ODB's rhymes live on

Considering the longstanding tradition of recording companies capitalizing on the untimely death of artists, it isn't surprising that less than two months after the drug overdose of Ol' Dirty Bastard the first of what will most likely be many posthumous records has been released. Osirus: The Official Mixtape, however, is not to be confused with the album that he was in the process of recording at the time of his death, which will most certainly be released sometime in the near future.\nOsirus starts out strong. The first four tracks, "Pop Shots," "Dirty Dirty," "Go Go Go" and "Who Can Make it Happen Like Dirt?" represent the style that Dirty cultivated from his time with Wu-Tang Clan until his death -- a beat-centric fusion of bass and sampling paired with ODB's erratic and at times bizarre rapping. The background beats carry on Dirty's tradition of old-school mixing, including samples of kung-fu clips and Mozart. However, something seems to be missing from his rapping style. Gone is a lot of the crazed ranting, shouting and nonsensical rambling that fans remember from his previous solo recordings. While ODB-as-a-serious-rapper may be something that many of his fans longed for, an equal number, including myself, looked to ODB for this unique combination of insanity and genius.\nWu-Tang member Cappadonna is featured in the song "Stand Up," but Wu-Tang fans shouldn't expect it to be reminscient of the Wu flavor. The combination of Dirty and Cappadonna just isn't enough to bring it back. The Roots' human beatbox, Rahzel, contributes two skits featuring his unbelievable beatboxing ability which is definitely worth checking out. The other guest spots, including contributions by Baby Sham and Rhymefest, aren't particularly memorable. \nOsirus also boasts bonus tracks. "Move Back" seems cluttered and overblown because of the five guest performers on the record. The Clinton Sparks remix for "Pop Shots," also included in the bonus tracks, should have been left out.\nBottom line, don't listen to this expecting old Ol' Dirty Bastard. But it's not an amazing "new" sound either. Osirus falls somewhere in between the two -- namely in the territory of mediocrity.