On February 25, 1998, the 40th annual Grammy Awards took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. For their first time as a group, Wu-Tang Clan was nominated for an award at the show, as their sophomore studio album Wu-Tang Forever was up for the Best Rap Album Award.
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Unfortunately for them, though, they would end up falling short, as Puff Daddy, who now goes by Diddy, instead took home the hardware for his debut studio album No Way Out, released in unison with other members of his Bad Boy Records imprint dubbed The Family. What happened after this, though, was the true spectacle.
Next on the docket for the Grammys after handing out the Best Rap Album Award was the Song of the Year category. Taking home her third overall Grammy Award and second of the night, also for the same song, Shawn Colvin would win Song of the Year for her single “Sunny Came Home,” released in June 1997. However, as she proceeded to the stage to accept her trophy, Wu-Tang’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard interjected.
“Please calm down,” ODB shouted into the microphone after walking up on the stage. Disregarding Colvin and instead addressing the Best Rap Album category, ODB shared his thoughts on Puff Daddy receiving the honor.
“I went and bought me an outfit today that [cost] me a lot of money today, you know what I mean? Because I thought that Wu-Tang was gon’ win,” the then-29-year-old said. “I don’t know how y’all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best, okay? I want y’all to know that this is ODB and I love you all. Peace.”
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Now remember, Kanye West’s infamous interruption of Taylor Swift at the VMAs wouldn’t occur until 2009, so this a truly unprecedented moment in the history of music award shows. Anyways, ODB would then leave the stage and Colvin would continue with a message of appreciation for her award.
The next morning, ODB would be a guest on The Howard Stern Show and was asked about his rant heard around the world. He insisted that he did not intend to hurt Colvin or Puff Daddy, but instead was taking issue with how the Rap Album category was not televised.
“It wasn’t no disrespect to Puffy, Sean Combs,” he told Stern. “I’m talking about rap, in itself, being televised. All of us, as one, being televised… I don’t know, it just happened. Like I said, no disrespect to Puffy, he got it goin’ on. Anyone who’s selling records, doing what they’re supposed to do as far as entertainment, that’s beautiful. I just feel that rap is here, and rap is gon’ be here.”
In fact, ODB continued by saying he didn’t even know that a different award was being presented when he went up on the stage. When he eventually went backstage though, afterward, he noted that Puff Daddy’s team did not take kindly to the whole situation.
“Some of his bodyguards approached me. They approached me like the mafia or something,” he said.”[They said], ‘Dirty what you meant by that, da da da da da?’ I said, ‘Look, I ain’t mean no harm. As a matter of fact, by you approaching me, I didn’t figure that you’d take it that way. I didn’t mean nothin’ to Puffy. It’s all good.’ I got love for Puffy, you know what I’m saying? Ever since I met Puffy, I’ve been bopping my head to his music.”
Relive ODB’s bold decision at the ’98 Grammys below.
Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
