Lets talk about how DMX ran 98 with a ironfist

[bigbadbossup2012]

I was 11 and in SOUTH jersey during 1998.

I always believed 1998 went 1. Lauryn 2. Jay 3. X 4. Outkast 5. Master P

U couldnt touch Lauryn that year so I wont even bring it up.

Jay Z killed Summer 1998-on. X had everything UP until Money Aint A Thang/Can I get A.. hit that summer.

You can almost say Jay took X's buzz.

X had a crazy end to 97 with a strong opening in 98. He was losing steam by the time "Hows it Goin Down" dropped. Which explains how he was able to drop the 2 cds in one year. They wanted to get his buzz back up before he went on JAY Z's tour.

Also, this 2nd #1 cd....while impressive
1. Came out 10 days before christmas
2. Was not good
3. Its 2 best songs were Slippin and the one with Jay Z

Not takin anything away from it....but X's two best cds were clearly that 1st and 3rd

DMX - Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood (Dec. '98) BUY NOW!
Track Lyrics
1 My nikkas
2 Bring Your Whole Crew
3 Pac Man - skit
4 Ain't No Way
5 We Don't Give a fukk
6 Keep Your shyt the Hardest
7 Coming From
8 It's All Good
9 The Omen
10 Slippin'
11 No Love 4 Me
12 Dogs For Life
13 Blackout
14 Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood
15 Heat
16 Ready to Meet Him

nikka is you crazy?

 

[gho3st]

I still know Damien by heart....

(The Snake the rat, the cat, the dog, / How you gon' see them if you living in the fog)

 

[Rapmastermind]

"Flesh of my Flesh" was a solid sophomore release. About 4 MICS. It's better than "And Then There was X". It's just that his debut was still being felt at the time "Flesh" dropped that it still out shinned it. "Slippin" was the only single but it was a Classic song and a deep song and capped off the year for X. But "Flesh" still got love, the only criticism is that Swizz was on it too much of the production this time It was like he replaced Dame Grease for Swizz when Swizz only had one beat on his debut. But the album is still very good. There's just more horrorcore elements lyrically:

 

[keithj]

I grew up in North Carolina and the rule of X was definitely felt in that state.

Anything with the name DMX on it during 98 had palpable anticipation surrounding it. Much more than Jay.

During that time, Jay-Z was a rap star on the rise with the novelty of the Roc-a-fella ascent and some incredible production. DMX was just this figure that transcended the genre, I literally couldn't believe it when I saw his name on a movie poster. Everything in the DMX discography until that point was owned by any respectable hip hop fan. You basically couldn't miss anything X would touch. Jay-Z you could miss something and catch up later, X was like you were in front of the tv waiting for him to appear.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

men lie women lie..........................numbers dont.

 

[Rapmastermind]

men lie women lie..........................numbers dont.

Yep

It's Hot - 4 Platinum
Flesh - 3x Platinum
Belly Soundtrack - Platinum
Belly (10 million at the Box Office, it was low budget film)
Get At Me Dog - Gold
Ruff Ryders Anthem - Gold
Money Power Respect - Gold
4,3,2,1 2x Platinum (Came out Dec 97 but was certified in 98)

=11.5x Platinum

Hard Knock Life - 5x Platinum
Streets is Watching - Platinum
Hard Knock Life - Gold
Can I Get A - Gold
Money Ain't A Thing - Gold

= 7.5x Platinum


When the smoke cleared, X Won.

 

[intilectual recipricol]

Yep

It's Hot - 4 Platinum
Flesh - 3x Platinum
Belly Soundtrack - Platinum
Get At Me Dog - Gold
Ruff Ryders Anthem - Gold
Money Power Respect - Gold
4,3,2,1 2x Platinum (Came out Dec 97 but was certified in 98)

=11.5x Platinum

Hard Knock Life - 5x Platinum
Streets is Watching - Platinum
Hard Knock Life - Gold
Can I Get A - Gold
Money Ain't A Thing - Gold

= 7.5x Platinum


When the smoke cleared, X Won.

narrow that to '98...

DMX IT'S DARK AND HELL IS HOT MAY 19, 1998 NOVEMBER 09, 1998 DEF JAM/POLYGRAM STANDARD 2.00X MULTI PLATINUM ALBUM SOLO

DMX FLESH OF MY FLESH, BLOOD OF MY BLOOD DECEMBER 22, 1998 JANUARY 27, 1999 RUSH ASSOCIATED LABELS STANDARD GOLD ALBUM SOLO

JAY-Z HARD KNOCK LIFE, VOLUME 2 SEPTEMBER 29, 1998 DECEMBER 16, 1998 ROC-A-FELLA RECORDS STANDARD 3.00X MULTI PLATINUM ALBUM SOLO


TALK ABOUT IT

 

[mobbinfms]

It was called "The Hard Knock Life Tour" cause Jay Z just singed a huge deal with Def Jam the previous year in 97. Reasonable Doubt wasn't on Def Jam. Like I said DMX had a FULL year when you consider features, 2 LP's, A Movie and a Soundtrack. Using the "Jay headline hard knock life tour" has nothing to do with what DMX did in 98. The fact is this the "Hard Knock Life" tour was really a "DEF JAM Tour". Jay got top Billing cause of again the huge deal Def Jam just signed with him. DMX started 98 living off a ton of a great late 97 features from Ma$e to LL Cool J. Then he came into 98 with more features and then by summer he had his debut out and never let up the rest of the year.

