As I'm sure you already know, ODB is the coolest person to have ever existed. I won't give you a long list of the felonies that he committed in order to qualify for this position, but let's bear in mind that this man, whilst being hunted down by the police, jumped up on stage to perform with the Wu-tang Clan, and then fled into the night (and subsequently was caught when an undecover policeman asked him for an autograph...DOH!!!). 'N@gga Please' is the ultimate manifestation of this genius/madman's personality. Like other f#cked-up on drugs, crime and filthy sex masterpieces, such as Sly Stone's 'There's a Riot Going On', 'N#gga Please' is an incohesive, sprawling, wild and mesemerising experience that recreates the feeling of having your brain fried by too much drugs and alcohol. To say that this album is a landmark- masterpiece would not necessarily be true unless you are a true devotee of this man, but undoubtedly this LP is a strange, worrying and bruised statement of insanity from a man who sadly now is on suicide watch in US prison.

The thing that is most evident about 'N#gga Please' is how little it sounds like a Wu-Tang LP. Wu-leader and producer RZA makes a couple of appearnces, notably, on the delightfully titled 'I Want P?ssy', but his trademark, murky beats and ominous string samples are nowhere to be seen. Instead, the listener gets a funked-up sound that is most reminiscent of an amalgamation of Prince, George Clinton and Sly Stone, with a little bit of the wildness of animal from the Muppets thrown in. The track that you'll all undoubtedly know and love is 'Got Your Money' featuring Kelis and produced by the then unknown Neptunes. This is a true anthem, twhich is still played on radio and in clubs regularly. Elsewhere on the album, the feel veers from the straight-ahead lunacy to inpenetrable insanity such as second-track 'I Can't Wait'. A classical string
sample has a 3000mph jackhammer beat thrown over it, and only features the lyrics 'Big Baby Jesus, I can't wait/ Nigga f#ck that I can't wait' until it ends in the strangulated screech of Ol' Dirty thanking his rap contemporaries, eskimoes and himself. It's honestly disturbing and compelling at the same time, that such unhinged and genuine madness is portrayed so accurately on a record.

Despite this, often 'N#gga Please' revels in pure good-time humour, such as the opening skit/track with Chris Rock, which labels him the 'embryo DB' rather than 'Old DB'. It almost feels that this isn't a hip-hop album at all, but an updated 70s soul-funk LP instead. There is very little bragging aboutskills; no tales from the ghetto and few lyrical metaphors. Strangley, this is the album's greatest strength, because it proves what an honest and heartfelt testament this truly is. It is as if ODB can't contain any of his thoughts or feelings, and they've just exploded onto record. As excellent as the music is, it is the very disturbed Russell Jones' personality that makes its impact when you listen to this album. He barely pays any attention to the beat or melody and accordingly it feels as if the music has been added as an afterthought. If there is one criticism of this album, it is that maybe the beats are just a little bit too glossy for Ol' Dirty. His debut 'Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version'sounded like it was recorded in a bucket of mud, but this seemed to suit his wild, off-key delivery slightly more. Perhaps this is a testament to RZA's ability to provide the perfect musical landscape for each of his fellow clansters, but 'N#gga Please' just has too many producers and hence doesn't sound that cohesive. Oddly enough it is the untrammeled and unrestrained lunacy of ODB himself that keeps this album together.

Ol' Dirty is not just an idiot-savant par e
xcellence, his bloodlust for drink, drugs and alcohol, spills over into his political outlook as well, as he forcefully warns the listener against 'white motherf#ckers', who he later labels as 'faggots'. That sentiments such as this are allowed onto record on a major label is incredible, but if you censored ODB, he just wouldn't work. This political statement seems rather to be more of an outpouring from a persecuted, frustrated and troubled-soul than the declaration of a genuine race-hatred, but it is nonetheless worrying and shocking. Ultimately, it's this simultaneous ability to sound dangerous yet vulnerable that makes 'N#gga Please' such compulsive listening. It's the same kind of trick that Eminem pulls, only Mr Mathers is way too contrived to ever have us really worried that he is hell-bent on self-destruction. I haven't really mentioned individual songs here because they are not the main thing that makes the LP worth owning. Ol Dirty himself is what makes this LP utterly essential, and let's hope he's out of jail safe and sound soon.