![\"\"](\"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Exodus.jpeg\")
\u201cThat\u2019s My Dog\u201d (feat. The LOX & Swizz Beatz)
\n\u201cSetting the tone was very important. This is a real curated body of work, and me and X hadn’t been in the studio like this for 12 years. The first rapper you hear on the album is Jadakiss, so that’s letting you know the tone right there for where we going. This is not play-around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBath Salts\u201d (feat. JAY-Z & Nas)
\n\u201cOut the gate, we just wanted to put pressure on everybody\u2014and then take them on this journey at the same time. With Hov and Nas, people know what they getting, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDogs Out\u201d (feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz)
\n\u201cWayne always spoke highly of X\u2014when he was living and when he passed. If you go and you look at YouTube, you see Wayne bringing out X at [Miami Beach nightclub] LIV. His concert I was at, he did a whole tribute about X. They went crazy [here].\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney Money Money\u201d (feat. Moneybagg Yo)
\n\u201cI didn’t want the album just to be artists from when X first came out. I wanted it\u2014and he wanted it\u2014to be energy from today, which is why Pop Smoke originally had this slot. I actually made the beat for Pop Smoke. Pop Smoke was like, ‘I want something that sound like X.’ And then I think by mistake or whatever, the verses got out, and they was put on different songs, so we had to change it at the last minute. The song is called ‘Money Money Money,’ so I felt like Moneybagg Yo was perfect for it, and I actually like him as an artist. The beat reminded me of ‘Stop Being Greedy’ a little bit when I was doing it. It put me in that old X vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHold Me Down\u201d (feat. Alicia Keys)
\n\u201c\u2018Hold Me Down\u2019 is one of my favorite records, not only because of my wife on it, but because the way that DMX opens up about his life. If you listen to the record, he starts off, \u2018I’m pulled in opposite directions, my life’s in conflict\/That\u2019s why I spit words that depict a convict.\u2019 And to have a simple chorus that’s just saying, ‘Hold me down’\u2014\u2019cause that’s all X wanted. He wanted the people that loved him to hold him down. That’s what he cared about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSkyscrapers\u201d (feat. Bono)
\n\u201cBono is like family to me, and I had [an early version of the track]. I asked for his permission to give it to my brother because I felt that he deserved it more, especially with the body of work that we was working on. As soon as X heard it, he automatically went in. And then it was crazy, \u2019cause Bono was writing him saying, \u2018Man, it’s an honor to have my voice next to yours.\u2019 He drew him a drawing and wrote X a poem and everything right before he passed. It was pretty deep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStick Up Skit\u201d (feat. Cross, Infrared & Icepick)
\n\u201cThis is the late, great Icepick Jay, who passed away [in 2017]. He did all the skits, so that was kind of like paying homage. It just fit, and we can’t have an album with no skits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHood Blues\u201d (feat. Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher & Conway the Machine)
\n\u201c[Griselda and DMX], they was both fans of each other. X liked them cause they was super hard. And they was a fan of X, so that was pretty easy. X kind of did this one on his own, to be honest. I just sent the beat and they did they thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTake Control\u201d (feat. Snoop Dogg)
\n\u201c[Snoop and DMX], they knew they wanted to do something after Verzuz. We did the song and it was like, \u2018Yo, you know what? Snoop would sound good on this.\u2019 That\u2019s Marvin Gaye and that’s ‘Sexual Healing,’ so you know we had to do the right thing. I love that record. It shows you the ‘How’s It Goin’ Down’ vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking in the Rain\u201d (feat. Nas, Exodus Simmons & Denaun)
\n\u201c[DMX\u2019s son] Exodus was in the studio with us for a lot of [the album]. He was loving \u2018Walking in the Rain\u2019 and he just started singing it and he was on beat and everything. It was a beautiful sight to see.”<\/p>\n
\u201cLetter to My Son (Call Your Father)\u201d (feat. Usher & Brian King Joseph)
\n\u201c[DMX] pulled me in the corner and was like, \u2018I’m going to let you hear this.\u2019 I kept it acoustic so you could hear every word, and then felt like it needed something else. Then Usher came into the studio and did what he did to it. I left it to where the music had some space for people to reflect instead of it being a whole bunch of words, \u2019cause X didn’t put a whole bunch of words on a record. He said what he said. And it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrayer\u201d
\n\u201cThis was live at Kanye’s Sunday Service. It was his latest prayer. That’s why we put that one on there. He did another one where he was rapping, but this one feels more like what it should be. He was the master of prayers, for sure.\u201d
\nExodus<\/p>\n
The posthumous album is a tough thing to get right. If nothing else, it can be hard for fans to ascertain what\u2019s really representative of an artist\u2019s vision versus what was completed after death to the sometimes less than exacting specifications of the stewards of said estate. In the case of dearly departed hip-hop legend DMX, however, the Dog-loving faithful had nothing to worry about. \u201cAll of the songs was finished,\u201d longtime friend, collaborator, and executive producer of his Exodus album Swizz Beatz tells Apple Music. \u201cThis album was done while he was living. I know they\u2019re saying \u2018the album after he’s gone,\u2019 but really he did the album before he was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pop Smoke was initially slated to appear on \u201cMoney Money Money,\u201d but a leak forced Swizz to switch up the plan and bring on Moneybagg Yo. Otherwise, though, Exodus is exactly how X designed it\u2014one of hip-hop\u2019s most impactful MCs making space for the voices he revered, while staying true to a career-long practice of baring his soul on record. \u201cHe gave people real shit,\u201d Swizz says. \u201cHe gave you a front-row seat into his life, because he loved his fans, he loved his people, and it’s where he was at. He was comfortable, and I think that every artist should get to that level one day, to where they\u2019re not capping and they\u2019re saying real things that are happening in their life and that they\u2019re going through. And it should be uncut, like Dog did on this record.\u201d Below, Swizz talks us through\u2014track by track\u2014the last musical testament of friend and icon DMX.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s My Dog\u201d (feat. The LOX & Swizz Beatz)<\/p>\n
