It sparked the lyrical war between LL Cool J and Canibus, perhaps the last consequential wax battle held on actual vinyl - soon such things were fought in the fields of mixtapes and MP3s.
This single would be epochal for multiple reasons. LL Cool J featuring Redman, Method Man, Canibus and DMX, ‘ 4, 3, 2, 1’ (1997) 'Born Loser' was not a hit, but as a punchline rap where DMX makes himself the punchline, it would foreshadow the self-eviscerating rhymes of rappers like Eminem and Fatlip: “They kicked me out the shelter because they said I smelled a / Little like the living dead and looked like Helter Skelter.” For example, on his 1990 hit 'Spellbound,' K-Solo raps “I s-p-e-l-l very w-e-l-l / I only spell so all can t-e-l-l.” After the success of ' Spellbound,' DMX wrote this track while fuming in a Westchester prison cell. Both DMX and rapper K-Solo had claimed a rhyme style where individual words in bars are spelt out. Soon after, 'Born Loser' became the lone song released as part of DMX’s false start with Columbia Records. Here’s a small sampling of an artist with a range that encompassed the shocking, the sincere and the simply incredible.Īfter years spent as a ruthless battle rapper, mixtape hustler and early beneficiary of The Source magazine’s Unsigned Hype column, DMX and the nascent Ruff Ryders label released the rarely heard ' Born Loser' on a handful of 12-inch records. His shout-rap energy made him a favourite in the outwardly angsty era of Woodstock ’99 and the nü-metal band Korn’s Family Values Tour, but he was also a shirtless sex symbol moonlighting as an actor.
He made giant pop crossover hits, but they bubbled with wildly vivid threats better suited for a grindhouse theatre. DMX cut a unique figure for a superstar rapper: He’d battle his inner demons using the horror-centric imagery beloved by heavy metal bands, but his albums reliably offered heartfelt, often a cappella, prayers to God. 1, a feat no rapper has matched before or since. Signed to Def Jam Recordings, his first five albums all debuted at No. DMX was one of the most recognisable emcees in the late 1990s and early 2000s, years when hardcore New York rap could still stake a claim as hip-hop’s central concern. He spent his final days on life support at White Plains Hospital in Westchester County after suffering a heart attack on 2 April. " that could be offensive to some.)Įarl Simmons, the gruff, evocative rapper from Yonkers, New York, better known as DMX, died Friday at 50. (EDS: NOTE language in graf starting "Perhaps the most.
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