A lot of mainstream rappers pepper their flow with aggressive outbursts, but few are as perpetually angry as DMX. And the word on the street is that he isn't any more relaxed off the mic - Dark Man X has a reputation that paints him as an abrasive, acerbic lad in person as much as in the studio or on stage. Musically at least, X would end up subduing his aggression somewhat over the years, adopting a lighter, mTV-friendly approach and reaping the rewards on the sales charts. It's Dark And Hell Is Hot, his major-label debut, was a curb-stomp of an album though, and seemed completely disinterested with commercial appeal. Lyrically DMX wasn't winning any wordplay awards, but his delivery was bloody and raw - a far cry from the bouncy summertime hits that most of the big name rappers where throwing up at the time. Exploring more ominous themes than we were accustomed to, his verses sliced and cut with sometimes unsettling allusions to violence, murder, sexual assault, It's Dark And Hell Is Hot was X at his most brutal. Barking and spitting like a rabid dog, this was a rapper out for blood. There were layers here too, musically, that made this gritty debut stand out from the crowd. Dense productions, often shrouded in a foreboding atmosphere, this was dark and heavy stuff. Retrospectively regarded as a hip hop classic, for its time It's Dark And Hell Is Hot was a hard-as-nails attack on hip pop, the sharp, biting rantings of an angry bald man with a bad attitude.
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
