With one year having passed since the tragic death of rap icon DMX, close friend and collaborator Jadakiss recently shared a few of his fondest memories of X, including his introduction to the late rapper and the role he played in his career.
Hailing from the same Yonkers stomping grounds as X, Jada recalled him being among the first notable figures to take him under his wing, even facilitating the initial introduction between Jada and Ruff Ryders co-founder Joaquin “Waah” Dean.
“One day, he just came around because he would always come around the block randomly, and one day it was like, ‘Yo, X is looking for y’all,’” Jada told BET. “He brought [me and Sheek Louch] to Ruff Ryders. He brought us to [Joaquin “Waah” Dean] actually first. It was no audition or nothing like that. He was like, ‘I’m signing and they signing with me.’”
He continued, adding, “We couldn’t sign the first time because we was too young. Our parents wouldn’t let us sign so we had to of course wait until we was 18, but when he knew he was about to make that move with them, for him to come to the block that day, he just showed us all this unconditional love.”
Jada also feels that DMX would have been proud of his and The LOX’s showing during their Verzuz battle against Dipset, which was hailed as one of the most pivotal moments in Hip-Hop of the past year.
“I think X would have loved it,” Jada said when asked what X’s reaction would’ve been. “That right there, Verzuz is what we came from and that’s why it was so easy for us to do that. We started out in that same element together. We actually learned that sh*t from him. He rocked many a stage with two turntables and a DJ and just him with a mic in a black hoodie, black, dark glasses, and black Timberlands and just rip sh*t with no words, just instrumentals. We really really got that kind of sh*t from him. He would have been damn proud of us. He would have been in the crowd going crazy.”
When asked to name his favorite DMX song, Jada threw out a rarity, choosing an unreleased posse cut featuring The LOX titled, “Gotta Keep On Keeping It Up I Gotta Get On,” which was recorded prior to their respective star turns. “It’s still one of my favorite ones just because it brings me back to a time when we was all trying to figure it out,” he explained. “It’s just hot. Fortunately, we was all able to get on and for it never to be released it was like it was spoken to fruition. It was like a silent blessing.”
DMX died at the age of 50 on April 9, 2021, as a result of a cocaine-induced heart attack,