...And Then There Was X
1. The Kennel skit
2. One More Road To Cross
3. The Professional
4. Fame
5. Alot To Learn skit
6. Here We Go Again
7. Party Up
8. Make A Move
9. What These Bit**es Want f/ Sisqo
10. What's My Name?
11. More 2 A Song
12. Don't You Ever
13. The Shakedown skit
14. D-X-L (Hard White) f/ Lox and Drag-On
15. Comin' For Ya
16. Prayer III
17. Angel f/ Regina Bell
18. Good Girls, Bad Guys f/ Dyme
What's my name?
DMX, and I be the best\
You see the others looking like they need a rest\
One more time
I'ma spit at you\
Some sh*t that's gonna get at you...
Forget the Y2K bug, the real threat of the millennium is upon us. He is a
force that compels, captivates, and inspires. He is a man charged with
urgency. He bares a soul possessed by feelings of rage, torment and
triumph.
He is an artist that has already proven he can create history. And he is a
dirty dog that bites.
What's his name?
DMX.In a music industry that often specializes in manufactured stars-- neatly
wrapped packages that look the right way and do and say all the right
things--it is a rare event to witness the emergence of a true artist. DMX,
rap's ruffest ryder, is of this rare breed of artists. He has held the hip hop
world spellbound with his raw, unbridled energy, unyielding passion and
lyrics of fury since his explosive arrival in 1998-the year that was
unquestionably the year of the dog. After stand-out performances on
tracks like LL Cool J's "4.3.2.1", the Lox's "Money, Power, Respect", and
Mase's "24 Hours to Live", DMX got the world's attention with his own,
bonafied street anthem "Get At Me Dog." In May, he released his
groundbreaking first effort It's Dark and Hell is Hot- which also featured the
intoxicating, gritty joints "Stop Being Greedy" and "Ruff Ryder's
Anthem"-debuted at number one and quickly went multi-platinum.
That summer, after a headlining stint on the Survival of the Illest tour, DMX
retreated to the studio yet again, and in December he released the
classic horror-film-on-wax, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. Flesh,
which included the poignant, autobiographical song "Slippin'", and released only six months after its predecessor, also held the top spot
on the charts-making DMX the first artist ever to have two number one
debuts in the same year. After spending the first part of 1999 on tour with
fellow Def Jam artists Jay-Z, Method Man and Redman on the most
successful hip hop tour ever, the Hard Knock Life tour, DMX split for the
heat of Miami. There he set to work on his latest offering, And Then Was
X. In true DMX style, And Then There Was X serves up yet another feast
of driving beats, ferocious rhyme flows and tales from the dark side. "I feel
good." DMX says about his new album, "I'm comin' with a lot of joints. It's
the same type of X sh*t. I mean, I always touch on different subjects, tell
different stories, but as far as the feel of the album, it's the same sh*t.
Why switch up? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
"What lends to the familiarity to the album is the electric, hit-making
chemistry of DMX and his longtime collaborator and producer, Swizz
Beats, who served as executive producer on the project and worked on
the blazin' tracks, TK. D explains his bond with Swizz by saying, "It's
love, it's real. You know, we're like family. I knew this nigga before he was
thinkin' about beats-when he was stealin' radios." Also helping out on production is Murder Inc.'s main man, Irv Gotti, who
laced DMX's murderous first single "What's My Name". Dame Grease,
who provided TK on D's first album, also returns with TK. Dru Hill's Nokio
dons the producer cap, providing the sexy track "What Bit**es Want"
which features the lusty vocals of Dru frontman, Sisqo. In the tradition of
"Slippin'", DMX delivers a thoughtful track called "More 2 a Song", which
explores the paradox of fame. The track's hook warns, "The game is a lot
bigger than you think you know/and if you think you know/ than I don't
think you know." "I wrote 'More 2 a Song' to explain to people that it's not
all about just rhymin' on the corner all the time that makes you a
successful rap artist," says the elusive star, "There's more to it than that.
I thought it was just rappin'. Nah, you gotta be in the studio, you gotta do
the interviews, you gotta do photo shoots, you gotta do this and that... It's
more to it than bustin' a fu**in' rhyme."
There is no doubt that And Then There Was X, with its dramatic, fevered
production, paired with D's growling delivery and raw, honest lyrics, is
destined to become another Dark Man X classic. DMX sums up his
formula of success by saying, "I'm real. And people like real. I haven't
crossed them yet, I haven't been on no fake sh*t yet, no bullsh*t yet. And
they feel my shit. People like a real person." Then he smiles. "Everybody
likes a dog, though."
