Been bumping this joint for the last week. Overall I enjoyed it. Haven't liked a DMX project since back in the 2000's. Both "Undisputed" and "Year of the Dog" I guess were shaky but still had moments on them. "Redemption of the Beast" was more of a compilation so that didn't really move the needle that much. Here I felt the album did a good job showing X's versatility. Plus it was 10 songs so it was too the point and flowed well. First the album starts off too hard with "That's my Dog." . X and LOX never really disappoints. It was just a street banger. I really enjoyed "Bout Sh!t" last year too. Beat is dope and they all spit on it.
Of course the next track I loved. "Bath Salts" finally sees the light of day on an official release. A "Life is Good" Lost Tape basically. So yes you could call this a "Cut and Paste" but it was worth it. I love this beat, it's a club banger. I actually liked all 3 verses on this. It really worked without a hook just spittin. NaS and Jay are on a tear. "Sorry not Sorry" hit Top 30 on the charts basically Three Decades after they both first appeared on Billboard charts (Jay in 89, Nas in 92). Now "Bath Salts" is the most popular song from this album. They should do a hard NY Video in black and white them all wearing Black, lol. With loud sirens and police lights, lol. Again I liked everyone verse. It works with just them 3 even though Kiss bars was still good. The Wayne and Moneybag Yo tracks were aiight not the best. Though I liked how Wayne flipped the subject. But didn't really like the hook on the wayne joint. The Moneybag joint beat was interesting but the song was really short and I couldn't help but try to imagine Pop on the record but Money did OK.
I really liked the Alicia record. Sounds more like one of her tracks honestly. Single potential. "Skycarpers" was good too. Bono was straight on the hook. It did sound like something Ye would do though. Now the 2nd half of album did end strong. I really, really liked "Hood Blues". It just reminds of that hard NY ish. Yes the sample has been used before but this is Hip Hop. Samples get reused all the time. Those Griselda boys all went the f*ck in. I liked how X finished it off too. That beat is too hard as well. "Take Control" is a Hit. Perfect Marvin Sample, smooth a$$ beat. It's hard to sample "Sexual Healing" and make it sound different. That was a nice flip. Dope back and forth with Snoop and X. It's a single for sure. Come on Snoop, get that video out. "Walking in the Rain" was just beautiful and sounds exactly like something that would be on a NaS album. X and NaS just sound so good together. Mr. Porter went in as well. X's Son did a good job to. Record been on repeat all week. Lastly "Letter to My Son" is the vintage X record. Bring that emotion. Usher also did good on it. The Skits were straight with the Son and the Stick Up sounded like a 90's album skit, lol. Of course got to close it out with the Prayer.
Again overall I enjoyed it. I didn't know what I expecting from a DMX LP in 2021. Hoping for a "Ruff Ryders" Tribute track from the whole gang in the future. As for Swizz, I thought he managed the project well getting all these features together. I think the production was OK, nothing groundbreaking just giving X a more modern feel. While also keeping that hard esthetic. It was a very easy and smooth listen. Was it some groundbreaking Classic. No but 23 years after his debut and being 50 years old. This wasn't that bad at all. Thank God they didn't name it "It's dark and hell is hot again"....that's too much pressure for this album. The new title works fine.
As for the sales of 32k and #8 Debut on the Billboard Charts. People might say this is bad when it's really not. This will be DMX's 8th Top 10 Appearance on the Album Charts. His 10th Top 10 Appearance on the R&B/Hip Hop Charts. His "Greatest Hits" recently shot back up to #2 on The Billboard Album Charts and #1 and R&B/Hip Hop Charts. DMX has nothing to prove sale wise, he's sold 70 Million Albums worldwide. Rappers today can only dream of moving the real physical units DMX has moved. This is actually a better showing than his last album. "Undisputed" came in @ #19 on the Billboard 2000 with 17k sales back in 2012. We will never see a rapper again come out as powerful as X did with his 5 Straight #1 album run. Also this was suppose to be X's comeback album to reintroduce him to a new generation. The way streaming is set up he got Millions of listens from the album. Swizz has several of options single wise too. Heard the news about Dame Grease unreleased vault stash too. So I look forward to more unreleased X music. Overall not perfect but I liked it.