What Does DMX Want?

crazy boid.

I stay flippin'
One minute I'm cool, the next minute I'm up on a nigga, rippin'
That's my style
I'm a cruddy nigga leave you all bloody nigga service with a smile
Suck my dick
And while you niggas that's been to jail before know it's about to get thick
Let's get it on baby
I'm gonna be goin' against 4 niggas in one and you think you crazy?
I've lost my mind

money cash hoes obv.

crack

:-------(

he plays pinball right? that's the reference to flippin'

so what's he got against black people if he's playing pinball?

He bumped into the pinball machine and caused a tilt that's what.

What I don't get is why he would want to get some oral action when the guy's all bloody. Seems less than hygienic.

He wants to be put out of his misery, apparently.

He wants an analyst.

srsly.

He's a pinball wizard
There's got to be a twist

To kick ass.

It's "DMX April" in case someone forgot.

http://i41.tinypic.com/w7ztj8.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5nXpTuQ2jA

God go make me lose my mind

what does dmx want in a girl

are you trying to find out if dmx is a fudge on the low?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3nouOWHC4o

http://www.thestrut.com/2012/12/03/dmx-singing-rudolf-the-red-nosed-reindeer-is-exactly-as-amazing-as-you-would-expect/

so awesome

rudolf with your nose so bright
COME ON COME ON
won't you drive my sleigh tonight
WHAT

v good

well this sorta made my day

COME ON COME ON

<3

i have to say, i did not expect for my day to be totally made by two DMX youtubes (Rudolph/Ghostbusters upthread) before lunchtime

X? He'd like to give it to you.

ha that ghostbusters one is great too

you wanna fight me? FIGHT THESE TEARS

^all time

omg I don't think I'd ever heard the ghostbusters one

yesssssssssssssssss

holy shit that was the BEST

wow and ghostbusters is awesome

he's so proud that he knows the rudolph lyrics

so great! best monday ever in like a while

you wanna fight me? FIGHT THESE TEARS

yeah, din know the track and laughted hard at that line

I would pay $9.99 for an album of DMX singing 15-20 Christmas songs the same way as this.

am i the only one who finds these crackhead-minstrel-show videos depressing???

no, but for once I wasn't going to say anything

I never took DMX seriously to begin with. He's a hype man and kinda funny.

? he seemed like he was sober and just having fun

yeah wtf, there's nothing exploitative about this

I didn't feel that strongly about it but I found it simultaneously catchy and hard to watch

I probably would have had a different reaction had the woman at the beginning not printed out the words to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for him, as if it was a legitimate concern that he might not know them, and if at the end he hadn't said "did I get all of the reindeer's names right?" thus validating the concern

git atta here. the google one was obv exploitative. this one, less overtly so, but it's p clear that power 105 has clued in to the fact that they basically have a minor youtube meme on demand.

and he didn't seem sober to me... he seemed, as usual, really out of it.

nah if he's out of it he's way more out of it than that

I didn't watch the Google one because I looked at the title before hitting play

at any rate, the guy is basically just pathetic at this point and these videos are at least exploiting an epically fallen star

i think it's a legitimate concern that an adult might not know all the words to Rudolph, if you wanted them to recite it. i sure as shit can't remember that whole thing off the top of my head.

I find that to be insane

admittedly I have had to sing "Rudolph" a bazillion times in my life but no one needed to remind me of the words after the age of 7

i wouldn't know the words by heart either and if i'd just done a rendition of it, whether i'd got the reindeers' names right would probably be my uppermost concern too

most people never sang in a fuckin choir, dude

i wouldn't know the words to rudolph, actually i sort of forgot about the intro part where they name the other reindeer, but DMX did!

I know all the reindeer's names, pretty sure I could sing it in my sleep

i mean if you're gonna be obnoxious and ask a celebrity to recite a song they didn't write on camera, the least you can do is provide a lyric sheet

Yeah I dont remember the words at all.

