In 1998, when DMX released two multi-platinum classics — “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot” and “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood” — the hip-hop world was mourning two other artists whose words portended their deaths, Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. The bling era of rap had begun. The narrative for the genre had moved away from the street and onto the yacht, and the foremost artists of the time, including Jay Z and P Diddy, told triumphant rags-to-riches stories.
Simmons, meanwhile, took on the role of hip-hop’s reaper, most explicitly when playing the devil himself in his “Damien” trilogy. “Burning in hell, but don’t deserve to be,” he spits on “Look Thru My Eyes,” from “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot.” “Just because they’ve heard of me / And they know that the Dark is for real.” DMX forced his audience to listen and contend with a life marked by suffering as much as success. He was the spiritual heir to Tupac: a sensitive, tearful gangsta figure — tragic, yet supernaturally charismatic.
In the tradition of Biggie and Tupac, Simmons sutured together Christian spirituality, street morality, and personal trauma in his music. His artistry was never considered high art outside of hip-hop circles — perhaps because of his rugged delivery and, yes, the barking — but it bridged the gap between those rap savants and artists like Kendrick Lamar and 21 Savage. Some of his lyrics will not age well, though nobody who grew up in the era where “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” boomed from every car stereo would deny that he delivered some timeless classics.
Celebrity wasn’t always kind to DMX: Comedians mocked him; he was GIF-ed and turned into a meme. As recently as last year, another artist called him a crackhead. But if the jokes and the ugly language surrounding addiction bothered him, they didn’t stop DMX from sometimes being in on the joke (as in his cameo in the film “Top Five,” in which Chris Rock’s character encounters him in jail).
DMX’s addiction, criminalization and death resonate deeply for many Black people; it’s a familiar story and one we’re witnessing once again during the murder trial of the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, in which the victim, George Floyd, has often appeared to be the one on trial.