On this day in 1998, Wu-Tang Clan’s very own Ol’ Dirty Bastard crashed the stage at Radio City Music Hall to voice his opinion about losing a Grammy nomination to Diddy.
The year was monumental for all of the Wu-Tang Clan. Since their debut release as a group four years prior, many of the members put forth some of the best albums in not only Hip Hop but all of music.
On the contrary, the same could be said for a young Sean Combs who, at the time, went by the name “Puff Daddy.” Since his early departure from Uptown Records, he had been making a solid name in the industry whether it be founding Bad Boy Entertainment, producing hits for artists that include: Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Lil’ Kim, and Usher –just to name a few, or even promoting his own talents like The Notorious B.I.G. and Craig Mack. But in 1997, he had begun to make his mark as a rapper with the release of his first LP titled, No Way Out.
Fast forward to the 40th Annual Grammy Awards held in the historic Radio City Music Hall in 1998. The Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Forever would be matched with Diddy’s No Way Out in the category for Best Rap Album. Unfortunately for the Clan, they fell short, which caused disbelief to many, including Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who not long after grabbed the mic from a young Erykah Badu and announced that “Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best…”
Puff Daddy’s No Way Out album won the award, but ODB said his outfit “costed” him way too much not to not have his side of the story heard.
The late ODB would be rivaled by none other than a Hennessy bottle-toting Kanye West, who mirrored his acts on the Grammy stage in 2015 with a young Taylor Swift.