Shaquita, Taniqua, and Barsun Jones – the three children of late Wu-Tang Clan legend Ol’ Dirty Bastard – sat down with Rolling Stone to talk about fiercely protecting their father’s legacy. Amongst other things, they also give insight into what it was like growing up with the larger-than-life personality and indelible hip hop icon.
Watch: Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s three children on legacy, love and Wu-Tang
The “three masterminds” is what 27-year-old Shaquita Jones dubs the trio, with her and her sister Taniqua, 31, co-directing the estate of their late great father. 30-year-old Barsun isn’t involved in managing the estate, but carries his father’s energy with him every day. And it’s obvious to everyone who knows him.
“I swear to ya’ll … I feel like my father’s spirit left him, his body in the casket, and went into my brother,” says Taniqua, who recalls that Barsun’s sisters once saw him as shy and soft-spoken. Although, those past impressions are a far cry from what Barsun is today – an entrepreneur and rapper with the confidence to match his stage name of “Young Dirty Bastard.
“We got the same looks, but our brain is different,” explains Barsun on comparisons to his father. “I learned from his mistakes more than anything.”
Ol Dirty’s wild personality on and off Wu-Tang Clan records was often, to his children, misunderstood. “He just played with us all the time – he was a big kid,” says Taniqua. “Everybody sees this crazy, crazy person that did drugs. But nobody really sees who he was.”
It’s clear what means the most is his legacy. “He’s so relevant today,” offers Taniqua, who along with her siblings, was barely a teenager when ODB passed in 2004. “I feel like when people die, or pass away, you don’t really seem much of them. I see him all the time.”
Watch on to hear what all three are up to now and how they are carrying ODB’s legacy.
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