INTRODUCTION

Well, DMX terrified the living daylights out of me like a bloodthirsty werewolf when he introduced me to his scary hardcore vibe on It's Dark and Hell Is Hot. This album is his most aesthetic record to date, due to the fantastic lyrics and gothic production in many of its classic songs that created a Dark storyline. DMX's refreshing style of rapping provided a new balance of dog barking, introspection and subject matter about violence that contributed to the magnificence of his frightening character. In addition, DMX is highly religious and sometimes he speaks to God and Satan in pious fashion through his music whilst showing tremendous agitation and emotion. Thus, DMX was a new kind of rapper emerging from the hot lava like Satan from Hell, lighting up the Dark atmosphere with fire burning in his eyes! This was a compelling factor that made 'It's Dark and Hell Is Hot' album more than welcoming to the eardrums of many rap listeners including myself.

DMX had other important goals to deliver whilst recording 'Flesh of My Flesh Blood of My Blood'. His other objectives included making introspective music to express how much love he has for his companions (i.e. "dogs") and stress the meaning off his life in his own perspective. So DMX briefly ascended to HEAVEN where he recorded majestic songs like Slippin' and Dogs For Life like angelic creations with saintly music productions. Whenever the rapper needed to pray or ask for the forgiveness of his sins through a convocation, he recorded Ready To Meet Him in the most heavenly fashion.

In this review, I shall be conducting a Holy Communion service with reference to describing the lyrics and production of each track in religious fashion. This is where I will also give a description of the guest performers on the album like a vicar as I talk about that bloodthirsty rapper, DMX. So as I hear the wonderful sounds of gongs in church bells, let's make a musical entrance through the delightful doors of DMX's sophomore album and experience the songs.

Greetings Ciao readers for attending the holy ceremony in memory that DMX Christ died for us on his second album called 'FLESH OF MY FLESH BLOOD OF MY BLOOD'. Now that you readers are comfortably seated in church and ready to repent your sins, listen carefully as I preach like a vicar in support of Christianity….

There are a number of tracks like It's All Good where DMX committed sin and nearly allowed the devil to win but when DMX recorded Slippin, the devil lost. That's when DMX successfully defeated The Omen with the help of the Lord God and so once more he felt holy again and as a hardcore survivor, he lives in glory. This remarkable event inspired me to feel heavenly and believe that the Kingdom of God is magnificent as DMX spiritually sees it. After I listened to DMX give holy messages on Ready To Meet Him, I felt like evil spirits were exorcised and cleansed from my body.

After the intercessory prayer, Swizz Beatz ( real name: Kaseem Dean ) starts the symphony for Ruff Ryders Productions in spiritual mode. The spiritual tone of the production is largely due to unusual synthesisers that are atmospheric in sound, eerily waving around like ghosts in a windy weather. Interestingly, I find the synthesisers very catchy as they constantly drizzle on my eardrums like right rain, gently falling from Stratus clouds in misty grey conditions. Swizz Beatz complements his synthesisers with a combination of slow drums and mellow percussion. My Lord, it sounds like Swizz Beatz is the background percussionist, while DMX is the foreground artist, performing at the altar in a Modern Catholic Church.

Ciao readers please pick up your hymn service books and turn to track two as I prepare to play the first hymn, 'BRING YOUR WHOLE CREW'….

In the first verse, DMX openly confesses ' ….I got blood on my hands….', suggesting that he killed someone but feels ' ….there's no remorse….' for his murderous ways. The sheer horror of the DMX's confession gets even more heinous as I hear about his dangerous action of having ' ….f*cked a corpse….'. Apparently, DMX sexually attacked the victim whom he so brutally killed and consequently his pen*s is soaked in blood. The gory nature of this wicked activity reflects DMX's image as a ' ….nasty ni**a….' who instils fear into his enemies when they look into his evil eyes. I suspect that the enemies whom DMX are referring to are the CREW of greedy rappers who flash their jewellery and money in front of his angry face. Thus, whenever any materialistic rapper looks into DMX'' psychotic eyes, they are staring into the face of danger and are ' ….ready to die….'. By Lucifer, DMX is so crazy about preying on his enemies, that he is a thirsty creature, desperate to drink their blood like a vampire.

