New York City’s legendary emcee and a prominent member of Hip-Hop’s historic supergroup ‘Wu-Tang Clan’ Ol’ Dirty Bastard released his debut solo LP ‘Return To The 36 Chambers’ 28 years ago. Released on March 28th 1995, ‘Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version’ was the sophomore individual record from Wu-Tang Clan after Method Man released the iconic ‘Tical’ LP.
Produced primarily by Wu-Tang Clan’s ferocious rapper RZA and affiliates 4th Disciple and True Master, the 17-track record featured guest verses from Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA, RZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Masta Killa and Wu-Tang Killa Beez.
Notably, the LP went on to influence modern rap at an unprecedented scale. Most recently, Quavo & the late ATL emcee Take-off honoured Raekwon by naming their debut collaborative effort “Only Built For Infinity Links” after Raekwon’s LP.
The LP is home to numerous East Coast Hip-Hop classics including “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”, “Don’t U Know”, “Proteck Ya Neck II” and “Harlem World”. Further, the album was the Dirtiest Man Ever’s first RIAA platinum record and peaked at the 7th spot on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart at the time.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s debut LP paved the way for the third solo record from Wu-Tang Clan. Within months after ODB’s historic album, Raekwon dropped “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” on October 2nd 1995.
Listen to ODB’s debut solo LP ‘Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version’ here if you haven’t yet.
