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east coast hip hopold school hip hophardcore hip hop

DMX

6 tracks across 6 playlists

Yonkers' Earl Simmons. The growl, the prayer, the bark, the broken heart. 'It's Dark and Hell Is Hot' (1998) and 'Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood' both went #1 in the same year; he is the only rapper in history to have his first five albums debut at #1. The Ruff Ryders era, the Method Man / Redman / DMX 'How High' co-signing, the genuinely evangelical Christian preaching, the addiction battles, the relentless prayer-as-album-track tradition. We lost him in 2021. Few rappers have ever sounded that raw, before or since.