A fan's exploration of the man behind the myth Ol' Dirty Bastard (aka Russell Jones) rose to fame with the Wu-Tang Clan in the early '90s, his unorthodox rap style and reputation for erratic behavior putting him in a media spotlight. As a solo artist, he released two albums that went gold and achieved crossover fame through a duet with Mariah Carey that debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. But for the next decade, his life would be fueled by chaos and excess until it derailed completely, resulting in a fatal drug overdose in 2004 and leaving behind an enigmatic legacy and a remarkably diverse group of fans. In a compelling combination of personal narrative, biography, and cultural criticism, Digging for Dirt explores ODB's life, career, mythology, death, and the troubled trajectory of his public and private worlds. Jaime Lowe met with the people ODB affected and was most affected by—surviving members of the Wu-Tang Clan, his hip-hop contemporaries, his parents, his followers, his managers, his neighbors, and his friends—in an attempt to figure out the man behind the clown-prince persona, and the issues of race, celebrity, mental illness, and exploitation that surrounded his rise and fall.

Poetry. "Michael Cirelli has invented his own electric school of lyric, stamping an unflinching signature on soul-infused stanzas that are alternately tender, tough, revelatory and always, alwaays unapologetic. What's most amazing is that he possesses a voice that doesn't seem to have occurred before--its definitive drum works its way into your head and stays there, making you crave more of the infectious music he drops, exactly the way he drops it. Damn"--Patricia Smith Michael. Cirelli is from Providence, Rhode Island. He is the Executive Director of Urban Word NYC, an award-winning literary arts organization for teens. He is also the author of Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics (Milk Mug, 2004), and received his MFA in poetry from the New School. His poems have appeared in the New York Quarterly, Texas Review, Hanging Loose, Word Is Bond, Spindle, among others. He has also been featured in World Literature Today, Spoken Word Revolution Redux, HBO's Def Poetry Jam, and King Magazine: The Illest Men's Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn.

Selected as a Best Book of the Year by Esquire "Couldn't put it down." – Charlamagne Tha God "Mesmerizing." – Raekwon da Chef "Insightful, moving, necessary." – Shea Serrano "Cathartic." –The New Yorker "A classic." –The Washington Post The explosive, never-before-told story behind the historicrise of the Wu-Tang Clan, as told by one of its founding members, Lamont "U-God" Hawkins. “It’s time to write down not only my legacy, but the story of nine dirt-bomb street thugs who took our everyday life—scrappin’ and hustlin’and tryin’ to survive in the urban jungle of New York City—and turned that into something bigger than we could possibly imagine, something that took us out of the projects for good, which was the only thing we all wanted in the first place.” —Lamont "U-God" Hawkins The Wu-Tang Clan are considered hip-hop royalty. Remarkably, none of the founding members have told their story—until now. Here, for the first time, the quiet one speaks. Lamont “U-God” Hawkins was born in Brownsville, New York, in 1970. Raised by a single mother and forced to reckon with the hostile conditions of project life, U-God learned from an early age how to survive. And surviving in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s was no easy task—especially as a young black boy living in some of the city’s most ignored and destitute districts. But, along the way, he met and befriended those who would eventually form the Clan’s core: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, and Masta Killa. Brought up by the streets, and bonding over their love of hip-hop, they sought to pursue the impossible: music as their ticket out of the ghetto. U-God’s unforgettable first-person account of his journey,from the streets of Brooklyn to some of the biggest stages around the world, is not only thoroughly affecting, unfiltered, and explosive but also captures, invivid detail, the making of one of the greatest acts in American music history.

She's a biker chick with an edge. Daughter of an MC President, Trix Slade is used to living on the wild side, but nothing prepares her for being kidnapped by the Grim Bastards MC. Hell bent on getting back home, Trix will do anything to get away from her captors-anything. There's only one problem. Boz is as sexy as he is wild-a tempting combination for a woman like Trix. He's a bastard with a soul. The Bastards' president, Boz Creed, wants to bring Trix's father down and knows the best way to get to him is by using his precious daughter. Determined to get the revenge he seeks, Boz is willing to do anything to get what he wants-anything. There's only one problem. Trix is as sexy as she is stubborn-a deadly combination for a man like Boz. Can love between two rival clubs survive without someone taking the ultimate fall?

Dirty & Stinkin' is a story of how I became affiliated with the mega-group Wu-Tang Clan & The Ol' Dirty Bastard. Along with some in-depth perspective into the misconception of The Ol' Dirty Bastard. He was one of the nine members of the group (10 including Cappadonna) and definitely the most colorful. The purpose here is to shine some light onto a side of Ol' Dirty that some people haven't seen or heard about. The media has always depicted him in a very negative light, almost making him appear to be a psychopath. I've spent a substantial amount of time with, and around ODB. He was not the person projected by the cameras. He was a wild dude, but that was just a part of him. This is a story of my interactions with the 10 men, and what I've observed throughout the years. I had the privilege of being Wu-Tang affiliated through my cousins Mook & Masta Killa. Hopefully, by the time you reach the end of this book, you'll see ODB from a different perspective. You'll also get an inside view into the legends of Wu-Tang, life on the road, and some truth. Enjoy the book. Peace and continued blessings.

The first Asian woman in hip-hop, Sophia Chang shares the inspiring story of her career in the music business, working with such acts as The Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest, her path to becoming an entrepreneur, and her candid accounts of marriage, motherhood, aging, desire, marginalization, and martial arts. Fearless and unpredictable, Sophia Chang prevailed in a male-dominated music industry to manage the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B. The daughter of Korean immigrants in predominantly white suburban Vancouver, Chang left for New York City, and soon became a powerful voice in music boardrooms at such record companies as Atlantic, Jive, and Universal Music Group. As an A&R rep, Chang met a Staten Island rapper named Prince Rakeem, now known as the RZA, founder of the Wu-Tang Clan, the most revered and influential rap group in hip-hop history. That union would send her on a transformational odyssey, leading her to a Shaolin monk who would become her partner, an enduring kung fu practice, two children, and a reckoning with what type woman she ultimately wanted to be. For decades, Chang helped remarkably talented men tell their stories. Now, with The Baddest Bitch In The Room, she is ready to tell her own story of marriage, motherhood, aging, desire, marginalization, and martial arts. This is an inspirational debut memoir by a woman of color who has had the audacity to be bold in the pursuit of her passions, despite what anyone—family, society, the dominant culture—have prescribed.

On May 1, 2003, Russell Tyrone Jones was released on parole for a new and sober beginning. He had a megadeal for a new album and a clothing line all about sealed. After several months in a mental ward and a couple of years in jail, his new, high-profile management team arranged for a press conference to announce the fact that Ol' Dirty Bastard was back. Well, not Ol' Dirty Bastard, but a new Ol' Dirty Bastard, Dirt McGirt.