New York City has co-named a Brooklyn street corner for Ol' Dirty Bastard, the late Wu-Tang Clan rapper born Russell Tyrone Jones. The corner of Franklin Avenue and Putnam Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant now also carries the name 'ODB Jones Way,' unveiled at a ceremony on Sunday, July 26, attended by his friends and family.
According to Bushwick Daily, the renaming followed a decision by City Council Member Chi Osse to recognize ODB's "lasting impact on music, culture, and the borough of Brooklyn." It follows a 2023 move by the New York City Council that designated November 15 as "Ol' Dirty Bastard Day," part of a string of posthumous honors for the rapper that MusicSuey follows on award watch.
ODB was born and raised in nearby Fort Greene, but the newly dedicated corner sits directly in front of a mural of his 1994 debut solo album, Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version. His brother, Ramsey Jones, said at the ceremony that the location carries personal weight: "my grandmother's house is on this block on Putnam Avenue, right next to where the mural is."
Family members received replica versions of the new street sign, and, per Billboard, ODB's song 'Brooklyn Zoo' played from a soundsystem on the block during the ceremony. Wu-Tang Clan marked the occasion with a tribute of their own, invoking his many names, Unique Ason and Big Baby Jesus among them, before writing: "Bed-Stuy is calling it ODB Jones Way. We heard you. We'll keep it raw."
The tribute lands the same month that fellow Wu-Tang affiliate Masta Killa appeared on a new single with Rakim and Kurupt, a reminder that the group's members and extended circle remain active more than three decades after ODB helped found the group. New York has not said whether further ODB tributes are planned beyond the street co-naming.
The facts
- Corner of Franklin and Putnam Avenues in Bed-Stuy co-named 'ODB Jones Way' on July 26
- Follows a 2023 New York City Council designation of November 15 as Ol' Dirty Bastard Day
- New corner sits in front of a mural of his 1994 album Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
- Brother Ramsey Jones said their grandmother's house is on the same block
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