Brooklyn has added a new tribute to one of its most distinctive rap voices. During a ceremony on July 26, Putnam Avenue in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood was officially co-named ODB Jones Way in honor of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the Wu-Tang Clan co-founder whose real name was Russell Tyrone Jones.
The event brought together friends, family members, and local officials to mark the occasion. While Jones was born and raised in Fort Greene, his ties to Bed-Stuy remain especially meaningful. According to the report, his eldest brother, Ramsay Jones, said at the ceremony that the street sign was installed near the block where their grandmother still lives. That same block also features a mural based on the cover of Jones’ debut solo album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version.
The street naming comes more than two decades after Ol’ Dirty Bastard died of an overdose in 2004 at age 35. Since then, his life and legacy have been revisited in two documentaries: an unauthorized 2013 film that his estate tried to stop, and a 2023 A&E release made with his family’s approval.
Source: pitchfork.com
