How DMX felt about people calling hip-hop “dead”
Ever since the earliest days of its development, there have always been purists claiming that hip-hop is dying, or even that it’s already dead. But one person who never had much time for that perspective was DMX.
X never for a moment felt that hip-hop was dying, and he insisted that those who claimed it was simply “don’t know what the fuck they are talking about.” Hip-hop, he explained during an interview with All Hip Hop, is far more than what some people think it is. It is not, therefore, something that can easily be snuffed out.
“Hip-hop is a lifestyle,” X insisted. “Rap is the music of hip-hop. Graffiti is the art. Breakdancing is the dance. It’s a lifestyle. It’s not fuckin’ music.”
X believed that those who thought hip-hop was dying were getting the facts “twisted.” While the quality of hip-hop’s music may rise and fall through time, the overall culture remains in place as something that is lived by many people.
“You can’t kill this,” X said. “We’re like three generations deep in here. You can’t be serious.”
DMX was of an age that meant he could remember rap music’s very earliest days, so he was in a fine position to comment on its development. He could recall hearing the first ever rap songs on the radio, including ‘King Tim III (Personality Jock)’ by the Fatback Band and ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by the Sugarhill Gang.
X understood, through personal experience, that hip-hop culture already existed before these songs had ever come on the airwaves for the first time. Regardless of the state of rap music, then, hip-hop culture more broadly can and does exist in good health.
“I been with rap since the beginning,” he said. “Hip-hop existed before rap. I’ve followed since it came out.”
There are always those who hark back to the good ol’ days of hip-hop, fretful of the musical twists and turns that rap music has taken. But that, according to DMX, is missing the point. Rap music and hip-hop cannot be collapsed together. Even when the former is struggling for quality, it does not follow that the latter is struggling for life.