\u201cSetting the tone was very important. This is a real curated body of work, and me and X hadn’t been in the studio like this for 12 years. The first rapper you hear on the album is Jadakiss, so that’s letting you know the tone right there for where we going. This is not play-around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBath Salts\u201d (feat. JAY-Z & Nas)<\/p>\n
\u201cOut the gate, we just wanted to put pressure on everybody\u2014and then take them on this journey at the same time. With Hov and Nas, people know what they getting, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDogs Out\u201d (feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz)<\/p>\n
\u201cWayne always spoke highly of X\u2014when he was living and when he passed. If you go and you look at YouTube, you see Wayne bringing out X at [Miami Beach nightclub] LIV. His concert I was at, he did a whole tribute about X. They went crazy [here].\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney Money Money\u201d (feat. Moneybagg Yo)<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t want the album just to be artists from when X first came out. I wanted it\u2014and he wanted it\u2014to be energy from today, which is why Pop Smoke originally had this slot. I actually made the beat for Pop Smoke. Pop Smoke was like, ‘I want something that sound like X.’ And then I think by mistake or whatever, the verses got out, and they was put on different songs, so we had to change it at the last minute. The song is called ‘Money Money Money,’ so I felt like Moneybagg Yo was perfect for it, and I actually like him as an artist. The beat reminded me of ‘Stop Being Greedy’ a little bit when I was doing it. It put me in that old X vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHold Me Down\u201d (feat. Alicia Keys)<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Hold Me Down\u2019 is one of my favorite records, not only because of my wife on it, but because the way that DMX opens up about his life. If you listen to the record, he starts off, \u2018I’m pulled in opposite directions, my life’s in conflict\/That\u2019s why I spit words that depict a convict.\u2019 And to have a simple chorus that’s just saying, ‘Hold me down’\u2014\u2019cause that’s all X wanted. He wanted the people that loved him to hold him down. That’s what he cared about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSkyscrapers\u201d (feat. Bono)<\/p>\n
\u201cBono is like family to me, and I had [an early version of the track]. I asked for his permission to give it to my brother because I felt that he deserved it more, especially with the body of work that we was working on. As soon as X heard it, he automatically went in. And then it was crazy, \u2019cause Bono was writing him saying, \u2018Man, it’s an honor to have my voice next to yours.\u2019 He drew him a drawing and wrote X a poem and everything right before he passed. It was pretty deep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStick Up Skit\u201d (feat. Cross, Infrared & Icepick)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the late, great Icepick Jay, who passed away [in 2017]. He did all the skits, so that was kind of like paying homage. It just fit, and we can’t have an album with no skits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHood Blues\u201d (feat. Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher & Conway the Machine)<\/p>\n
\u201c[Griselda and DMX], they was both fans of each other. X liked them cause they was super hard. And they was a fan of X, so that was pretty easy. X kind of did this one on his own, to be honest. I just sent the beat and they did they thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTake Control\u201d (feat. Snoop Dogg)<\/p>\n
\u201c[Snoop and DMX], they knew they wanted to do something after Verzuz. We did the song and it was like, \u2018Yo, you know what? Snoop would sound good on this.\u2019 That\u2019s Marvin Gaye and that’s ‘Sexual Healing,’ so you know we had to do the right thing. I love that record. It shows you the ‘How’s It Goin’ Down’ vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking in the Rain\u201d (feat. Nas, Exodus Simmons & Denaun)<\/p>\n
\u201c[DMX\u2019s son] Exodus was in the studio with us for a lot of [the album]. He was loving \u2018Walking in the Rain\u2019 and he just started singing it and he was on beat and everything. It was a beautiful sight to see.”<\/p>\n
\u201cLetter to My Son (Call Your Father)\u201d (feat. Usher & Brian King Joseph)<\/p>\n
\u201c[DMX] pulled me in the corner and was like, \u2018I’m going to let you hear this.\u2019 I kept it acoustic so you could hear every word, and then felt like it needed something else. Then Usher came into the studio and did what he did to it. I left it to where the music had some space for people to reflect instead of it being a whole bunch of words, \u2019cause X didn’t put a whole bunch of words on a record. He said what he said. And it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrayer\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was live at Kanye’s Sunday Service. It was his latest prayer. That’s why we put that one on there. He did another one where he was rapping, but this one feels more like what it should be. He was the master of prayers, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The posthumous album is a tough thing to get right. If nothing else, it can be hard for fans to ascertain what\u2019s really representative of an artist\u2019s vision versus what was completed after death to the sometimes less than exacting specifications of the stewards of said estate. In the case of dearly departed hip-hop legend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[539],"class_list":["post-3625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-front"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6568,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625\/revisions\/6568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}