Rap artist ODB (Ol' Dirty Bastard), one of the most colourful characters in the world of hip-hop, has died aged 35.
ODB, real name Russell Jones, collapsed and died at the Manhattan recording studio in New York on Saturday.
A spokesman for his record company, Gabe Tesoriero, said the rapper, who had complained of chest pains, was dead by the time paramedics reached him.
ODB - whose most famous song was Got Your Money - had recently finished a prison sentence for drug possession.
ODB was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s.
He later released several singles which were hits in the US, and worked with a variety of artists including Mariah Carey.
Got Your Money, which featured Kelis, was a big hit in the UK.
''To the public he was known as Old Dirty Bastard, but to me he was known as Rusty. The kindest most generous soul on earth.''
Cherry Jones
Mother
Over the years he was involved in several shootings and was arrested on a variety of charges, including shoplifting, drug offences and threatening a former girlfriend.
In 2001 he was jailed for two years for possessing drugs and escaping from a rehab clinic. He had been working on a comeback album, which was nearly finished, when he died.
His mother, Cherry Jones, said: "To the public he was known as Old Dirty Bastard, but to me he was known as Rusty. The kindest most generous soul on earth."
ODB, real name Russell Jones, collapsed and died at the Manhattan recording studio in New York on Saturday.
A spokesman for his record company, Gabe Tesoriero, said the rapper, who had complained of chest pains, was dead by the time paramedics reached him.
ODB - whose most famous song was Got Your Money - had recently finished a prison sentence for drug possession.
ODB was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s.
He later released several singles which were hits in the US, and worked with a variety of artists including Mariah Carey.
Got Your Money, which featured Kelis, was a big hit in the UK.
''To the public he was known as Old Dirty Bastard, but to me he was known as Rusty. The kindest most generous soul on earth.''
Cherry Jones
Mother
Over the years he was involved in several shootings and was arrested on a variety of charges, including shoplifting, drug offences and threatening a former girlfriend.
In 2001 he was jailed for two years for possessing drugs and escaping from a rehab clinic. He had been working on a comeback album, which was nearly finished, when he died.
His mother, Cherry Jones, said: "To the public he was known as Old Dirty Bastard, but to me he was known as Rusty. The kindest most generous soul on earth."
