How did DMX fall off a cliff so fast with popularity?

[seemorecizzy]

he pretty much took a 2 year break during his prime to do movies
when he came back, he didn't have the same buzz,
he sold 2 milly really off his name alone.

also, even tho great depression had some dope music, you could clearly hear that his lyrics took a decline.
to keep it a buck, he was doing coke at a manageable level until he got that movie money. That's when he went overboard with it, and his lyrics declined

 

[tremonthustler1]

I fukk with X, but this man became irrelevant in 3 years y’all making excuses .. Obviously not everyone has a long career like Jay Z

He wasn’t irrelevant. He just wasn’t on that elite level and all his personal demons crept back into his life. He didn’t become irrelevant til he left Def Jam.

 

[FreshAIG]

I fukk with X, but this man became irrelevant in 3 years y’all making excuses .. Obviously not everyone has a long career like Jay Z

How was he irrelevant after 3 years when he was still going number first week 5 years into his career? He didn't fall to number 2 in first week sales until 2006. He just wasn't as big as he was from 1998-2001, but he was still a huge artist.

There's a big difference between not being as big and being irrelevant. That's a reach.

 

[seemorecizzy]

How was he irrelevant after 3 years when he was still going number first week 5 years into his career? He didn't fall to number 2 in first week sales until 2006. He just wasn't as big as he was from 1998-2001, but he was still a huge artist.

There's a big difference between not being as big and being irrelevant. That's a reach.

dmx didnt completely fall off until jayz got to def jam
even then, lord give me a sign was a better big record

 

[Batsute]

We gonna just ignore the height of napster’s popularity

 

[FreshAIG]

DMX had a 5 year run as a top artist. 1998-2003. That's a great run.

But he definitely took a drop in popularity and it was explained: Drugs, Movies taking him away from the music

But another factor that many don't bring up, X didn't do the "collaborate with who's popular to stay relevant" thing that artists do when they're not the "Hot" rapper at the moment. What Jay and Drake do is collaborate with a lot of the upcoming artists, so they're always in the loop of what's happening. You can tell X be in his own world. X wasn't quick to do songs with nikkas who was hot between 2003-2006 during his slowing down phase. And it hurt his longevity.

Him and 50's careers kinda parallel musically. 50 got bigger than DMX was at his height, but X lasted longer. Both came out red hot, and then had a noticeable drop in popularity. 50's drop was just steeper. X had 3 albums before you noticed a drop 5x platinum (Then There Was X) to 2x platinum (Grand Champ). Where 50 went from 6x platinum to 1x platinum after his second album.

 

[Primetime]

He got stale

TBH, after It's Dark and Hell is Hot, i thought he became noticeably lazier on his ensuing albums. Not that he fell off a cliff with Flesh of my Flesh (which had a couple of my favorite tracks of his) but top to bottom it didn't feel as tight and it's when he started that trend of tracks where he's just repeating the hook 50-60% of the time while spittin more cut n paste simple raps about the same ol same ol.

But he was so popular and fresh with his delivery/charisma that it didn't really matter or become a hindrance until maybe Great Depression. At that point it didn't really feel he had anything left to say.

 

[Crumple]

Its dark and hell is hot 1998- 4.8 million sold
flesh of my flesh blood of my blood 1998- 3.5 million sold
and then there was X 1999- 4.9 million sold
the great depression 2001- 1.8 million sold
Grand Champ 2003- 1.2 million sold

I could have swore the great depression sold like 4- 5 million until I looked it up, but he was done as a top selling rapper already in 2001. How did he go from going selling 5 million to never selling over 2 million again that quickly?

Drugs and consistent jail time will spearhead a rapper into irrelevance.

His Versus with Snoop was a positive step tho.

