10 greatest Songs from DMX: Remembering the Ruff Ryders Icon
After suffering a heart attack triggered by a drug overdose last weekend, on Friday (April 9), DMX passed away at White Plains Hospital, NY. He was 50.
As a show of remembrance, Mp3bullet compiles a list of 10 greatest songs the rapper, DMX leaves behind.
Earl Simmons best known as DMX fronted one of hip-hop’s most prolific record labels, Ruff Ryders, on his road to enormous success. The Yonkers artist found fame in the ‘90s and ‘00s with his unmistakable, hoarse vocals.
Stop Being Greedy (1998)
With the barking dog snippets and that haunted house organ running throughout, DMX managed to sneak a hardcore hip-hop Jekyll-and-Hyde tale onto the Hot 100 with “Stop Being Greedy.
DMX is the rap game’s Robin Hood on “Stop Being Greedy”, portraying two distinct personas on the track.
The song is the second single from his debut studio album. The single peaked at No.79 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
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Blackout (feat. Jay-Z and The Lox) (1998)
It wouldn’t be right if Yonkers’ DMX didn’t do something with an artist or two from P.Diddy’s Bad Boy stable, one of the most notable New York labels ever. In comes The LOX, a group comprised of Yonkers’ Jadakiss, Styles P, and Sleek Louch, who were signed to Bad Boy before jumping ship Ruff Ryders in 2000. Just when you thought ‘Blackout’ couldn’t become more New York, the smooth-talking, Rocafella big shot Jay-Z
How’s It Goin’ Down (It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, 1998)
For an entire generation of hip-hop fans, nothing will be as instantly transportive to the summer of 1998 than the fat bass and smooth electric keys hitting on the intro to “How’s It Goin’ Down. It was released as the fourth single from his debut studio album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot. The song features R&B singer Faith Evans.
The song would go on to be a modest hit, peaking at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100!
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Go to Sleep (Eminem featuring DMX and Obie Trice) (2003)
Beef is a part of hip-hop, so Eminem tagged in DMX and labelmate Obie Trice for a triple-team attack on Ja Rule and fellow rapper Benzino, who infuriated Eminem by calling him “2003 Vanilla Ice”.
The rapper encourages Slim Shady as he tells Ja Rule to “die nameless” on one of Eminem’s greatest diss tracks.
Ruff Ryders’ Anthem
Ruff Ryders Anthem’ should be the first song you think of when you hear the name DMX. This adrenaline-fuelled ‘It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot’ track takes you back to the golden age of MTV, a time defined by highly produced, strobing ’00s music videos such as the one that accompanies this classic. Surprisingly, X originally didn’t rate the Swizz Beats-produced track, dismissing it as “rock’n’roll” and insisting “it’s not hood enough”.
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What’s My Name (1999)
Before “Party Up” became the breakthrough hit from DMX’s blockbuster 1999 album …And Then There Was X, it was preceded by lead single “What’s My Name,” an absolutely ferocious chest-thump that followed a dominant run to mainstream hip-hop’s mountaintop in the late ‘90s.
The single peaked at #67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S and was produced by Self and co-produced by Irv Gotti.
Slippin (Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, 1998)
DMX has a softer side, just one he isn’t always known for. On “Slippin’”, X gets real about overcoming the harder moments in life. He opens up about his childhood trauma—abusive mother, drug addiction, group homes, and juvenile detention among the obstacles he faced. His gentle side touched listeners and “Slippin’” went gold in 2017, almost 20 years after the fact.
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This is the quintessential DMX anthem. As a matter of fact, everybody knows who X is and what he’s going to do. As the lead single on the Cradle 2 the Grave soundtrack, DMX delivers his signature bark and to-the-point bars. The song saw a major resurgence in 2016 when it was featured in Marvel’s Deadpool.
Who We Be (The Great Depression, 2001)
This is a song about relentless struggle, with each new obstacle faced by underpaid people of color replacing the one that preceded it before the listener can fully process the tension.
With his flow transformed into a list of the issues beating down upon his community every day, DMX tries to both represent the voiceless and explain the systemic conflict to the millions buying his albums that had been shielded from it.
Party Up (Up in Here) (1999)
DMX and longtime collaborator Swizz Beatz were capable of producing frequent hits when they worked together. “Party Up” is DMX’s most successful song in the US and for good reason, despite its confrontational lyrics toward unnamed rappers, Swizz Beatz’s production anchors the track as the seminal club banger that it is.
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