I could understand this conversation if it was about "The Holly and the Ivy" or "Personet Hodie", but it's about one of the most frequently-played holiday songs of all time

next you're gonna be all "'Jingle Bells'? How does that go?"

yeah i mean i KNOW those songs. but if someone put me on camera and made me recite them apropos of nothing, i might pause between sections like shit which part comes next. which, if that happened to DMX, the conversation would be about how he's a washed up crackhead. which is the conversation we're having anyway.

every year I get "jingle bell rock" stuck in my head from black friday to mid-march of the following year and I still don't know the words, giddy up giddy up pick up yr feet something something thru the frosty air, but tbf I am a crackhead

yeah it's like when you do karaoke on a song you "know by heart" then you're all like stumbling on a few lines you forgot even w/the lyrics on the screen there

i don't know the words to 'rudolph'. maybe DMX is jewish, ever think of that, huh?

or just not an actual reindeer

next you're gonna be all "'Jingle Bells'? How does that go?"

Batman smells iirc

I'd have trouble with the opening part.

me too. watching the video, i was like, "oh yeah, that part."

real talk I've never sung 'rudolph the red nose reindeer' front to back

I think the only time I've ever heard the song in its entirety is when I watched that claymation christmas movie, uh, where the nose actually lights up? idk it was some scary shit

yo god that claymation is the original shit that put rudolph on the map

yeah word. that shit is a fuiud classic.

http://i.imgur.com/WFELv.jpg

TOUCH MY NOSE LITTLE BOY

TOUCH IT

YEAH

YEAH

THATS GOOD

well it does make that eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee noise which *is* kinda weird/creepy

http://i.imgur.com/zqxIl.jpg

oh lord

I dunno if I'd ever heard that opening bit before DMX sang it tbh

rudolph was famous WAY before the claymation; the gene autry version (which, as i've been on an autry kick for the past few weeks, is on my mind) was the one that really put it on the map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ara3-hDH6I

outside of the burl ives, also worth remembering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcU0vKODpW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0acyD5iEaPU

those of us of a certain age will always associate it with this tho'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs--phzj2TQ

The Streetcorner Singers. Who were those guys anyway?

oh god one of the 3 nintendo power issues I owned as a kid had a walkthrough for a game based on those raisin dudes

horrifying

xxpost sic -- that intro is part of the original Rudolph lyrics, it was on the old Gene Autry and Bing Crosby versions i always listened to

that's how I learned the reindeer!

the original has less raisin and more funky guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcuvlIgSj0Y

nice suits!

that intro is part of the original Rudolph lyrics, it was on the old Gene Autry and Bing Crosby versions i always listened to

that's how I learned the reindeer!

yeah I probably have heard it (listening to the Autry now) sometimes, but 99.1% of my hearing of the song would be in school singing and shopping centre carols and such. I def remember thinking it was some dumbing-down bullshit for sticking one new made-up nonsense-powered dude in as lead and reducing all the Night Before Christmas named reindeer to [omnes], as a kid

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tZ3-a7lCAU

2020 singlehandedly redeemed by DMX:

'I was thinking Tony Yayo.'

DMX apologizes to Lloyd Banks for questioning his lyrical ability: https://t.co/Zm1l5C4HaT pic.twitter.com/vGCDHqQTIX

— Complex (@Complex) May 28, 2020

great revive

hahahaha that's such a deep burn omg

dying

Is this the active DMX thread?

BREAKING: DMX reportedly suffers drug overdose, is in "grave condition"https://t.co/IzjKrN3UNW

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) April 3, 2021

very unfortunate prequel of posts...

