Fugitive rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, on the run since Oct. 17, was nabbed outside of a Philadelphia McDonald’s on Monday afternoon in the Gray’s Ferry section of the city.
ODB, who’s real name is Russell Tyrone Jones, was arrested at around 4 p.m. by Officer Rebecca Anderson. Anderson, who is familiar with the rapper’s work, spotted the fugitive in the McDonald’s drive-thru. Jones’ car was pulled out of line and the artist was arrested peacefully.
A member of the rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, Jones, 30, was being held without bail. Jones has been well known for his antics on and away from the mic.
ODB has been on the lamb since he escaped from the Impact House drug rehabilitation center in Pasadena, Calif., last month. Jones missed a class and was then scheduled to appear in court. In court, according to an article in the Daily News, counselors at the treatment center planned to ask that he leave.
“He was afraid the judge would be too harsh about that,” Jones’ lawyer Larry Charles told the Daily News, “So it’s not a matter of him escaping for no reason. He missed a class, it’s not like he killed someone and left town.”
Jones’ criminal record is almost as long as his two solo albums. He is currently wanted on three warrants in New York for drug possession and one in Los Angeles, for making terrorist threats.
His rap sheet also includes illegally possessing body armor- from when he was caught wearing a bulletproof vest, a crime in California for anyone with a criminal record.
That 1999 arrest followed charges of possessing crack cocaine, making terroristic threats, illegal operation of a vehicle, and stealing a pair of $50 sneakers.
At the Grammy music awards in 1998, ODB jumped on stage during an acceptance speech by Shawn Colvin, stole her microphone, and taunted rap mogul Puff Daddy.
“Puffy’s okay,” ODB told the crowd, “but Wu-Tang teaches the children.”
ODB’s arrest has Temple students talking
“He’s a fool and he got what he had coming to him,” said Temple sophomore, and Hip-Hop society member Andy Stitt.
Other students view the situation from a different angle than Stitt.
“I hope everything works itself (out),” junior Dawan Malik McAdams said. “We miss him as far as hip-hop is concerned.”
And others unequivocally side with Jones.
“I feel ODB should be set free,” said sophomore Doug Henry.
The Brooklyn based ODB, has been a member of the Wu-Tang Clan since its inception in the early 90’s. The group has been very influential in the world of hip-hop and has spawned many solo projects, including two by ODB. His newest, Nigga Please, came out last year to solid reviews but only one single from the CD was released to radio.
ODB is on a few tracks from Wu-Tang’s newest release, The W, but with ODB in trouble with the law, it was tough to get him into the studio.
Jones had been lying low, but last Tuesday, the day the CD was released, he made a surprise appearance at a concert in New York. During the show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, ODB emerged from the woodwork to rhyme on a few songs, according to Rolling Stone.com.
Before he abruptly left, he spoke to the audience:
“The whole f**kin’ world was after me, but I’m survivin’, you know what I’m saying,” ODB told the crowd. “Just like a fly on your window pane, I’m here lookin’ right at you. The cops is after me, so I gotta get outta here.”
Jones was able to evade the cops, but only until he decided to grab a bite to eat at McDonald’s. Jones, who has ballooned to 230 pounds, had been “lying low” in Philadelphia for a while, according to the Daily News.
The Daily News interviewed someone that identified himself as a brother of Jones. They said that Jones was looking to settle down in Philadelphia and maybe buy a house. But instead he spent the night at the First District police station at 24th and Wolf streets.
As he left the station to go to court, according to the DN article, Jones said to his brother and a friend:
“I’ll see y’all in a couple years.”
T.J. Baker, who works at Temple’s student radio station, WHIP, said that ODB should have been more careful being a high-profile artist.
“ODB is an artist,” Baker said,” and he needs to watch what he does because he’s in the limelight. Everything he does is under a microscope.”
Jones will be back in court next Friday, Dec. 8, when a Philadelphia judge will decide if he will be extradited to New York or Los Angeles.
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