But DMX's interesting hunger and subject matter are not the only reasons why I find this track exciting, boys and girls. The presence of PK ( real name: Anthony Fields a.k.a. P Killer ) as the horrocore producer serves to bring the signature anger out of DMX's scintillating, hardcore performance. PK constructs a gothic production of cinematic violins and haunting bass lines in the background. This potent production theme fits DMX's furious delivery and vicious rhyme schemes like Lego bricks. It feels like P Killer was in HELL, cooking his instrumental like Gordon Ramsay, using a black cauldron of red-hot lava with ni**as' blood as the essential ingredient.

It's time for me to read the passage under the track heading - PAC MAN, so all you Ciao members in your Church seats listen carefully….

DMX and PAC MAN have a conversation about which of themselves have the most authority to make money as an emcee representing a certain location of their neighbourhood. Pac Man accuses DMX of smelling ' ….like a New York ni**a….', declaring that no rap artist from N. Y. is going to take over the hood he grew up in. DMX asserts his authority, stating that he was also born in the same neighbourhood projects as Pac Man, particularly in the block (high-rise flats). The interaction between Pac Man and DMX transpires into a heated argument as the two men fight for their right to the location of their native environment in USA. The situation of course gets ugly, ultimately ending with DMX firing a gun shot to Pac Man and resulting in Pac Man getting seriously wounded.

The first thing that I noticed about Swizz Beatz' instrumental was how wonderful it sounded to my eardrums with its beautiful assortment of musical elements. It encompasses a creative mix of soprano bass lines, soft background bass and highly discrete percussion claps that reflects the best of Swizz Beatz as a producer. The keyboard bass lines persist throughout the Ain't No Way song and are aesthetic, sounding as if they were played by an organist with a passion for music. They enable the production to proceed gracefully and at a steady pace with a variety of amplitudes that I find very catchy and attention grabbing to me. The keyboard bass also provides a relaxing atmosphere to the track, encouraging me to chill out with a glass of refreshing blood or sacred wine.

[DMX - 1st verse]
' ….have you forgotten what it means when a dog shows his teeth?
Let me break it down for you he's about to attack you….'

Personally, I think the biggest strength about DMX on Ain't No Way is his singing display in the hook where his vocals are in fine tune with the production. DMX's hook is spectacular and quite catchy to my eardrums and this alone guarantees the track replay value. Another strong point about DMX on Ain't No Way is how the hardcore rapper utilises his tone of voice to sound charismatic over the microphone. DMX doesn't show any anger or sound paranoid like a mad hatter, but I can't deny that his easy-going, rap-talk flow is highly catchy to me. In addition, DMX's slow delivery and verbal flow blends well with Swizz Beatz' smooth instrumental, drawing my attention towards the music track.

As I preach about WE DON'T GIVE A F*CK, I discover that DMX returns to his anger phase over a sinister instrumental that provides a depressing atmosphere. Filled with anxiety, asperity, empathy and plenty of honesty, DMX proceeds to reveal issues about his loss of faith in a former friend who double-crossed him. In the first verse, the rapper uses simplistic poetry of monosyllabic rhyming to kick off his subject matter about men breaking their loyalty to other men.

On this song, DMX is joined by his fellow Ruff Ryder members, Jadakiss ( real name: Jason Philips) and Styles ( real name: David Styles) like Jesus Christ followed by two of his disciples. Jadakiss and Styles are also members of their own little Hip-Hop group, Living off Experience (LOX) or D-block with Sheek included in the trio of rappers.

Speaking of the chorus, DMX remains righteous when it comes making his hook sound catchy and marvellous to my eardrums. In short, he definitely keeps his SH*T THE HARDEST in the impressive chorus. Unfortunately however, the rapper fails to make sense in his lyrics as his two verses find him switching between different topics way too often. Furthermore his delivery on Keep Your Sh*t The Hardest is somewhat unusual in that it lacks the typical dog bark or emotional wit that bites my eardrums. Maybe DMX's intention was to freestyle on the mic and show off a new side to his charismatic delivery of simplistic rhyme schemes. But since his verses apparently have no subject matter and make little sense to me, I find that his wordplay is nowhere near as valuable as frankincense.

