DMX: Exodus is Here
Late Hip-Hop artist DMX's posthumous album- Exodus dropped yesterday, as we look back upon the story of one of the most underrated East Coast artists of all time
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What’s good everyone?
Yesterday was a Friday, and that only means one thing- New Music 🥳
As part of this segment of Incentify- we bring you stories of the latest albums and songs released every Friday- to make sure you have fresh tunes and artists to explore over the weekend.
As part of today’s edition, we talk about the first posthumous DMX (Dark Man X) album “Exodus” which dropped yesterday.
The album features an insane collaborator list right from JAY-Z, Nas, Bono, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, the Lox, Usher, and even DMX’s son, Exodus Simmons.
Earl Simmons a.k.a DMX was pronounced dead on 14th April 2021 at the age of 50 with multiple organ failures, after a reported drug overdose.
With over 74 million records sold worldwide and multiple Grammy nominations and 8 Studio Albums, throughout his nearly three-decade career, DMX came to embody passion, rawness, and pure emotional honesty like few hip-hop artists ever have, barking his way through hits like “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” and “Get at Me Dog” one moment, and repenting and philosophizing on tracks like “Slippin’” the next.
X had a decidedly anti-commercial approach, but it worked, and it made him the genre’s first new superstar in the wake of the killings of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. To this day, few have been able to reach the heights he did—he’s the only rapper to have his first five studio albums debut at no. 1, and he was the first living hip-hop artist to have two projects go platinum in the same year.
So why is he not a household name like Jay Z or Nas, both rappers from the same era, and what makes DMX so revered critically, despite that? Let’s get into his story 👇🏻
DMX first got into the music industry at the age of 14, in 1984, when he beatboxed for his mentor Ready Ron. After serving time in prison for stealing a dog, he began writing his own lyrics and performing at the local recreation center for younger children.
In 1988, while in prison for carjacking, he began dedicating almost all of his free time to writing lyrics and rapping with fellow New York rapper K-Solo. When X was released that summer, he began producing and selling his own mixtapes where he rapped over instrumentals from other songs and sell them on street corners, which helped him build a local fan base all over New York.
However, DMX had his big break when he signed with the famed record label, ‘Def Jam’ in 1997, in a setting wherein he rapped with jaw wired shut from a local fight, and still managed to rap his way into getting a record deal signed.
In his 2002 autobiography, E.A.R.L., DMX likened his entrance into the Def Jam studio that day to the parting of the Red Sea: All the neighborhood rappers and hangers-on who had assembled moved out of the way when he arrived. He said:
“They knew what was about to go down,”
The next year, Def Jam would release DMX’s classic debut, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, and from then on, hip-hop would look and sound totally different. The album landed on No.1 in Billboard's top 200 charts in the US and sold over 5 million copies.
His next two albums: Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, and ‘…And Then there was X’ both debuted at No.1 on the Billboard charts, making him the only rapper ever to have 3 consecutive albums debut at No.1 on the charts till date 🤯
After a brief hiatus from music, owing to his legal implications, X dropped his next two albums- ‘The Great Depression’ and ‘The Grand Champ’, in 2001 and 2003 respectively, which again debuted at No.1 on the charts.
DMX was simply unstoppable 😤
Check out this video of him breaking down his most iconic tracks yet 👇🏻👇🏻
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Besides music, X was also a known Movie Star. He featured in films like “Romeo Must Die”, “Cradle 2 the Grave”, “Beyond the Law” among many others. Besides portraying various characters, he had ambitions as a film executive. His production company Bloodline Films co-produced Never Die Alone.
He also served as executive producer for other films he acted in such as Jump Out Boys co-starring Kris Kristofferson alongside Death Toll and Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent.
X’s most famous film contribution? Remember the last scene in Deadpool? The soundtrack of that- ‘X Gon’ Give it Ya’? Yeah, that’s a DMX track too.
Check out the iconic shot here 👇🏻
X was a big believer in Christianity and stated that he read the Bible every day. Although he had a career in Film and Music, He aspired to be ordained as a pastor which he realized was his calling in 2009. In April 2020, he held an online Bible study and asked people to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior.
DMX is a without a doubt, one of the most influential American Hip-Hop Icons but his personal and professional life was always filled with conflict.
He often struggled with substance abuse & entered drug rehabilitation several times across his multi-decade career.
He also had run-ins with the law a total of 30 times throughout his entire life. He did not have a normal life by any means, had 15 children with 9 different women, filed for bankruptcy 3 times in his life, died with a net worth of Negative $1 million,
But if one quote could sum up his entire life it would be-
“A lot of people, we want a miracle, we want a huge blessing. People will forget that a miracle will only happen on the platform of a tragedy.”
Iconic.
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