DMX, the chart-topping rapper who blended aggressive menace with emotional sincerity, has died at age 50 following a heart attack https://t.co/4ntm2nbEss

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 9, 2021

RIP

I love his short freestyle here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0QwmsnCucw

I hadn't seen this clip from Top Five but it cracked me the fuck up. RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytu7AeaYEW0&

loool

RIP. i cherish the memories of listening to it's dark and hell is hot while playing final fantasy 7

god needed someone to cross over to the afterlife and give prince phillip the beating he deserves

when i was in high school he got arrested near my whitebread town (traffic stop, "a small amount of marijuana was discovered"), and a couple loudmouth goon kids in my school had parents who were guards where he was being held. they were briefly very popular for having behind the scenes tales of what a badly behaved inmate he supposedly was, throwing food at the guards & etc. i was 110% team DMX then & now, hope he knocked their teeth out

rip dark man x

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZOq-_LXfHg

man.

the greatest born loser.

rest well, dark man.

dark and hell is hot while playing final fantasy 7

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_9ruYUva9c

“It’s a dirty job but I just love doin it” 😎

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

Chicago has had five number one albums

Well 1998 was a year where a Cappadonna album could debut at #3.

Yeah, like 1997-2002 was like peak music industry

Silkk the Shocker's Main Man hit No. 1 that very year with no pre-release single according to wiki

he Charged [those sales] 2 Da Game

Well 1998 was a year where a Cappadonna album could debut at #3.

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Monday, April 12, 2021 5:48 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

when the music industry is doing well rap is doing well

or maybe invert those

that cappadonna album rules

yea incredible album

i remember noz saying mf doom was listening to it a ton when recording op doomsday which makes a lot of sense ... the flow style

ahhh interesting

 hoy hoy at 4:56 12 Apr 21

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?

I dunno, Korn? Wu Tang didn't have huge singles....a lot of metal bands

Pantera had at least one #1 album and radio didn’t touch those guys.

A quite good dmx piece:

https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/that-real-shit/

^^ that was excellent

the author says that dmx was the first rapper that he can recall being aware of, I’m trying to think of the first rapper i can remember being aware of...probably busta

or coolio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Tat4ONKR8

Worth a look if you want to hear what he was like when he was rapping in a more traditional way.

Always thought dame grease got unfairly stuck in second place after swizz in terms of his producers.

Andrew Unterberger at Billboard on why the US radio airplay charts didn't represent DMX as well as the album sales charts: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/9555561/dmx-hot-100-chart-success-ruff-ryders-anthem

A comment about sandals on another thread suddenly made me free associate to the DMX/Jay-Z sandals diss

DMX – the oft-arrested hip-hop star – says real men don’t wear sandals. And he blames Beyoncé for Jay-Z’s flip-flop fetish. “The flip-flops – he’s just not the same,” DMX complains in Vibe magazine. “It’s Beyoncé. He’s a sucker for love. Thugs don’t do flip-flops. Yo, no matter how much vacation I’m on – we been to St. Thomas, Bahamas, all the little islands – I don’t wear no flip-flops. I’m never that comfortable, not even in my own house.”

I always found that quote unintentionally revealing and sad. RIP, hope you found comfort.

Exodus is out.

It's loaded up on big guest features, which is par for the course I guess.

BUT

DMX sounds really good! and Swizz has some cool production

It's a very uneven album with some totally confusing choices but there are maybe four great tracks (Money Money Money, Hood Blues, Take Control, Walking in the Rain) and Bath Salts and Hold Me Down are pretty good. Prayer is a good way to end.

have always loved him on jayo felonys whatcha gonna do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZNDQzvhpU

oh shit! the things you forget with old age! goddamn, i literally wore that 12" out. that part about "too sexy for mah mothafuken low rye-DAH!" got juggled so much people told me to replace my copies because it sounded terrible.

HOW DID I SO THOROUGHLY FORGET ABOUT SUCH AN ABSOLUTE JAM?

i am forever indebted to you, spottie.

To see the peep show and hit some DOOK CHUTE

lol. i could never work out what he says a few lines before ("with big mike n scarface with Luke? loop?") that but the enunciation is so weird it's always stood out to me.

austin its always been a favorite of mine but its a forgotten gem for sure.

to be adored