The late DMX – one of the most popular street rappers of the late 1990s and early 2000s, who overcame atrocious physical and emotional abuse from a fanatically cruel religious extremist mother, lived a hard life in group homes and prisons, and rose to became a titanic figure in hip-hop on the strength of his explosive energy, megawatt charisma, and incredible emotional honesty and straightforwardness before descending into a horrible addiction to crack cocaine and departing for the realm of the spirit at the age of 50 in 2021 – is a complicated figure, but his best music is about as good as rap music gets, even though he never had a particularly big vocabulary; he could summon andconvey raw emotion an incredible depth of feelinglike few others.
“Slippin’”, “Get At Me Dog”, “Party Up”, “X Gon' Give It To Ya”, and “Come Back In One Piece” are all classics. My sister tried to convince me to become a DMX fan when I was young – she was always a huge fan! – and I never disliked him, exactly, but it took until only a few short years before his untimely passing for me to become a passionate supporter. The five songs I've listed are all now very important to me. When he wanted to communicate meaningful feelings, DMX was good at it in a way few others in the history of rap have ever been.
There's a reason why the even more legendary Nas spoke of his purity of heart with such reverence and referred to him as the only rapper he would never dare insult – he loved him so much that he only ever wanted to increase the joy in his life, and considering the ways in which rap music is hypermasculine and very focused on machismo, it takes a lot for a certain kind of very tough street rapper to express that kind of affection and tenderness towards another. I've always found that very beautiful. DMX was good at bringing that out of people.
And there were so many beautiful pieces of DMX lore in his final years. DMX dancing at an Albanian wedding. DMX making the following immortal proclamation: “Yeah, sex is great, but have you ever tried garlic bread?” DMX starring in movies with character acting legends such as Delroy Lindo, Anthony Anderson, Chi McBride, Clifton Powell, Bill Duke, Kris Kristofferson, Henry Gibson, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, and Vinnie Jones. DMX getting hilariously excited over the Christmas song “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”. DMX clowning and insulting the terrible Canadian rapper Drake with ruthless accuracy and richly merited scorn. His legacy is marred by crime, sin, and a litany of mistakes, but many of us loved him all the same, and we will always miss him.
Ride or die.