DMX — Exodus: Immediate thoughts and reactions
He’s still dead.
That’s the thing about posthumous albums from rappers we love, which we’ve sadly had to get used to a fair bit over the recent few weeks/months/years. The thing is, in the very best case they merely serve as reminders of the person you’ve lost, the talent they possessed and why you fell in love with their raps in the first place.
That’s if those posthumous albums are done right, of course. When they’re done right, posthumous albums will feel like Makaveli: The 7 Day Theory or, like, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, and make you understand that damn, Tupac was actually getting better when he died or that Pop Smoke would have really, truly taken over the world. (But when those albums are done wrong, well, you can point to just about every other posthumous album they’ve ever released from Pac. Smh.)
Here’s to hoping Exodus is much more a best-case scenario and actually a good album. X’s loss will still sting like hell, of course, but at least we’ll have good music to play as we mourn. And who knows, maybe it will help a newer generation understand what a titan we’ve lost. They’ve said all the right things in the lead-up to the release, about how the LP was just about finished already, so there is hope.
Only one way to find out. Let’s press play on this thing and give our immediate thoughts about it as we let it play through. We should know soon enough whether Exodus lives up to the hype and the moment.
1. That’s My Dog (feat. The LOX & Swizz Beatz)
Solid intro. That’s a Swizz Beatz in fine form right there, how fitting. It’s how it should be. We know the man has his detractors, but we’ll always have a weird soft spot for him. That intro, with this beat, those booming drums and this energy from the guests, is giving us strong …And Then There Was X vibes. A great thing, because that album is excellent.
We wish DMX would have been the first rapper to spit a verse, but it’s okay. Jadakiss comes through and, as he tends to do, kills things. “It’s hot over there, my n***a, play in the shade. You see, we playin’ with bullets, y’all playin’ with blades” is an apt descriptor of this beat.
Here is the DMX verse and it’s excellent.
It just takes one shot from one gun by one dude
A reason to get it, what’s up? Then fuck you
You know how a n***a move, that’s how a n***a move
Fuckin’ snake, you shoulda ate when your plate had food
I’ma say what the fuck I want, let it do what it do
And wherever the fuck you at, n***a, we comin’ through
I ain’t playin’ with you n****s, I got kids your age
I ain’t your father that shoulda stayed, too late, you shoulda prayed
You ain’t know, motherfucker? I’m from the home of the brave
Where we played in the mountains ’cause we lived in a cave
When I came into the game, I crashed through the wave
I’m the best, somethin’ that I’m takin’ to the grave
Motherfuckers’ jeans is too tight to be fuckin’ with dog
So stop fuckin’ with me, ’cause I ain’t fuckin’ with y’all
I might have dropped the ball, but I got it right back
My man dove for the out of bounds save and shot it right back
2. Bath Salts (feat. Jay Z & Nas)
Judging from the latest VERZUZ show, there apparently exists a version of Bath Salts with J.Cole — but why rely on Cole to waste a perfectly great beat when a throwaway Jay Z verse does the trick instead?? This beat fits Nas much more than it does Jay, but really what we mean is that it fits X much more than either of the two guests.
The thing about X is, he would and could outrap just about everyone ever. And he does here too, taking Nas and Jay to the woodshed. (Although FWIW he has no merit for outrapping Jay Z when the man ends his verse by mimicking a sneeze just to fit the rhyme pattern. Shameful, shameful, to say nothing of the rest of the verse.)
3. Dog’s Out (feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz)
We’re two for two so far with Exodus but this is a stark departure from the previous two rowdy songs. We love Wayne as much as anyone on Earth (read through this here) and the man showcases the form he’s accustomed us to in the past few years, but ultimately this is a miss. A half-baked idea straight from Wayne’s Funeral, pretty sure we’ve heard this one already dozens of times. Meh, too bad. “What y’all n****s know about making a movie? Show ’em out” is a good line from X though.
4. Money, Money, Money (feat. Moneybagg Yo)
Why? We love Moneybagg Yo, and are all for the general of praising Memphis rap in general, but why this song specifically? On this album? With this beat? You know when folks say they have an issue with Swizz Beatz’s production? This is a prime example why. I guess he brings in a nice little voice sample at the end of each measure but otherwise, this is a beat built around every cliché sound of a church organ you see in movies or tv shows. It sucks.
