RZA Dedicates New ‘Gone’ Video to ODB — Watch

Numbers have always played a key role in Wu-Tang Clan mythology -- '36 Chambers,' '8 Diagrams,' etc. -- so it's fitting that group mastermind RZA would issue a tribute to Ol' Dirty Bastard on the seventh anniversary of his death.

Earlier this week, RZA dedicated his new video for the mournful track 'Gone' to ODB, as well as to fellow rapper Heavy D, boxing legend Joe Frazier and "all the fallen soldiers and hip-hop legends we lost," according to a post on his #WuWednesdays Tumblr page.

A founding member of the Staten Island-born Wu-Tang stable, Dirty -- aka Dirt McGirt, aka Big Baby Jesus, aka Osirus -- died Nov. 13, 2004, of a drug overdose.

'Gone' features vocals from singer Justin Nozuka, a guest rap from Kobra Khan and guitar from James Black of the band Finger Eleven. When the song debuted last year, RZA sent it out to Sally Menke, a film editor known for her work with Quentin Tarantino, but the producer and rapper's words are universal enough to apply to any number of people -- at least until he gets to reminiscing about drinking beers and chasing women.

"How could a body turn cold that was once so warm?" RZA asks in one of the song's more tender lines. "How could the spark of a lark in your heart be gone?"