The Dirty Version: On Stage, in the Studio, and in the Streets with Ol' Dirty Bastard

On the tenth anniversary of Ol' Dirty Bastard's death, his right-hand man and best friend, Buddha Monk, presents The Dirty Version—the first biography of the hip-hop superstar and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, to be written by someone from his inner circle.

Ol' Dirty Bastard rocketed to fame with the Wu-Tang Clan, the raucous and renegade group that forever altered the hip-hop world. ODB was one of the Clan's wildest icons and most inventive performers, and when he died of an overdose in 2004, at the age of thirty-five, millions of fans mourned the loss. ODB lives on in epic proportions and his antics are legend: he once picked up his welfare check in a limousine; lifted a burning car off a four-year-old girl in Brooklyn; stole a fifty-dollar pair of sneakers on tour at the peak of his success. Many have questioned whether his stunts were carefully calculated or the result of paranoia and mental instability.

Now, Dirty's friend since childhood, Buddha Monk, a Wu-Tang collaborator onstage and in the studio, reveals the truth about the complex and talented performer. From Dirty's days with Buddha on the streets of Brooklyn to the meteoric rise of Wu-Tang's star, from his bouts in prison to his court-mandated rehab, from his favorite kind of pizza to his struggles with fame and success, Buddha tells the real story—The Dirty Version—of the legendary rapper.