This year marks the 25th anniversary of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s debut solo album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version. According to a report by Rolling Stone, the late Wu-Tang Clan rapper’s certified platinum LP will be remembered with a deluxe reissue, released in several formats this and next month.
The Return to the 36 Chambers reissue will include a 43-track digital version, released on March 27 via Rhino Entertainment. The album will include songs from the original LP — which included appearances from fellow Wu-Tang members GZA, RZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Masta Killa — as well as instrumental versions, B-sides, acapella songs, remixes and two unreleased “stripped versions” of “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and “Brooklyn Zoo.” The new version of “Brooklyn Zoo” was released on Thursday (March 5) along with the reissue’s announcement.
“My children and I are beyond excited to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of my late husband’s album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version,” the late rapper’s wife and administrator of his estate Icelene Jones said in a press release. “We are even more excited and appreciative of the fans, who have never wavered in their support for ODB, and have honored his talent with a platinum album this year.”
Next month, a vinyl box set for the reissue will arrive as a celebration of Record Store Day, which lands on April 18. The Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version set will include the album’s original 17 tracks and appear on nine seven-inch singles pressed on blue, yellow and white vinyl.
Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version peaked at the No. 7 spot on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold in 1995. The record, which also marked the second solo album to spawn from Wu-Tang — following Method Man’s Tical — went on to be nominated at the 1996 Grammys for Best Rap Album.
Find the new “Brooklyn Zoo (Stripped Version)” below.