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Each year within the field of hip-hop, one artist rises above the rest in terms of streams, record sales and concert revenue. Every now and again, the rapper who emerges in such a fashion is a fresh face who dominates the rap scene with wildly popular, chart-topping debut material. Even more seldom does such a newly established household name capitalize even further on their early success, seemingly leaving their prior accomplishments in the dust. Once in a generation, a new hip-hop artist comes around who changes the game forever.
DMX was all of the above.
Born Earl Simmons just outside of Yonkers in New York City, DMX inarguably had one of the most storied careers in the history of the rap genre before tragically passing away of a drug overdose at the age of 50 a few short weeks ago. Simmons had struggled with drug addiction since the age of 14, ever since a role model of his early childhood pressured him into puffing a joint of marijuana that, unbeknownst to Simmons,
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“The shit I see every day brings tears to my eyes/ How I holla at my niggas brings ears to my cries”
DMX’s opening bars on LL Cool J’s “Fuhgidabowdit” summate one of an artist’s most important duties. For all the armchair A&R-ing we do while talking about what makes a great artist, the answer is very simple: be relatable. In a suffering society, that often means sharing pain with the millions who are also “finding meaning from their suffering,” like he famously expressed on “Slippin.”
Those who related to DMX’s struggles are the same people who are calling him their all-time favorite artist in the wake of his tragic death at the age of 50. To them, he became the greatest soon after he gained national recognition with his first two albums, snarling over Swizz Beatz and Dame Grease production with the kind of fury that could only be a defense mechanism for immense pain.