Four years after the world mourned the loss of one of hip-hop’s most real and rawest voices, a fresh posthumous album is ready to put the late legend back in the limelight. This time, it features a new set of unreleased collaborations that are set to rattle speakers and stir souls.
Dubbed “DMX Features,” the soon-to-be-released album is scheduled for release in summer 2025 and fires things away with the blazing first single, “Bring Out the Worst,” featuring the icon Joyner Lucas. The track was released on May 30 through DNA Music Group and Hitmaker Distro, and fans went out of their minds at the chance to hear X’s signature growl and raw truth again.
“Bring Out the Worst” plays like a posthumous call. DMX’s growl meets Lucas’s bracing lyrics, which are mixed with gooseflesh-inducing aggression and electricity. While the album’s complete tracklist has yet to be revealed, initial reports suggest it will include guests like Wiz Khalifa, Kevin Gates, and more.
“DMX Features” is a follow-up to 2021’s “Exodus,” the late artist’s first posthumous project, dropped following DMX’s (born Earl Simmons) tragic death last year at the age of 50. His death, in April 2021, followed a heart attack brought on by a drug overdose, following years of very public battles with addiction. Through all that toil, X never ceased creating, and this new album is evidence that his spirit was alive and well long after his voice had fallen silent.
But not everything connected to his legacy is cause for celebration. In other news of the album, DMX’s estate is embroiled in some legal and personal drama over an unauthorized memorabilia auction. GottaHaveRockandRoll is the party selling the handwritten lyrics, cassette tapes, never-before-heard music, and never-seen-before performance footage being unloaded by GottaHaveRockandRoll, some of which are expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars. The estate has denounced the sale, saying it is “definitely a violation” and that none of the items are from the family. They are promising legal action to protect what’s rightfully his and theirs.
DMX’s complicated legacy is defined by his 15 children, his mother, Arnett Simmons, and an estate tied up in court battles. He died without a will. And yet, what endures is not the paperwork or the possessions but the music.
With “DMX Features” on the way, are fans going to hear unreleased pages of a life that was never quiet, tame, and fake? And as the beats drop and the bars land, it’s obvious: Even gone, DMX can’t help bringing out the truth, pain, and power.
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