NEWPORT NEWS -- If you're a rhyme-slinging hip-hop star, myth building is as much a part of your business as sipping champagne and signing record contracts. But if you're the father of a rhyme-slinging hip-hop star, you might feel compelled to tear down some of those publicist-pleasing myths.
William Jones - a Newport News resident who identifies himself as the father of the late gonzo rapper O.D.B. - finds himself on that very mission.
"You know, that story about him being raised in the Fort Greene projects on welfare until he was a child of 13 is a total lie," Jones said in a recent interview. "When I read it in the Vibe magazine a few years ago, my other son was here from the Navy. He said, 'Daddy did you see this story?' I was furious. I tried to get in touch with the guy who wrote the story, but all I got was a tape for two weeks. So finally called my wife. She said, 'Look, I know you're upset.' She said, 'Your son did that for publicity.' I said, 'Wow. As hard as we worked ...' "
Jones retired from a job with the New York Transit Authority, where he worked for more than 20 years. His ex-wife, the former Cherry Jones, worked for the New York City police department as a 911 dispatcher. According to Jones, O.D.B. grew up in a reasonably stable, two-parent, two-income home in Brooklyn. While the family accepted public assistance early on, the image of O.D.B. as a welfare child is groundless.
William Jones, now 61 years old, moved back to his native Virginia about eight years ago. From a modest home in the Denbigh section, he watched his son make headlines in the national media for his drug problems and erratic - even bizarre - behavior.
O.D.B. - who found fame with the influential rap collective called the Wu-Tang Clan - was seen as one of the most colorful characters in hip-hop music. His solo hits included one Top 40 record, "Got Your Money." He also teamed with Mariah Carey on a hit remix of the tune "Fantasy."
But he was easily as well-known for wild antics as for his gravel-voiced raunchy raps. O.D.B. - which stood for Ol' Dirty Bastard - rushed onto the stage during the live Grammy broadcast in 1998, interrupting Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech, and proclaimed "Wu-Tang is for the children!" without further explanation. His tangles with the law - charges ranging from failure to pay child support, to making terrorist threats and shoplifting a pair of sneakers in Virginia Beach - further cemented his legend as a bohemian rebel.
But his behavior and ragged mental state exacted a price. O.D.B. - whose real name was Russell Tyrone Jones - spent time in drug rehab centers and in prison. Once released, his appetites continued to plague him.
The rapper died in a Manhattan recording studio on Nov. 13, a few days short of his 36th birthday.
The New York City medical examiner's office declared the death an accident, one that resulted from the combination of cocaine and the painkiller Tramadol.
Despite O.D.B.'s reputation and self-destructive lifestyle, William Jones remembers Russell as the family comedian who loved to go fishing with his dad and who, after becoming a famous entertainer, was generous toward those close to him.
William Jones said Russell was a smart youngster who sometimes got in trouble for misbehavior at school, but who scored well on standardized tests through natural intellect. Russell was enrolled at Mable Dean Bacon Vocational High School in Manhattan after impressing school administrators with his scores.
But comedy - not schoolwork or even music - was young Russell's specialty.
"Dirty really couldn't sing, so he started clownin', you know," Jones said. "He would make somebody laugh. My oldest boy would say, 'Why you always messing up?' But he was always the fun guy. Like when we had family dinners or family get-togethers at the house, he always did something to make somebody laugh. But we had no idea, at that time, that he was going to be in show business."
At about age 15, Russell entered a rap contest at one of the schools in Brooklyn. "I didn't want him to be in rap, so my wife, she took him behind my back," Jones said, chuckling. "I guess that's where it started from. Him and Rakeem - the RZA (Wu-Tang's chief producer), that's my nephew. They got together. They used to sit down and do things together. That's how Wu-Tang got started."
Jones has fond memories of fishing with Russell at Fort Rockaway, in the Jamaica Bay.
"I used to try to sneak away from them to go fishing. Them boys would get up early in the morning. I'd take a shower and put my clothes on, when I got into the living room, I'd hear some noise. They'd both be sitting there, fully dressed. 'Daddy, you goin' fishing?' I'd say, 'Yeah, come on man.' I couldn't steal away from them at all."
They would catch porgies, bluefish and blackfish. "I never could catch a blackfish. Dirty would sit there and catch them back to back. His brother Mark couldn't catch them either. You hear a lot of guys who say they've been fishing all their lives, they say a blackfish is a hard fish to catch."
Years later, Jones said, his son gave him the down payment for the house in Denbigh, where he moved after retiring.
"I told him I wanted to move back to Virginia to live. He said, 'Dad when you move back to Virginia, buy a house near the water so we can go fishing.' "
While O.D.B. did visit Jones in Newport News on at least one occasion, the two didn't spend much time together in the last months of the rapper's life. Jones said he saw his son in New York in June after traveling to the city to attend his granddaughter's high school graduation.
The encounter was a brief one because O.D.B. had fallen back into drug use.
"He said, 'Daddy I don't want you here.' So we left." Soon after, they talked on a cell phone. Russell explained why he had turned his father away. "He said 'I don't want you to see me like that. You know you're my heart.' And that's the last time I saw him alive. I talked to him frequently after that. But I didn't see him alive anymore."
Was he proud of his son? "I'm very proud of what he accomplished. I didn't want him doing the drugs..."
At the funeral, he was struck by the depth of his son's fame. "Some Orientals came up to me and said, 'Mr. Jones, Dirty to Japan was like the Beatles were to America. I didn't know he was that popular overseas."
Family is obviously important to William Jones. His home is filled with photos of his children and grandchildren. A framed publicity picture of O.D.B. rests beside the television. Jones pointed to a pair of ancient photos resting on top of the television. "Those are my grandparents," he said. They lived near Windsor, on land that Jones said had been in his family for 120 years.
"We originally come out of Franklin and Suffolk, Virginia," he said. "I go to church in Windsor, at the church that all my family went to. I was baptized in that church when I was a kid. I've rejoined since I've been back in Virginia."
Losing a 35-year-old son has been difficult, Jones said. "You don't expect your children to go before you do," he said after looking at a family photo album. "That's all I got left is memories. But I've got grandkids to love me and I love them. And I'm going to try to stay as close to them as I possibly can.
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