DMX Sadly Passes Away And Our Generation Is Hurt, We Lost A Real One

DMX Sadly Passes Away And Our Generation Is Hurt, We Lost A Real One

Coming on the same day of a royal member passing, it hasn’t seemed to over shadow the passions of a hip hop icon and legend. The love for DMX is pouring out as he was just taken off of life support leaving his legacy behind.

Last week, as I watched the Earth, Wind & Fire & Isley Brothers Verzuz, I sat and listened to Steve Harvey rant about everything “hip-hop” wasn’t.

It wasn’t smooth enough, It wasn’t clean enough, It wasn’t respectable enough

And partway through the show I wished I could just reach through the screen and yell, “because it’s not FUCKING supposed to be!”

Rap music was created as a direct, expressive and creative outlet for society’s most marginalized. From it’s inception, it has existed as an unfiltered dispatch from still occupied territories. Simply put, there is no music on the face of the Earth more expressive than rap music. And there was no greater artist on the face of the Earth who was more impactful at expressing himself than DMX.

DMX Sadly Passes Away And Our Generation Is Hurt

His life was marred by poverty, grief, tragedy and addiction. Yet his ability to express his emotions on record allowed us into the most beautiful aspects of his being. There has never been an artist more adept at expressing his vulnerabilities like X (go and listen to “Slippin'” if you need proof). He let us in to every aspect of his life. Without gimmicks & pretenses; he provided us with classics to wild out to, and to sit and nod our heads solemnly to.

When so many of us say “hip hop saved my life”, it’s music like DMX’s that we are silently referring to.

DMX wasn’t smooth enough, or clean enough, or respectable enough, but DMX was hip-hop – sorry – DMX is hip-hop.

Now, we mourn Earl Simmons as a man, a son, a father, and a friend. Our hearts go out to all of his loved ones. Yet selfishly we also mourn his passing for ourselves; because an integral piece of our music, our culture, and our young souls died today.

May he rest in peace. No one is as deserving of peace than DMX.