AKA: Exodus

Exodus 1:7 2021 Album

DMX

"Say cheese, now I got pictures of what a bitch is" My first thoughts weren't too positive on this. I understand it's a posthumous album, but the start is a bit of anti-climax where we hardly hear the man we all came to see. I think that is what led to my initial lukewarm reception. He was the last verse on the lead single as well. I mention in my review of Eazy E's 'Str8 Off Tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton' that I find it a bit odd when the lead artist isn't the first voice on the record. All of the features make me think that DMX wasn't as far into a finished album as he made me think from his talk on Drink Champs. Aside from that, he doesn't spit very naturally on some songs. As DMX aged, he became a bit more mumbly when trying to spit fast. Lyrically he doesn't hit as hard either. The production is consistently decent-good but nothing is near amazing. While there are a lot of co-producers with him, Swizz has never been able to create a whole album of great beats. On to some songs: 'Bath Salts' was a hyped video on YouTube almost half a decade ago, and maybe it was just because Swizz was playing it at a volume of 11/10, but the beat doesn't hit as hard. The DMX verse comes from his 2009 song “Spit That Shit”. I've always liked D's verse but Nas steals the show and has another great verse on the best song, 'Walking in the Rain'. Lil Wayne actually raps a listenable verse on 'Dogs Out'. I haven't been able to say that about Wayne for a while. I think DMX also sounds great over the soulful 'Take Control' production. I was really looking forward to this. DMX helped me fall in love with the genre, and while I find this to be a decent collection of songs, it's fallen a touch below expectations. I'm not religious, but his prayer to close the album gets me more hyped than some of the music. The better songs are the more soulful tracks. It doesn't feature a great hardcore tune like he blessed us with so many times throughout his life. Best Tracks: Bath Salts, Take Control, Walking in the Rain