All the years seem to blend into one when I think about the time spent getting into Wu-Tang Clan in university. Want to say it took a couple years to fully understand. I have a clear vision of being in my first-year room and listening to 36 Chambers and GZA’s Liquid Swords. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… may have shown up around the time too. But I think it was the earlier part of my second year where I became somewhat enthralled by their whole thing, and on my part was watching interviews, documentary clips and the like. You know what, it was around the time when they announced that they were about to release their new album – their first in a long, long time. A Better Tomorrow, I think it was. That record wasn’t all that great. But the hype building up to it got me all invested in the group, making me seek out the rest of the members’ own solo discographies.

Having covered GZA and Raekwon already, I think their albums had shown up somewhere in the ‘Best Ever Albums’ list on besteveralbums.com – the only reason why I got to listening to them, it was my decision to hear the album by the Wu member who always entertained me the most, be it in both the music and video. This led me to Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, the 1995 debut by the group’s beloved drunken master, the Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Always seemed to remain in the pocket while also possessing the most exaggerated and eccentric delivery out of the Wu’s nine members. He wasn’t afraid to occasionally break out into song during his verses too. Wanted you to know he had soul in him. His presence was a usual highlight throughout 36 Chambers, so what could be better than a whole hour of the guy on his own solo project?

It’s been a while since I’ve properly gone through The Dirty Version. Have to go back to it one of these days. But what I do know is that after its almost-five minute intro, one of the most hilarious and entertaining in any hip-hop album, comes ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’, one of if not the signature tune by ODB. It’s a track where he declares that he’s out to take the world by storm in the name of the Wu-Tang and basically goes on to tell us why he’s the best at what he does. There are so many hooks to latch on to, “Ooh, baby, I like it raaaaw, HUH”, “Shimmy shimmy ya, shimmy yam, shimmy yay”, “Jump on stage a-den-a-den deeeeen”. The two-note piano lick that starts it off. So simple yet so effective. And the whole track relies on a second-verse-same-as-the-first-thing going on, so you can’t go wrong once you’ve got the words memorised. That is, at least how it goes on the album version (below). You can tell the second verse was probably overdubbed at a different stage than the first. The extended version, used for the music video, features the original second verse that sounds like it was improvised on the spot. The video also features a snippet of fellow album track, ‘Baby C’mon’, which I’m also very into. Can’t write a post about it now. But that’s another highlight of mine.