It was 1998, 3 years after graduating high school and I hated living in Kalamazoo, MI. I often went out to get essentials and came back to my apartment and read Source magazines.
Tupac had just died 2 years earlier and I was still in mourning. We were left wondering about the future of the music business and was it even worth it to be a rap artist.
This was also the time when New York music began to get gritty again and new heroes began to emerge from the East Coast. The old guard like LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, Ice-T, and MC Lyte all began to gain popularity and further push Hip Hop culture into places previously reserved for only R&B, Pop, and Rock artists.
Most Importantly, Russell Simmons became the mogul and got some fresh new artists in Jay-Z, Ja Rule, and this gravel-voiced guy named DMX. He was on the remix of “We Be Clubbin’ with Ice Cube.
I knew about DMX from reading the music magazines, and the slow and steady rise of the Ruff Ryders logo all over BET and MTV. I had just heard “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem” that summer and the world changed forever. Seriously, it was that big!
I bought the It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot CD from the local music shop and it was a breath of fresh air after the death of Tupac. It also brought the Def Jam crew back to where they needed to be, which I was proud of for the company. The whole first DMX project was fire, and the Ruff Ryders Motorcycle Club began to grow faster and faster with each song.
At the time, a woman I was dating had just moved to Providence, Rhode Island to attend college and she asked me to come and visit for the weekend. The night I left to go there DMX just dropped a 2nd album while the first one was still getting radio plays! This was unheard of!
When I reached New York and had a 6-hour delay, X was everywhere!
You could hear his music in cars, buses, radio, TV, and just kids chanting “STOP, DROP …” on the streets and in stores.
DMX songs became the anthems for men working out at the gym, football players’ intros, sports commercials, action-comedy films, etc.
His stage presence was impactful too, and he held us own against any rapper on the Def Jam label. I could tell that there was no turning back and Hip-Hop would never be the same. I used to smoke blunts in the dark listening to “Angel” featuring Regina Belle before I went to work to remind me that my turn was coming in music.
I can say I never got past the death of Tupac with the rumors that spread after his murder but thank god I had DMX there to fill that void.
RIP Earl Simmons aka DMX. |THIS.
[Words and photo by Gerald G-Ride King]
