”) and bizarre, grimly hilarious fantasies of sex and violence (“Don't U Know” and the R&B-tinged “Sweet Sugar Pie”).

Backed by RZA's appropriately gritty, dissonant beats and appearances from the Clan, Return... became an instant hit, selling over 1 million copies and earning a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album in 1996. The album stands as a high water mark in the Wu-Tang Clan's collective creative output and was selected as one of the Best 100 Rap Albums by The Source magazine in 1998.

1. Intro
2. Shimmy Shimmy Ya
3. Baby C'mon
4. Brooklyn Zoo
5. Hippa To Da Hoppa
6. Raw Hide
7. Damage
8. Don't U Know
9. The Stomp
10. Goin' Down
11. Drunk Game (Sweet Sugar Pie)
12. Snakes
13. Brooklyn Zoo II (Tiger Crane)
14. Proteck Ya Neck II The Zoo
15. Cuttin' Headz
16. Dirty Dancin'
17. Harlem World