7. COMING FROM (5:13 min) feat. Mary J. Blige

On this track, DMX hires Mary J. Blige as the guest singer to educate us rap listeners about how we prosper from the past to the present. The Ruff Ryders rapper, and R'n'b singer, collaborate together to execute a retrospective subject matter about the deprived environment they came from. In verse one, DMX proceeds to describe everything he has seen whilst growing up in religious fashion over a righteous production created at the holy hands of PK. Feeling emotional, he carries out a retrospection of the nature of his life in general and delivers his personal vision for the future for my attention. Some of the visions that DMX sees through the eyes of God are what he calls ' ….a nightmare….' while his other illusions are ' ….what he has as dreams….'. His only answer to his mental images is ' ….bad as that may seem, I know it's only going to get worse….'. This is what DMX foresees like a soothsayer with plenty of passion staring into aftertime for the attention of myself as the rap. As he continues to give messages in each of his verses in ordained fashion, he stops to ask this question, ' …where you coming from, and where you gotta go?' Christ be to God. Amen.

[Woman]
' ….Oh God. He's gone take him from us. I hear him comin, I hear him comin, no I hear him comin comin!….'

13. BLACKOUT (5:00 min) feat. LOX & Jay Z

DMX hooks up with his fellow Ruff Ryders members, the LOX, comprising Jadakiss, Sheek and Styles and the Roca-fella rapper Brooklyn hustler, Jay Z. DMX together with his army of guest soldiers, proceed to attack random rappers in the rap game with braggadocio lines just like he did on Ni**az Done Started Somethin'.

As we get up from our pews and walk the isle, towards the Altar, let us receive the FLESH and BLOOD of DMX in remembrance that he is sanctified and died making music for us. We eat his body in the form of consecrated bread and drink his blood in the form of holy wine that is burgundy red….

15. HEAT (4:07 min)

Although DMX's subject matter and ability to rhyme his words into a story line is nice, his delivery over the microphone is rather lazy. Swizz Beatz' production is not particularly groundbreaking or special either and it can make me rather sleepy in front of the computer screen. I could also be falling asleep in Church listening to the beat on Heat, leaving my body, mind and soul feeling cold.

….after this, DMX continues his convocation with the Lord, asking questions about his sins and looking for the best answers to rectify them. He executes this event by means of playing a split personality, communicating between himself as the emotional one and pretending to be God as the spiritual one. DMX performs this hallowed act, passionately and vigorously over a holy production scheme, just like he did on the Convo track on his first rap album. The hardcore rap artist flows over Swizz Beatz' instrumentals that are driven on pious human vocals and have the spacious feel of a modern Methodist Church. The drum snares pound away like the sound of a heartbeat in the body of Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead in the underground. The church organs are deeply blessed, highly pitched and very pleasing to me. They form the apex of the beats, bringing up my feeling of the song like Jesus rising to heaven and seating in the right hand of his father.

CONCLUSION

I consider Flesh of My Flesh Blood of My Blood to be DMX's third best album and I would recommend it to any rap listener. So here is my advice to anyone who enjoys bumping any old records from Ruff Ryders, listen to the best tracks on DMX's album. In doing so, you receive the BLOOD and BODY of DMX in remembrance that he fought the presence of the OMEN to show love for all us people. According to DMX's gospel rap with the assistance Mary J. Blige and penitence on Ready To Meet Him he asks you to repent of your sins. You know ' ....where I'm comin from….' Ciao readers?

FOR THE RECORD

I wandered into the HMV store, dressed as one of Jesus' poor disciples amidst rich shoppers wearing expensive clothing. Thus, I didn't have any money but an ancient bottle of holy red wine and bits of bread that represented Jesus' blood and body respectively. Yeah, I wasn't a modern customer into technology but I was definitely an antiquated, hallowed type of shopper.