"Brooklyn Zoo" is the debut single of the American Hip-hop artist, Ol' Dirty Bastard

Ol' Dirty Bastard

Russell Tyrone Jones was an American rapper and occasional producer, who went by the stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard or simply ODB...

 from the album, Return to the 36 Chambers. After the Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan

The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...

 started releasing solo efforts, Ol' Dirty Bastard was second behind Method Man

Method Man

Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...

 to release a solo album with Return to the 36 Chambers. This is Ol' Dirty Bastard's 2nd highest charting single, behind Got Your Money

Got Your Money

"Got Your Money" is a single by American hip-hop artist Ol' Dirty Bastard, taken from his second full length LP Nigga Please. Both the single and the album were released on Elektra Records in 1999. The song was produced by The Neptunes...

.

Song information

The song composes of an intro, a long verse, and then a chorus at the end. There is a repetitive line about half-way through the song. The line is "By a nigga who couldn't figure". It repeats 3 times and follows the line "Without a doubt I've never been tooken out" and is followed by the line "How to pull a fuckin' gun trigger". Brooklyn Zoo is known for its repetitive chorus at the end of the song. The chorus is "Shame on you when you step through to the Ol' Dirty Bastard, Brooklyn Zoo!". At first it is sung at Jones' normal voice, then gets louder until it is screamed. This line is actually an interpolation of another Ol' Dirty Bastard line from the song Protect Ya Neck

Protect Ya Neck

"Protect Ya Neck" is the debut single by hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The song is from the group's critically acclaimed first album Enter the Wu-Tang and is one of the group's most popular singles...

 by the Wu-Tang Clan from the album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Enter the Wu-Tang is the debut album of American hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, released November 9, 1993, on Loud Records and distributed through RCA Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during 1992 to 1993 at Firehouse Studio in New York City, and it was mastered at The Hit Factory...

, in which Ol' Dirty Bastard says "Shame on you, when you step through to the Ol' Dirty Bastard, straight from the Brooklyn Zoo

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

".

Background

Part of the first verse had been used in freestyles

Freestyle rap

Freestyle rap commonly refers to rap lyrics which are improvised through a acapella or with instrumental beats, i.e. performed with no previously composed lyrics, or "off the top of the head"...

 previously.

In the bonus DVD of Message to the Other Side, Buddha Monk claims that Russell Jones and the members of Brooklyn Zu were having an aggressive argument for unknown reasons. He then goes on to say, during the argument, Jones walks into the sound booth and starts recording a track. Jones uses the energy and anger from the argument and created lyrics. Buddha also claimed Jones used some words and sentences used in the argument to create the track. When completed, the track was named "Brooklyn Zoo".

Charts

Charts	Peak
Hot Dance Music/Maxi Singles Sales	5
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Track	40
Hot Rap Singles	5
The Billboard Hot 100	54

12"/CD single

1. "Brooklyn Zoo (LP Version)" (3:51)
2. "Brooklyn Zoo (Lord Digga Remix)" (4:06)
3. "Give It To Ya Raw (LP Version)" (4:03)
4. "Give It To Ya Raw (SD50 Remix)" (4:03)

Promotional CD single

1. "Brooklyn Zoo (Clean LP Version)" (3:49)
2. "Brooklyn Zoo (Clean Lord Digga Remix)" (3:52)

Music video

Two different videos were made for the song:

The first version features a movie with subtitles. Pimp Daddy (played by Ol' Dirty Bastard) comes back from prison and returns to Rikers Island

Rikers Island

Rikers Island is New York City's main jail complex, as well as the name of the island on which it sits, in the East River between Queens and the mainland Bronx, adjacent to the runways of LaGuardia Airport. The island itself is part of the borough of the Bronx, though it is included as part of...

 with his lady, only to get a rude calling when one of his friends gets involved with a deal. It then cuts back to Chinatown

Chinatown

A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...

 where a local Asian-American attempts to sell fireworks

Fireworks

Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...

 near the Brooklyn Bronx. He gets involved with a gang leader and pays for it by getting incinerated in the back of his car and blown by his own fireworks. Then Pimp Daddy with his lady go to an abandoned arcade only to be set up, and both him and his lady getting shot. This version was aired in some markets, but for the most part was rejected by various cable networks at the time due to its subject matter.

The second version has Ol' Dirty Bastard loitering in the hallways of a dank apartment building, lip-synching to the song while surrounded by various members of the Wu-Tang Clan, including The RZA

RZA

Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA , is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost...

, Raekwon

Raekwon

Corey Woods , better known by the stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in 1995, and has since recorded four solo albums, as well as work with Wu-Tang and an extensive amount of guest contributions with...

, and Method Man

Method Man

Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...

. In one scene, Ol' Dirty Bastard picks his nose and wipes his finger on the wall. It is this version of the video that received the most airplay.