While X’s aggression attracted fans, it was his versatility that enchanted them. From juggling topics like money-hungry women on “What These B — ches Want” to fighting his demons on “Slippin ‘,” X has never shortchanged listeners from his thrilling experiences. – Carl Lamarre
Check out DMX’s 10 best songs below.
“Get At Me Dog” (It’s dark and hell is hot, 1998)
In a GQ oral history of DMXs It’s dark and hell is hot debut, producer Dame Grease boasted that he was both the last song of the ‘glamor suit era’ (with The LOX’s ‘If You Think I’m Jiggy’) and the first song of the ‘bring it back to the streets era’ with “Get my dog.” It was the kind of hard reset that marked ‘Dog’ in hip-hop in the late 1990s – a relentless breakthrough single with an absolutely irreversible live-wire energy, thanks to an inspired BT Express monster that was actually more sounded electric when it was delayed by Dame. Fat. Not many MCs could compare the measure, but DMX was born, growled and buzzed for it and (of course) barked by three verses and an unforgettable hook like the game’s predator. “There are at least a thousand of us like me who plague the street,” he predicts on the song; five straight platinum albums later it was clear he was underselling. – Andrew Unterberger
“How is it going” (It’s dark and hell is hot, 1998)
For an entire generation of hip-hop fans, nothing will be transported as instantly for the summer of 1998 as the fat bass and the smooth electric tones that go on in the introduction of ‘How’s It Goin’ Down ‘. The song is not exactly as sentimental as the groove might imply, but the tumultuous relationship at its core still can’t help but sound sweetly romantic about the production, and DMX’s fiercely crowned chorus (‘What kind of games are played ‘/ How does it go down? / It goes on until it disappears, then I know now’) was still the stuff of numerous young dramas. X’s grim street singles made him a sensation, but his ability to switch at this softer level made him a superstar. – AU
“Stop being greedy” (It’s dark and hell is hot, 1998)
With the barking dog extracts and the haunted house organ running throughout, DMX manages to sneak a hardcore hip-hop Jekyll-and-Hyde story on the Hot 100 with ‘Stop Being Greedy’. DMX fluctuates between delivering lines like ‘I do not like drama, so I stay for myself’ on a measured tone and growling threats like ‘I’m his head wide open / begs me to stop, but at least is he’s dead ‘”in that brand rasp. With this It’s dark and hell is hot classic, it’s not about winning light or dark: it’s about exploring the duel. – Joe Lynch
“Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” (It’s dark and hell is hot, 1998)
DMX was initially not sold on the steady, bold Swizz Beatz rhythm and black key lines of what would become ‘Ruff Ryders’ Anthem’. But the simplicity of the beat paved the way for the gravel-throat rapper to align his Ruff Ryder troops with a ‘Stop! Drop! X agrees with the steady tone in his verses and keeps the rhymes (“All I know is pain, all I feel is rain”) as straight as the sentiments (“F – k it, dawg, I’m hungry” ). But that was what he did in the background, and he growled and his now legendary “what!” ad-libs, which made the mid-range track immortal. – Christine Werthman
“Slippin ‘” (Flesh of my flesh, Blood of my blood, 1998)
Most of DMX’s career has been channeling pain, and his voice has used a tool to exploit sadness and analyze pain rather than celebrate his rise to A-list rap. Nowhere is this clearer than “Slippin ‘”: the protagonist to Flesh of my flesh, Blood of my blood – DMX’s second album of 1998, and the second to reach number one on the Billboard 200 hit, is plagued by its imperfections, and each verse colors the details of his unhappy upbringing and the choir serves as a self-motivation to reaches a higher level. The wounds of ‘Slippin’ are raw, but DMX was not half-hearted: he wanted to confront listeners with his devastated psyche and reach stars on his own terms. – Jason Lipshutz
“What is my name” (… And then there was X, 1999)
Before “Party Up” became the breakthrough hit of DMX’s instant album from 1999 … And then there was X, it was preceded by main single ‘What’s My Name’, a furious chest press that follows a predominant run to hip-hop’s mountaintop in the late ’90s. ‘What’s My Name’ was not designed as a pop crossover like the smash that followed, but captured X’s bone-glowing charisma at a crucial moment: each verse is built around short verbal pushes, followed by lush bars, the rapper’s bark-and-bite approach delivered to the masses and set him up for even greater stardom. – J. Lipshutz
“What These B-ches Want” feat. Sisqo (… And then there was X, 2000)
The second verse is the legends: DMX, who spends the middle third of the song ramming the names of different women from his past (‘Cookie, well, I met her in an ice cream / Tonya, Diane, Lori and Carla ”), as guest star Sisqo crowns wholeheartedly by his side. The rest of “What These B – Ches Want”, however, persists with the DMX slow jam – or, at least, the version of a slow jam of DMX, with an intact and intact stereotypes of gender, who are indifferent to his bars were thrown. When the song became a hit in 2000, the combination of DMX and Dru Hill breakaway Sisqo was huge; more than two decades later, the collaboration still sounds fresh. – J. Lipshutz
“Party Up (Up In Here)” (… And then there was X, 2000)
DMX may have meant “Party Up (Up in Here)” as a diss-track, but any hatred is dispelled by whistle blasts, a beating beat like a right hook (thanks to Swizz Beatz) and X’s hilarious upset. ‘You’ll make me lose my mind’, he shouts in the chorus like an old man who later has a laundry list with reasons why an anonymous rapper is in the trash: ‘You’re crazy, you’re twisted, your girl is a ho / you are broken, the child is not yours, and everyone knows. ‘But as much as the song burns, it claps, a jubilant rag that only X could deliver. – CW
“Who we are” (The Great Depression, 2001)
‘Who We Be’ is a song about relentless struggle, with each new obstacle facing underpaid coloreds, replacing the one that preceded it before the listener can fully process the tension. With its stream transformed into a list of issues its community every day, DMX tries to represent the voiceless and to declare systemic conflict to the millions who have bought its albums protected against it. In the process, he delivers a touring execution, full of fierce attacks on racial injustice (“The streets, the police, the system, harassment / The options, get shot, go to jail, or get your ass kicked”) and clipped, intestinal observations (“The hurt, the pain, the filth, the rain / the jerk, the fame, the work, the game”). – J. Lipshutz
“X Gon ‘Give It To Ya” (Cradle 2 the grave, 2003)
Easily the best thing to get out of the DMX / Jet Li action Cradle 2 the grave, this number 60 peak single, sees the New York spitter split the difference between his menacing alter-ego and the life-of-the-party side of his persona. Just as threatening not to spoil him as an invitation to shake your ass (try to sit still when the orchestra’s horns start ringing), ‘X Gon’ Give It To Ya ‘is equally suitable for’ a take-off in the streets or on the dance floor; it is an excellent example of his captivating voice. – J. Lynch