NFL
By: Zach Draves
He was the ruff ryder whose aggressive presence and raspy voice made him immortal.
DMX, born Earl Simmons, was one of the most compelling hip-hop artists of all time.
A wounded warrior, a poetic and lyrical genius whose ferocious deliveries and hardcore rhymes made him stand out above the rest in an era where hip hop was starting to become more and more commercialized.
(Courtesy: AP News)
In other words, what you saw was what you got.
He had the strong storytelling of a Notorious B.I.G. with the intense mannerisms of Tupac Shakur, Busta Rhymes, Ice Cube, and Eminem.
(Courtesy: Time.com)
(Courtesy: Amazon)
His passing at the age of 50 has put an ache into the hearts of the hip hop community and that includes the world of sports.
One of the most moving tributes to X came from none other than LeBron James himself who has spoken openly about what X has meant to him.
(Courtesy: Republic World)
Tributes started to pour in for this monumental icon from various athletes who felt a strong bond with him.
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When looking at the intersection of sports and hip hop, DMX embodied the Public Enemy song Rebel without a Pause in various capacities.
He never stopped working, rhyming, and most of all trying to live in a society that structurally criminalizes and stereotypes the black man.
Let’s not forget that he emerged from Yonkers, New York, and came of age during a period of deindustrialization, rapid economic injustice, and the ever expanding prison industrial complex all structurally designed to destroy if not wipe out black and brown communities.
After a life of addiction, trauma, abuse, and hardship, X found solace and salvation in music and used that as a tool to express his triumphs and struggles.
His rise to fame also came at a time during not only what became known as the Hip Hop explosion but also the fusion between hip hop and sports.
During the 1990s and early 2000’s, teams such as the UNLV Runnin Rebels and Michigan Fab Five as well as the rise of athletes such as Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Randy Moss, and Michael Vick were embraced by the hip hop community because their overall aesthetic was true blue hip hop.
Their styles and mannerisms said it all.
But beyond the playing arena, these men along with DMX were making a profound statement about black masculinity and that is no matter how hard America tries to lock up, shoot, and beat black men into submission, black men will continue to stand their ground and hold their own.
That is exactly what X and his contemporaries did and that can help to explain the love for him.
On a more personal level for me, my first connection with DMX came from one of my favorite movies growing up in which he himself was not featured but his music was.
It was the 2002 film Like Mike about a young boy named Calvin Cambridge (played by Lil Bow Wow) who lives in foster care, has a love for basketball, and finds a magical pair of sneakers once owned by Michael Jordan that catapults him to NBA greatness playing for the fictional team the Los Angeles Knights.
(Courtesy: IMDB)
Tracy Reynolds (played by Morris Chestnut) is the veteran LA Knight who becomes jealous of Calvin’s sudden fame.
There is one scene in the movie where Tracy goes to the drug store to pick up sleeping pills and allergy medication and he turns on the radio and he jams away to Party Up (Up in Here), DMX’s highest-selling single off his 1999 album And Then There Was X.
Calvin sneaks his way into the car and on the drive to the store he and Tracy engage in a very playful and humorous performance of Party Up (Up in Here).
(Courtesy: Youtube.com)
That scene came to mind once I heard of his passing and made me reflect and contextualize those moments more thoroughly.
It also occurred to me that X’s music was proper for that particular film because just as the character Calvin was living in foster care looking for family, X had lived in various foster homes and was in a desperate search of a family to call his own.
That movie now holds a more endearing place in my heart now and forever.
It is hard to begin to put DMX into historical context but we can say he did his best and he gave it his all.
The ruff ryder has been through so much and now he has at last found peace.
(Courtesy: Youtube.com)
