The thing on ODB is he was pure unfiltered ID. Everything he did was purely him.
"My momma taught me this shyt. And my daddy learned from her na-na. Which is gooooood, which is goooooooood."
Now, Dirt was heavily influenced all the music before him and, especially in that first album, you get to hear all those influences come through. The soul music, 70s funk, old school rap, schoolyard snaps, Blowfly, club gigs, radio spots, etc.. but it all came out as ODB's own voice. It could be grating to some, others might have needed a few listens to get what Dirt was doing, but whether you were a fan or not, everyone agrees there's no father to his style.
You look at some of these guys now, and they're jumping on trends, maybe fleshing them into their own lanes, but it's coming straight off of a road that's already established and well-traveled. They're crafting brands and sounds already primed to sell and gain attention on social media. Jumping on a track and autotune singing now when it's already been done by Wayne, Ye, T-Pain, etc... for a decade? That's just piggy-backing trends and not doing your own thing. Young Thug gonna croon filtered over a trap beat? That's identical to 75% of the other new songs dropping.
If there's anything Ason was, it's unique.
