Ol’ Dirty Bastard

Pieced together by an all-star team of producers (RZA, Raekwon, Mark Ronson) and bolstered by guest vocalists like Missy Elliott, Macy Gray, and fellow Wu-Tang alumni Ghostface Killah and Method Man, A Son Unique feels more like a posthumous tribute to Russell Jones than an actual ODB album. Even so, Dirty’s boisterous, unmistakable bellow shines, whether he’s ripping through the most colorful, unlikely couplets (“Old man McGirt, looking under your skirt/Fucked the pussy till it’s orange like Ernie and Bert”) or slaughtering an unintentionally hilarious remake of Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” He sounds sluggish at times, maniacally charged at others, but give the Bastard his due: He has never been dull.