DMX will be very much alive among us as long as music exists. This post is dedicated to “DMX best songs tribute”. DMX, whose real name was Earl Simmons, led one of hip-hop’s most prolific record labels, Ruff Ryders, on his way to great success. After getting five numbers one row, from classic,’ It’s Dark, and Hell Is Ho to 1998 to the excellent ‘ Grand Champ ‘ 2003, a feat that has not yet gotten another rapper to date and has marked the hip -hop forever, the artist tragically died at age 50.
Today we bring you 10 of his best songs, which will show that he is a great artist and that his music will last forever.
‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’
‘Party Up (Up In Here)’
‘Dogs For Life’
‘X Gon’ Give it To Ya.’
‘What’s My Name?’
‘Boy Back Up’ Ft Mobb Deep
‘Blackout’ Ft. Jay-Z and The Lox
‘What These Bitches Want’
The LOX Ft Lil Kim and DMX – ‘Money, Power, Respect’
‘A Minute For Your Son
The history of DMX: a rather complicated childhood
What began by killing time ended up as one of his greatest passions (which we can see in all his albums): the love for animals. And it is that DMX was dedicated to adopting and trying to train some of the stray dogs that roamed the Yonkers neighbourhood. Hearing any DMX song is to elucidate your passion for dogs.
Once his mother sent him to a school for troubled kids, DMX had his first contact with hip-hop through the other classmates. Whenever DMX rapped or improvised, he was encouraged by his colleagues at the residence, who told him that he was quite good at it. He seemed predestined to be a rap star.
The beginnings: The authentic reflection of the underground in the streets
Like almost all young people with their past, DMX was a couple of times in prison before dedicating himself to music, and it was precisely in those times that he began to write raps much more seriously. Just as he got out of jail the second time, DMX began recording and selling its own mixtapes, and with it, the legend began … or the beginning of it. He was starting to be a very well known guy in the underground.
Although the rapper’s career took off in 1998, the truth is that in 1992 he was signed by Columbia Records, with whom he released a single that was not successful. The good thing about all that is that he began to collaborate with artists of the stature of Jay-Z or Mic Geronimo, but the rapper really got on everyone’s lips with the single ‘4, 3, 2, 1’ by LL Cool J . Hence he jumped to more and more collaborations until the whole world came to look forward to their debut album.
And so came the celebrated “It’s Dark, and Hell Is Hot” in 1998, which with singles like ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ sold like hotcakes and put DMX (and being their debut album) at the top of world rap. That same year in December, “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood” went on sale, which was number one in the United States for three weeks in a row, nothing more and nothing less. There is no doubt that it was time for DMX; it was on everyone’s lips.
Just a year later, his third LP “… And Then There Was X” came out, which was also number one, following the same musical line. As if they were true pop icons, their fourth album, “The Great Depression” (which came out in October 2001), was also number one in the United States and had more than decent sales outside the country, as did ” Grand Champ”. At this point, DMX was already summoned by Hollywood to appear in film projects, and it was objectively making music history if we look at the numbers.
The first five DMX discs were number one in the United States.
As is often the case and accompanied by numerous legal problems, his subsequent albums 2006’s “Year of the Dog… Again”, 2012’s “Undisputed “, and “Redemption of the Beast” (2015) had much lower sales and reception. Nothing seems to be forever.
As if that weren’t enough with the overwhelming commercial success of the first stage of the New Yorker’s career, DMX has appeared as the protagonist or secondary in almost twenty films of all kinds of budgets. Proof of the enormous success and fame that the emcee came to have outside of the music itself.
DMX Performances in Cinema – Has Appeared in Over Twenty Films
His tough and hardcore style, his obsession with dogs and Swizz Beatz productions made him first a star and then a living legend. In fact, we usually think of DMX when we talk about those specific years when there was a kind of hip hop boom in which the big stars sold records like hotcakes, starred in movies or had their own clothing brands.
DMX is not one of the best emcees of all time, but his very authentic and personal style caused many people to connect with him right at a point where everything seemed to get excessively commercial. Maybe if he weren’t so assiduous in getting into trouble, his career could have lasted longer by staying on top, but what is certain is that no one can make us forget the real hits he has created.