The album opens with “That’s My Dog” with THE LOX & Swizz Beatz. The album opening with this hard-hitting posse cut sets the tone right away. As THE LOX are some of X’s closest collaborators, it makes sense that they would be the first three to rap on the album, even before the lead artist. After the three come hard over a Swizz beat and hook, X comes in with high energy and confidence to show that he still has his skill at 50 years old. This sets an exciting tone for what’s to come.
“Bath Salts” is a song with origins that date back to 2009. X repurposed his verse from “Spit That shyt.” A version of this song was also created for Nas’s 2012 album Life is Good, although it didn’t make the cut. In 2017, a version of the song, featuring JAY-Z, Nas, and Jadakiss, was premiered by Swizz in a beat battle. It was intended for his 2018 album POISON, but the song was also cut from that. The song continued to be reworked, with Nas writing a new verse for this album, Jadakiss being cut, and the removal of the hook, to eventually become the song that is on this album. This song gives you three of New York’s finest just going in on a hard beat with incredible bars by artists at least 2 decades into their careers. Ironically, as this is the song with the oldest vocals on it, this is the track that is currently up for Rap Song of the Year at the Grammys.
“Dogs Out” marks the first collaboration of X and Lil Wayne and as one can expect, it is a bar heavy banger complete with a simple, yet catchy hook by Swizz Beatz. This continues Weezy’s incredible feature run of 2021 while showing X can match up with one of the most clever lyricists of our time. They have always respected each other and it is a celebration that they were able to link up before X’s untimely passing.
“Money Money Money” is the only song changed after X’s passing. The song originally featured a verse by the late Pop Smoke, which was actually originally recorded over this beat. However, Smoke’s team decided that verse would sound better on “Demeanor,” so this unfortunately did not formulate. Instead, Swizz got Moneybagg Yo to spit a verse here. Despite its origins, Moneybagg manages to come through with a well made verse, which features a great flow and impressive bars that appropriately match up with the other heavyweights on this tracklist. X also comes hard in this verse. He comes through with great bars and his energy and delivery are major contributors as to what makes the song great.
With “Hold Me Down,” the record takes a break from the high-energy spitting that’s been going on throughout the album for an introspective cut. Alicia Keys comes through with a simple, yet beautiful chorus as X raps meaningful bars showing his strength over yet another great beat from Swizz.
Similar to “Bath Salts,” “Skyscrapers” is an older POISON throwaway repurposed for this album. With a beat from Swizz and vocals from Bono dating back to 2012, the song originally featured the former rapping two verses and another verse from Kanye West, with X recording his verses in 2020 for his album. Despite the 9-year-old vocals from Bono, he floats on the hook and bridge and sounds far from dated on the song. X recreates this song as an uplifting anthem about strength and faith that makes for a beautiful song.
What follows is a skit called “Stick Up,” featuring Cross and Infrared, who have previously collaborated with X, as well as the late Ice Pick, known as the A&R who produced the skits for Ruff Ryders albums. This brief interlude samples the classic “Party Up (Up in Here)” as the three rob a bank. It’s a fun throwback to the classic and beloved skits that appeared on albums of X’s era.
“Hood Blues” was released as the album’s lead single three days before the album. The song features Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, and Conway the Machine of the Griselda collective. What results is an incredible bar-heavy posse cut which gives each artist their spotlight. Westside opens the song with his iconic style and Benny follows with a hard verse. Conway comes in smoothly after the Butcher, continuing his incredible feature run. X came in last and showed how he still had it at 50 years old. He meshes well with the Griselda style and it overall creates for an incredible lead single.
“Take Control,” primarily produced by Denaun, is the song that came of X’s Verzuz battle with Snoop Dogg. Sampling Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” the two dogs take turn rapping seductive bars about pleasing their ladies. The song is reminiscent of the classic sensual rap songs of their era and despite it’s older style, it once again proves X’s, and even to an extent Snoop’s, longevity and skill failing to sound dated.
“Walking in the Rain” starts with a prayer from Exodus Simmons, X’s youngest child. It then cuts to the song with X singing the simple hook. X then raps an introspective verse reflecting on his past and faith. After this, Denaun, the song’s producer known for his collaborations with Eminem and as a member of D12, sings a beautiful bridge showing that while he is not always respected as he should be, he is always loyal. From here, his singing is infused with X’s hook. Nas then comes in with his second feature on the album, which ends up being one of his finest verses in years. He too reflects on his past and how he’s done a lot right. Had he changed some of his actions, he would not have been in the comfortable position he is in today. After another round of the hook, Exodus comes in once more singing its lyrics, closing out this beautiful song.
The next track is a skit that serves as the title track. Exodus comes in once again cheering on his father. It’s a wholesome, yet bittersweet, little clip that shows the environment surrounding X as he was creating the album.
The final song, “Letter to My Son (Call Your Father),” is another personal song. This track sees X speaking directly to his oldest son, Xavier Simmons. His verse, specifically the line about his drug use, almost feels like a goodbye letter not just to his son, but to his fans as well. Usher comes in with a beautiful hook reminding the listener to “call your father.” In between the two hooks he sings, Brian King Joseph gets the spotlight, which primarily consists of a beautiful violin performance, with him sneaking in two lines regretting not being there for “father,” which could be him talking to a father figure and/or God.
Closing out the album is the traditional “Prayer” track, which is the only track without a Swizz Beatz production credit of any sort. Rather, the track is produced by Kanye West, which has a relatively quiet instrumental. This prayer comes from West’s Sunday Service concert at Coachella on Easter. It seems fitting that the final track from possibly X’s final album is a prayer, a tradition he has stuck onto from the beginning even if the original intention may not have been a goodbye.
Overall, Exodus serves as the perfect swan song for DMX’s legendary career. Tapping a loaded list of features both from this generation and legends he came up with, the album’s diversity of hard, fun, and personal tracks gives a reminder of why X is so beloved as a rapper.