 

[MooseMouthMthafuga]

X is probably one of the greatest

examples of "perfect timing" in

the history of entertainment.In my

unpopular opinion, he's the GOAT

gimmick in hip hop history.Not to

say that he's generic, but his whole

style with the barking & auntie church

prayer skits wouldn't have gone over

'88-'96 or '00-present....He had flashes

of brilliance, tho.Niccaz Done Started

Something & Slipping to be exact.Breh

went God Mode on those tracks.Came

close on Get At Me Dog.Right along with

this cut right here



To me, those are his 5 best spitting

performances...Some people gone be

mad at me

 

[FreshAIG]

He got stale

TBH, after It's Dark and Hell is Hot, i thought he became noticeably lazier on his ensuing albums. Not that he fell off a cliff with Flesh of my Flesh (which had a couple of my favorite tracks of his) but top to bottom it didn't feel as tight and it's when he started that trend of tracks where he's just repeating the hook 50-60% of the time while spittin more cut n paste simple raps about the same ol same ol.

But he was so popular and fresh with his delivery/charisma that it didn't really matter or become a hindrance until maybe Great Depression. At that point it didn't really feel he had anything left to say.

I don't agree with this at all. DMX didn't get into that lazy shyt until around after Grand Champ

He was still spitting on them first 4 albums. And mind you, this is with him never having more than a month to record an album from 1998-2000.

 

[tremonthustler1]

We gonna just ignore the height of napster’s popularity

Napster at the time caused record sales to go up. They had been a big deal even when X dropped And Then There Was X.

the MP3 players at the time were nothing like what would come with iPods and buying albums were still something to do. If you were gonna bootleg, you were still gonna cop off the street for $5.

 

[FreshAIG]

X is probably one of the greatest

examples of "perfect timing" in

the history of entertainment.In my

unpopular opinion, he's the GOAT

gimmick in hip hop history.Not to

say that he's generic, but his whole

style with the barking & auntie church

prayer skits wouldn't have gone over

'88-'96 or '00-present....He had flashes

of brilliance, tho.Niccaz Done Started

Something & Slipping to be exact.Breh

went God Mode on those tracks.Came

close on Get At Me Dog.Right along with

this cut right here



To me, those are his 5 best spitting

performances...Some people gone be

mad at me

I get what you're trying to say but DMX wasn't a gimmick lol.

And those a good 5, but he has others better imo when he spit 5 mic verses. But I made a thread recently stating, I think DMX is at his best as a storyteller. He's really great at telling crime stories more than anything. He's like an East Coast Scarface to me.

 

[tremonthustler1]

I don't agree with this at all. DMX didn't get into that lazy shyt until around after Grand Champ

He was still spitting on them first 4 albums. And mind you, this is with him never having more than a month to record an album from 1998-2000.

The only time it felt like he was rapping with extra purpose is when he would shyt on Ja (Do You, Where The Hood At, They Want War)

 

[MooseMouthMthafuga]

I get what you're trying to say but DMX wasn't a gimmick lol.

And those a good 5, but he has others better imo when he spit 5 mic verses. But I made a thread recently stating, I think DMX is at his best as a storyteller. He's really great at telling crime stories more than anything. He's like an East Coast Scarface to me.

The perfect timing is his gift & curse.

X is a solid guy.I've met him twice.

Anybody who knows him will vouch

for that.As a rapper, tho..I just always

saw him as an enigmatic/charismatic

character.I was never consistently wowed

by his work.IDAHIH set a standard he

could never replicate.I never saw any

growth from him.Once IDAHIH came &

went, I gave FOMF a chance, but X never

really caught my ear again.

 

[FreshAIG]

The perfect timing is his gift & curse.

X is a solid guy.I've met him twice.

Anybody who knows him will vouch

for that.As a rapper, tho..I just always

saw him as an enigmatic/charismatic

character.I was never consistently wowed

by his work.IDAHIH set a standard he

could never replicate.I never saw any

growth from him.Once IDAHIH came &

went, I gave FOMF a chance, but X never

really caught my ear again.

I understand, though I believe him not being able to replicate It's Dark is more about no Dame Grease and lack of time (After his first album, he was out of here, movies, tours, etc..). I love X's work post It's Dark but none of his other albums sound anything like that. I will give you that.