What Does DMX Want?

He and Ol' Dirty Bastard were like the last gasp of the Captain Caveman rappers.

I know I barely register as a rap fan on here, but back in the 90s I used to love this track he did with Cam'ron, which was probably the first time I heard him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhpiUI3ZKP4

dude at the very least, that's a mixtape classic. when that and "money power respect" came out, it was clear dmx was on something completely different.

"i hear that but don't go near that, you betta fear that"

forever convinced that "Party Up" has started more fights than any other non-political song

This is one of those cases where his legacy feels tiny compared to his importance at his peak. He was Jay-Z or Tupac level popular, with those kinds of sales. Like 25 million?

Maybe it's a combination of his post-fame life story (pretty tragic) and his rapping style (and associated production style) that means that it feels like a B-list story. The Ruff Ryders / Lox pretty much dominated NYC when I arrived here in 98. It just hasn't found the critical look back that other scenes (Dungeon Family, Chopped and Screwed, early trap) has. And to be honest, it doesn't sound great to my ears today (having not heard him in around 18 years).

Two #1 albums inside 7 months... is that not some kind of record? Or at least not done since? What a wild run.

Doesn't feel like a b-list story, the RIPs have been a reminder of how big X was as a crossover artist - beloved by rednecks who listened to Pantera to rednecks who listened to country to pop fans to rap fans and everyone in between.

As a Newfoundlander, very otm. Loved the singles. Everyone did.

Two #1 albums inside 7 months... is that not some kind of record? Or at least not done since? What a wild run.

Five #1 albums in a row. All debuted at #1, too.

I guess I'm suggesting that he hasn't been seen as "influential" (for whatever that's worth). But I could be wrong, as milo z indicates.

_Two #1 albums inside 7 months... is that not some kind of record? Or at least not done since? What a wild run._

Five #1 albums in a row. All debuted at #1, too.

dmx’s imperial phase happened before i got heavy into hip-hop (i was 8 when it’s dark and hell is hot came out), so my earliest exposure to him came thru mtv, and it was clear that he was on some other shit. and i still knew the words to 5-6 of his hits through sheer cultural osmosis

rip to the man

I still remember seeing the Get at Me Dog video for the first time an being like who is this guy?

hadn't heard where the hood at? in forever, yeesh that is some fucking vile homophobia

“Where the Hood At” is off the chain for sure, but what’s amazing to me was that Def Jam heard that and was like “This is the lead single”

it's jaw dropping

Something about the response to the man’s death in major media outlets vs here feels weird....like, is he an intriguing minor figure or one of the half-dozen greatest rappers in history, as Twitter / NYC / WaPo etc is telling me?

(Since those two albums dropped during a period where I paid essentially no attention to new music, this is a real question—do, ahem, heads really rank him as highly as the obits would suggest?)

i know in the months between the first and second albums, he had that kind of hype. and he always the singles to at least remind people of what he could when he was focused on music. who knows what would have happened if he had retained the momentum he had going into his third album and stayed light on (or completely away from) the substances.

he's certainly one of the most popular rappers ever. even people like me who lost interest after that third album still respect that early stuff - and even moreso in the subsequent years because of the apparent self-prophesy of it all. how it ended only confirms it, further solidifying its big picture poignancy.

also duh, i was 17 when the first album came out.

and he always had the singles to at least remind people of what he could do when he was focused on music.

fixed.

As a Newfoundlander

His earliest stuff was real centered around the stuff for heads — “4, 3, 2, 1,” “Get at Me Dog,” the verses for Cam and the Lox etc. Him and Jadakiss were probably the last New York guys to find success purely off of “this guy is from New York and is very good at rapping in the traditional sense of rapping” that carried basically carried NY for 20 years. But his legacy would ultimately be his personality and his infectious pop chants and his legal record so it’s very easy to forget what a force he was in those first two or three years

Like it makes sense that he started rapping in the 80s.

“this guy is from New York and is very good at rapping in the traditional sense of rapping”

I would argue that 50 cent closed out that era.

