The Wu-Tang Clan legend, born Russell Tyrone Jones, died of a drug overdose in November 2004, aged 35, and in a bid to preserve his lasting legacy, movie bosses are making a big screen biopic called Dirty White Boy.
Williams was recently tapped to lead the cast and The Wire star reveals he's begun working with the rapper's relatives and close friends to best capture the heart and soul of Odb.
He tells Mtv News, "I am doing a lot of research on Russell. I had the pleasure of meeting his beautiful mother, Ms. Cherry. We sat down for, like, three hours, and she told me the most amazing stuff about her son and a lot of things that the public didn't know.
"I've been talking to people who know him well... people who knew him when the cameras weren't rolling. I've got a lot of insight into who he was as a human being and as a man and, dare I say it, scholar. The dude was quite smart."
And Williams admits he's finally starting to feel the pressure of playing an icon, adding, "You have to know what you're talking about. It's a lot of studying, a lot of knowledge."
The film, which will primarily centre around the last two years of Jones' life, is being produced by Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen, both of Beginners fame, with a screenplay by Brent Hoff, the star's former manager.