5. Hold Me Down (feat. Alicia Keys)
Let’s get back on track here please? You know what, not baaaaaaad. This beat is still a little odd and laser-sounding, but we’ll allow it. Because X IS GOING TO THE INTROSPECTIVE AND TORMENTED WELL! Sorry, we got stuck in caps lock. This is a good song. “I’m pulled in opposite directions, my life’s in conflict. That’s why I spit words that depict the convict.”
We would have liked another verse from X but it’s okay. We’ll revisit this one for sure.
6. Skyscrapers (feat. Bono)
*Insert Michael Scott yelling NOOOOOOO at Toby in The Office GIF*
Okay fine the full song isn’t an entirely trainwreck, the beat is somewhat catchy and X is excellent like he always is. But there’s Bono and we’re getting strong vibes reminiscent of that fucking B.o.B. Airplanes song from whenever it was.
7. Stick Up Skit (feat. Cross, Infrared & Icepick)
The skit here starts with Party Up (Up In Here) playing in the background — talk about a GOOD Swizz Beatz production credit — before we get to the stick up part. “And if your ass got heart trouble, lean your motherfuckin’ ass up against the motherfuckin’ wall” got a chuckle out of us. RIP Icepick Jay.
8. Hood Blues (feat. Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine & Westside Gunn)
Not sure about this one, both as the lead single as well as just a song overall. It feels much more like a Griselda song featuring DMX rather than X bringing the Buffalo homies down to the gutter alongside him. Still, the rappers are rapping rapping and we’ll never be mad at excellent displays of rapping. Hell of a beat too, perfect for charismatic like these four to sink their teeth into it.
9. Take Control (feat. Snoop Dogg)
LOL JESUS WTF IS THIS… Not only did they sample Sexual Healing but they walked right. to. the. edge of that line. You might as well commit to the bit and go all the way. “Uh, look here, bitches come and bitches go. Got ’em flying in from L.A. to YO.” Right, this is another love song like only DMX can pull them off. Apparently, X’s idea of love is getting constantly nagged at while Snoop, who raps second here, compares himself to a shark or a whale when he makes love. In 2021, folks. Truly preposterous stuff. We won’t say anything about the third verse lol, jesus fuck.
10. Walking In The Rain (feat. Denaun, Exodus Simmons & Nas)
Okay so Walking In The Rain opens with a clip of DMX’s son Exodus asking God to watch over those he loves most. This means that we went from hearing X discuss how and why he hates the boyfriend of the woman he’s sleeping with on Take Control’s third verse to Exodus asking God for protection. What is this album???????
Anyway, Walking In The Rain is a perfectly fine song. Feels a little like autopilot, but we’ll accept it — except the part where Nas says his life should be an Ava DuVernay movie. Nope, fuck that part.
11. Exodus Skit
Another skit from DMX’s young son. We’re not crying, you’re crying.
12. Letter To My Son (Call Your Father) (feat. Brian King Joseph & Usher)
Apparently, this is one of the few songs that X had announced before his passing. Yeah, this is good, he’s speaking to his son Exodus. Hearing X say that he’d like to give his son a hug but he can’t (because he might bite)… Man. “Be a man about it, we can admit when we’re wrong. Come on! Get off that kid shit you on. If you’d have paid attention, you’d have saw it coming but you a man lookin’ through the eyes of a woman.” Ugh, man. Yeah, this is good. It’s the DMX we would have liked to see and hear more from on this Exodus album. “And I don’t know what you thought about my use of drugs. But it taught you enough to not use them drugs.” Fucking fuck, fuckity fuck. We’re not sure we will ever be okay with his passing. There’s an Usher chorus that’s followed by just the most elegant and perfect violin strings. Yes we’re okay, stop asking us!!!
13. Prayer (2021)
Of course we’re ending this album with a prayer. How right and fitting, even though it’s the prayer X said at the Sunday Service of freakin’ Kanye West. Whatever. All love, power and joy to DMX.
TL; DR
In conclusion, Exodus will stand as the final testament to the talented and tormented man that was Earl Simmons. DMX and Swizz Beatz both had spoken of the album as the one that would bring him back to the forefront of the rap scene. They probably had a different album in mind, because the one we got, this one that dropped a few days ago, is sadly uneven, messy and a flawed album. There’s seemingly not much rhyme and reason to the sequencing or the guests included on Exodus. It’s an album that won’t change much for X’s legacy; the moments of genius are few and far between.
Perhaps most inexcusably, Exodus feels deeply inconsequential from an artist whose entire existence was a testament to the exact opposite. That’s a damn shame. But we’ll always have his first five classic albums.