IDAHIH dropped in the spring of 98.

I agree that the HKL tour was a Def Jam tour, but that just supports the argument that Jay had a better 98. It stands to reason that the corporate heads at Def Jam were going to name the tour whatever would bring in the most revenue right? The fact that they went with HKL just means that X And Jay's own record label, who would be in a far better position than any of us to make the call - decided Jay had the bigger 98 and would sell more Tix thus makin more money for all of Def Jam.

 

[mson]

Ya nikkas still arguing about this? DMX did not rule with an Iron Fist, but he was definitely the leading act with the jigga man and Eminem closely behind.

 

[Polofresh4]

DMX - Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood (Dec. '98) BUY NOW!
Track Lyrics
1 My nikkas
2 Bring Your Whole Crew
3 Pac Man - skit
4 Ain't No Way
5 We Don't Give a fukk
6 Keep Your shyt the Hardest
7 Coming From
8 It's All Good
9 The Omen
10 Slippin'
11 No Love 4 Me
12 Dogs For Life
13 Blackout
14 Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood
15 Heat
16 Ready to Meet Him

nikka is you crazy?

Came an went....u see how theres no 99 was DMX year thread

 

[Bxblaze]

Ok they both were doing their thing but dmx was a rookie who took the whole game n shook it with idahih..I remember ruff Ryder anthems was gettin played heavy get at me dogs n lol that's when alotta bloods started repoint more when they seen that ruff Ryder's anthem video ... But I gotta give it to the x c'mon he was being featured a lot for a reason : because he was the hottest in 98 jayz did it big too but money cash hoes featuring DMX helped him heavy so stop frontin u jay z Stan's damnnn ya never can be wrong

 

[Bxblaze]

Reppin *** for u online teachers

 

[intilectual recipricol]

Ok they both were doing their thing but dmx was a rookie who took the whole game n shook it with idahih..I remember ruff Ryder anthems was gettin played heavy get at me dogs n lol that's when alotta bloods started repoint more when they seen that ruff Ryder's anthem video ... But I gotta give it to the x c'mon he was being featured a lot for a reason : because he was the hottest in 98 jayz did it big too but money cash hoes featuring DMX helped him heavy so stop frontin u jay z Stan's damnnn ya never can be wrong

Stop the apologetics... I dont wanna see that shyt. What I want you dumb ass crack man x stans to do is address the FACT that HKL, in less time, sold more than IDAHIH in 1998.

None of this , "but i remember motorcycles....bu bu bu i remember bandanas... bu bu bu I really liked in when niccaz barked a lot on records because i missed my pet Rover..."

@ Crack Man X bein on Money Cash Hoes helping HKL sell more than IDAHIH... wasnt the barking nicca on ALL OF IDAHIH? Using that bum ass logic IDAHIH shoulda sold more

And if we really wanna be real Crack Man X bein pushed as the next Pac gave him momentum... I remember when my niccaz tried to put me on to CMX talkin that Pac shyt... I was like " the fukc you niccaz talkin bout "

To conclude Jay >>>>> Crack Man X in 98

 

[Harry B]

You've not got to downplay someone else to big up another cat.
If I recall right Source had that reigning years and 98 was Jay and Cash Money, 99 DMX/Ruff Ryders. Lauryn Hill was probably not considered "hiphop enough".

I would say that 98-99 DMX was arguably bigger than Jay-z.
98-2000 arguably on the same levels, it all depends on how you break it down.


The fact still stands that while DMX might've had more "hype", Jay-z had more respect in terms of having classics and already being established which was why Dmx was "opening" for him. A bit like how 50 "opened" for Eminem in 2004 when 50 was the most hyped in the game (and in this case dropping better music than Eminem, selling more and having bigger hits).

 

[mobbinfms]

Stop the apologetics... I dont wanna see that shyt. What I want you dumb ass crack man x stans to do is address the FACT that HKL, in less time, sold more than IDAHIH in 1998.

None of this , "but i remember motorcycles....bu bu bu i remember bandanas... bu bu bu I really liked in when niccaz barked a lot on records because i missed my pet Rover..."

@ Crack Man X bein on Money Cash Hoes helping HKL sell more than IDAHIH... wasnt the barking nicca on ALL OF IDAHIH? Using that bum ass logic IDAHIH shoulda sold more

And if we really wanna be real Crack Man X bein pushed as the next Pac gave him momentum... I remember when my niccaz tried to put me on to CMX talkin that Pac shyt... I was like " the fukc you niccaz talkin bout "

To conclude Jay >>>>> Crack Man X in 98

Quoting for the impeccable logic here about DMX being on HKL was NOT what caused that album to sell.