DMX’S RELEASES POSTHUMOUS ALBUM, ‘EXODUS’
Rap star DMX’s posthumous eighth studio album and first album since 2012’s Undisputed released last Friday. It was shown an overwhelming amount of support from fans and other artists in the industry. Rappers like Lil Baby and Lil Durk pushed back their album that was set to release the same day as Exodus out of respect for DMX.
According to the album’s executive producer Swizz Beatz, the album was completed and approved by DMX before his passing. There was only one song on the album that had minor changes after the rapper’s passing. The song “Money Money Money” was initially supposed to feature the late Pop Smoke, but Moneybagg Yo ended up on the track.
“There are many different sides of X,” Swizz told Complex. “We wanted to channel all those sides on this album.” He continued, “I thought this project was brilliant and masterful because it allowed him to be him.”
After the rap legend’s Verzuz with Snoop Dogg, Swizz stated, “his energy was up, and he was seeing the love that the people was giving him. That really made him embrace the features even more.”
DMX anticipated this album to be his ‘comeback’ album. He planned a 20th-anniversary tour of his classic debut album ‘It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot,’ He also re-signed with Def Jam Recordings, the iconic rap label with which he had his greatest success. After signing off on the new deal, X spoke about the album and its progress in several interviews before his passing.
Sale projections show that the album is expected to move 28,000 to 32,000 copies in its first week. That will likely land X in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It’s unlikely that this album would’ve been his comeback album, but it was an outstanding tribute. They say legends never die, and his album was a true reflection of that.
