Artist: DMX
Album: And Then There Was X
Label: Def Jam
Release Date: December 19th 1999
Track listing:
1 The Kennel (skit) 0:36
2 One More Road to Cross 4:20
3 The Professional 3:35
4 Fame 3:37
5 Alot to Learn (skit) 0:39
6 Here We Go Again 3:52
7 Party Up (Up in Here) 4:28
8 Make a Move 3:33
9 What These Bitches Want (feat. Sisqo) 4:13
10 What's My Name? 3:52
11 More 2 a Song 3:42
12 Don't You Ever 3:48
13 The Shakedown (skit) 0:35
14 D-X-L (Hard White) (feat. The LOX) 4:21
15 Comin' for Ya 4:02
16 Prayer III 1:59
17 Angel (feat. Regina Bell) 5:07
18 Good Girls, Bad Guys (feat. Dyme) 3:55
RAPCENTRAL REVIEW:
DMX released And Then There Was X in 1999, following his debut album Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood in 1998. It's unusual for musicians to equal the success of their debut albums, but DMX followed up that great album with another classic all within 2 years ! As the 90s ended it seemed as though the 20th century would see the re-emergance of East Coast hip-hop, after a mostly West Coast dominated decade. DMX is one of those rappers with their own unique style, DMX is neither a lyricist or a rapper relying on his producer/s to get him in the charts, despite this he has retained his style from beggining to now and is an international success, respected by ''hip-hop heads'' yet appreciated to a degree by your casual hip-hop fan.
And Then There Was X is not widely regarded as a masterpeice, or anything close to it. Unfortunatly, only ''Party Up In Here'' and of course the classic ''What's My Name?'' got adequate MTV/Radio play and as a result this album deserves great respect for going platinum a total of five times ! which makes ''And Then There Was X'' DMX's best selling album to date... so why doesn't this album (largely) get the respect it deserves within the hip-hop community, and indeed throughout the world ?
As i've mentioned, this album contains some classic tracks (for those who like DMX), however the others seem to 'fill' rather than to compliment or expand on ideas and themes in the album. (For those who have not heard this album) the themes of this album are largely.. shooting people, robbing places and the usual gangster lifestyle DMX is infamous for. Personally, i find it hard to defend DMX sometimes due to the ''blood on my dick cos i fucked a corpse'' kind of nonsense DMX is prone to spout in a few songs. So my first major flaw in this album is the simple fact that the songs do not co-ordinate in terms of content or theme.
Another major flaw in the album is the general unsuprising basicness. DMX had ONE interesting collaboration during this album which is the quite good song ''what these bitches want'' ft Sisqo (yes from the thong song!). The others (and there aren't many) are un-heard ofs which distract from the purpose of the album which is ... DMX, as the usual get a collaboration from a rapper to drop an unrelated verse during the song never seems to work unless the rapper is particularly talented or controversial (etc...).
What's also missing from this album is a sense of meaning, which is probobly (in my opinion) the key reason DMX doesn't get the respect he deserves as an artist, as although it cannot be argued that he brings 'realness' into what he raps about - he never seems to have a mission or something he wants people to hear about, as 2pac did, N.W.A did, and Chamillionaire has been doing more recently. (Not that im suggesting DMX taking some degree of a moral highground would be reccomended from my perspective), Whilst in the album Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of my Blood you have the classic 'slippin' which brings in a great deal of emotion (which incontestably DMX does well), and a break from DMX's often 'shouty' style. The song that does this mostly in this album is the 'more to a song' (as well as the aforementioned ''what these bitches want'' but this could also be labelled as a 'bomb track').
So, in conclusion... 'Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of my Blood' and 'And Then There Was X' bare striking similarities, and don't seem any differently motivated and dont produce vastly dis-similar ratings in my opinion. The Album 'And Then There Was X' is a phenomenon of it's own, as it is not often that an artist's highest selling album is not regarded as their best, and as a result i would like to remind you all that this album was great, still is great and well worth another listen, as for you people who aren't DMX fans get to the download request section !
- Written by Shenron
TOP TRACKS:
1) Party Up
2) What's my Name ?
3) What These Bitches Want ?
4) One More Road To Cross
RAPCENTRAL OVERALL RATING: (post your rating)
3.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL MUSIC GUIDE REVIEW:
Though it's DMX's third album in two years, ...And Then There Was X doesn't show much sign of burnout. True, it's similar to his last, which balanced new-school gangsta tracks ("The Professional," "Make a Move") with a couple that question the inevitable trappings that come with success
("Fame," "One More Road to Cross"). And the productions by Swizz Beats, P. Killer Trackz, and Shok — all part of Ruff Ryder Productions, Inc. — are heavily synthesized and occasionally melodramatic, just like both of his previous albums. Even when Swizz Beats' usually reliable productions fall through, DMX brings it all back with his tough rhymes and inventive wordplay. He's still torn between the thug life and spiritual concerns (even including a long prayer in the liner notes), but the most exciting tracks on ...And Then There Was X are good-time joints like "Party Up" and "What's My Name?"
by John Bush
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
it wasnt fucked up to me 