DMX was never fashionable with hip hop heads. I remember that Funk Flex (hugely influential at the time) didn't like him. Which probably endeared X to a lot of people.

i assume many people hear some dated-sounding shortcomings in his records' production value but i kinda think all of that stuff sounds even stronger in hindsight.

re: Funk Flex i couldn't help noticing he didn't air much of a DMX tribute on Friday night. i'm guessing it was pre-taped?

i had a long drive and no access to a phone/Spotify/CDs on Friday, and i wrongly assumed the FM tributes in NYC wouldn't be as fulfilling. every 15-20 minutes i was reminded of yet another hit that i had forgotten about. he must have had at least 20 or maybe even 30 hits throughout his peak, way more than i realized.

didn't he break out swizz beats who sort of paved the way for post boom-bap production tho. shooting from the hip but intuitively it seems right

swizz was ruff ryders and i always thought of dmx as like the godfather of that whole crew but i don’t know the inside baseball of the whole thing

it would be enjoyable if Eve dedicated an episode of her podcast to DMX

Backpackers did not think he was a real lyricist or whatevr but that take has aged terribly

He was huge & is an iconic figure. He was not “an intriguing minor figure”

I do think Whiney is right thst he was rapping certain veins of New York traditionalism but he also had this emotional center that felt more in need when Tupac passed that’s more in that Scarface /pac zone even tho aesthetically on the surface his stuff was like an extension of nyc shout rap, I think there was something very unique about how it wedded expressiveness, stylization, and tradition

I was a freshman in high school when “Who We Be” came out and that song in particular made a huge impression on me at the time. I can think of few songs—much less charting singles—that go harder than that one. And at the end when he starts going da-DAHNT da-DAHNT da-DAHNT like a guitar holy shit

always assumed he was a big Onyx fan

one option for the DMX analogue/sign of long-term influence in contemporary rap is this guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k70UDI89tMw

Yeah 50 was def the closer of that era, but it’s a little fuzzier with him re: how much was pure skills (which he had in abundance) and how much was carried by Shady/Aftermath + “shot nine times”

The idea that dmx was about “pure skills” feels reductive to me also .. he’s an artist, there’s a interaction of difft qualities that makes his stuff sing, and it was kind of seen as offbeat (which is could be albeit in a cool way) & simplistic (🥴) to a lot of lyrically lyrical types at the time

Agreed, re: reductive...
The take that he was representing traditional rap skills feels a bit simplistic, as he also loved to sing all the damn time. On his hooks or even just in verses, he would often break into melodic phrases. It was very very clear that he was a massive rnb fan. This thread runs through all of his work. Between that and the slightly left-of-center music choices (like those early Dame Grease and Swizz Beatz beats... the bizarre Damien series... Marilyn Manson guest appearance, etc...) he didn't feel like some traditionalist to my ears at the time.`It felt like exciting modern music and I devoured it the same way I did all the Tim productions in the late 90's. It was very refreshing!

I’m just saying that’s how he came up wrt those first few records, obviously the other stuff was what kept him around

“If I was to drop dead right now, my last thought would be: I’ve lived a good life.” - DMX, February 2021 pic.twitter.com/aB3hqXbbHx

— love yourself. (@MichellCClark) April 9, 2021

What was the big single off the second record that made him immediately have a #1 record after the first? When I was young I was first introduced to X through Slippin on a compilation, which is a great ducking song, but I just couldn’t imagine making America make that #1?

It was just striking while the iron was still hot, I don't even remember a single coming out before it dropped

flippers already flippin. i think d would have appreciated their hustle.

still can't even believe this, tbh

My second question then is: Has anyone else, between 60s types up until people too followed on social media, had such personality that they could have a hit album with no single?

prince, maybe?

Probably like One Direction or some K pop thing, I’m not gonna do the due diligence on it

They all follow into the second category, you would think. Basically my point is that even when X didn’t have hit singles, like he is massively known for, his personality and story made him so engaging that he did something no one else could ever really do

Plenty of acts between the 60s and '10s had hit albums without releasing singles at all. I don't think Jimmy Page's personality comes into it.

Sure but I don’t think zeppelin and dmx are the same. He was still so new, in a genre that was incredibly singles driven, and released an album about god fearing self reflection. It’s not exactly Whole Lotta Love’s riff.

Jay Z has had 14 Number One albums and I'm guessing not all of them came with a hit single unless you really want to ride for "Blue Magic"

I guess technically Roc Boys came out before the album, again, I'm not gonna bean count this