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  • » Name: William E. Ketchum III
  • » Location: East Lansing, MI
  • » Member Since: 04/12/07
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Speech Is My Hammer...

Lowered Expectations: Hip-Hop's Five Most Disappointing MCs [#2: DMX]


October 06, 2008 | Tags: dmx, disappointment, lowered, expectations

JYoung the General is my ace and my cohost for Cultural Vibe, our weekly hip-hop radio show at Michigan State University's IMPACT 89 FM. I asked him who I should include in my Five Most Disappointing MCs list, and DMX was the first name he listed. I gawked at him, and gave him the same argument that everyone will say in the comments: "Dude made classic albums! Dude ran the rap game at one point!" But after hearing his argument, I realized that all of his accomplishments early on just made it worse.

I wasn't playin' when I said y'all would hate me for this one.

JYoung, you take it from here.

--

The Potential:  1998 was a great year for Earl Simmons, better known to heads everywhere as the one and only DMX. Some cats go their whole careers without one classic album under their belt. DMX had two in a year.  It's Dark and Hell is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood were both fresh breaths of air in the game, and X was able to make his combination of ferocious delivery and potent lyricism crossover in a way that a lot of similar acts never made click. It still amazes me to this day that "Get At Me Dog" at one point in time could be a lead-off song and not only be dope, but successful commercially. [Ketchums' Note: Like the last three emcees listed, check how X has so many essential ingredients: the trademark voice/scowl; the balance between heartfelt, introspective rhymes and hardnosed gangsterisms. Plus, he had production from Swizz Beatz. He had everything! OK, I'm done.]

Then there's his squad. DMX's breakout year paved the way for Ruff Ryders to emerge, clearing the fast lane for Eve and The L.O.X.-all four of which are great emcees in their own rights. Those artists in turn put on two of the supposed blue chips of their era, Jae Hood (say what you want, he was a top 10 prospect just five years ago) and Cassidy. The point here is not only had X done his thing, but he had provided what was seemingly a hip-hop legacy in the making.

Oh and the last thing, let's not forget that despite Jigga being the crown jewel of Def Jam for the last decade, X was more popular than Jay if you take into account record sales and video play. Not too many living rappers can say that.

The Disappointment: The Difference ten years makes. The unfortunate reality is that while Jay, Diddy, Nelly, 50 Cent, and any rapper who's mega-stardom was on par with X's  from the '97-'03 era became fixtures in yearly Forbes Top 10 lists; X, quite frankly, became a cokehead.

You really can't take anything away from what X did when he was popular, because it was a hell of a run. But his fall from grace is just as epic as the road he took to the top. There's absolutely no reason why DMX shouldn't be securing mergers with top labels, selling out shows like he did years ago, dropping more classic gems, and putting on some prized Ruff Ryders prodigy the same way Jay did Kanye. DMX had the potential to be more than just popular, and at the end of the day when the major players in hip-hop all have their next power meeting, DMX will be meeting with John Q. Law to plead not-guilty to the next of his weekly arrests.  [1]

With no memorable albums since Grand Champ (and even that's highly debated) and Ruff Ryders nothing more than a mere footnote in the "Remember When" file, it's more than just what X didn't do, and more about what he's not doing. What he's not doing is winning.

[1] Just bolded that for emphasis, since all you commenters mention is the Forbes list comment. Do you fools read blogs, or do you just skim through it?


The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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