Ol' Dirty Bastard Had 'Legitimate Concern' About Government Surveillance Before Reveal of FBI File on Wu-Tang Clan

The hip-hop icon's concerns are highlighted in the new A&E documentary 'Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys'

A new documentary on the life of rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard highlights his mistrust of the government in the '90s — years before it was revealed that the FBI was keeping tabs on both him and his group Wu-Tang Clan for five years.

In A&E's Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys, associates of the hit-making MC look back at his tumultuous life, including his run-ins with law enforcement, all of which took place decades before a Freedom of Information Act request revealed the extent of the New York Police Department's attempt to mount a RICO prosecution against Wu-Tang Clan — which ultimately went nowhere, despite an infamous 95-page FBI file, extensively reviewed by VICE in 2016.

"He would literally come to my record company office twice a week with a record out, not a record out, so he could just relax. I don't know if that was the drugs, drinking, the pressure of his life.... I thought it was the paranoia, but he was really having some real issues," music executive Steve Rifkind says of ODB in the documentary. "I called some people, and that's when I realized, the cops, they were definitely looking at him."

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As noted in the documentary, the New York Police Department's Enterprise Operations Unit (referred to in the film as the "hip-hop police") was known to keep tabs on local influential rappers, and as the doc highlights, the NYPD would pull over someone like ODB as he left his home to attend concerts.

"Dirt was one of those guys like, 'Yo, the government is on us.' They gon' try to kill me like this, they gon' try to kill me like that,'" Wu-Tang's Ghostface Killah recalls in the film.

As it turned out, ODB's suspicion that the government was after him was "correct," journalist S. H. Fernando Jr. confirms in the documentary. "People think that Dirty was crazy or drugs were making him paranoid or whatever," Fernando says. "But he actually did have a legitimate concern that the feds were after him. He knew that he was on the radar of law enforcement."

"They had been following Wu-Tang for years," he adds.

Related: 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' Cast Members on Show's Impact: 'Showcases the Power and Beauty of Black Culture'

While ODB died of a drug overdose in November 2004 at age 35, the extent of the FBI's five-year (1999-2004) file on Wu-Tang Clan wasn't unveiled until eight years later. VICE noted in 2016 that the file included "inflammatory allegations" related to racketeering. No charges were ever filed against the legendary hip-hop group.

A Tale of Two Dirtys covers the rise of Wu-Tang, ODB's solo success, the time he rescued a 4-year-old girl from under a car, his iconic "Fantasy" team-up with Mariah Carey and his untimely overdose death. Also featured in the documentary are Carey, members of ODB's immediate family, Ghostface Killah and their fellow Wu-Tang member Raekwon.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys premieres Sunday, Aug. 25, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on A&E.

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