| A lot of these legends, they come out with something and it’s just not them. They’re trying to be too cool and too down instead of just being themselves. But music is timeless; music doesn’t have an age limit on it. I think you age yourself when you try to not be yourself. And X just went at it. He said, 'Yo, I’m going to just do me, and that’s it.' |
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DMX at the Apollo Theater, New York, Aug. 5, 2016.
(Shareif Ziyadat/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
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“A lot of these legends, they come out with something and it’s just not them. They’re trying to be too cool and too down instead of just being themselves. But music is timeless; music doesn’t have an age limit on it. I think you age yourself when you try to not be yourself. And X just went at it. He said, 'Yo, I’m going to just do me, and that’s it.'”
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Amen
Over the past year plus, VERZUZ battles have helped settle some friendly scores and revive a handful of hip-hop and R&B careers. But in the case of DMX, the online battle series may have willed an entire album into existence—one final album, as it turned out, in a celebrated and troubled career. EXODUS, which arrives today, seven weeks after DMX's death at age 50, finds him both rejuvenated and reflective, sassy and somber, surrounded by a heavenly roomful of guests including JAY-Z, NAS, SNOOP DOGG, the GRISELDA crew, ALICIA KEYS and some Irish dude named BONO. "A lot of artists—not just X—when they get up in age a little bit more, they start doubting things and their art," Verzuz mastermind SWIZZ BEATZ, who executive produced the album, told Complex of the rapper's state of mind before he went up against Snoop Dogg in July. But after the battle, he told Rolling Stone, "he was ready. He saw that the people were showing him love and the fans were ready." And suddenly an album that Swizz Beatz and DMX had talked about making for a couple years snapped into reality. It was done in two months, save for a single MONEYBAGG YO verse added after DMX's death.
DMX insisted throughout the sessions—eerily, in retrospect—that he was recording his final album. He had a dream of following up with a gospel album, and Swizz Beatz has hinted he may have left some gospel material behind. But the producer also says the rapper told him "there'll be no more albums after this. He said he was tired." The album's penultimate song is a sobering "LETTER TO MY SON," featuring an elegiac violin played by BRIAN KING JOSEPH, that reads differently, in death, than it might have if DMX were still alive. "Now I know what you thought about my use of drugs / But it taught you enough to not use the drugs," DMX raps, in characteristically gruff voice. The smoother voice of USHER takes over for the chorus: "I can't give you yesterday, but I can learn from my mistakes / Not too late, it ain't too late." The album ends, literally, with a "PRAYER." Its final word: "Amen."
Wrap It Up
DMX wasn't always serious like that, though. I love this story Swizz Beatz tells the New York Times' JOE COSCARELLI. He used to take rental cars "to go get new rims on it and to get it wrapped. A rental. Just for the weekend. 'It’s mine for the weekend, so I want it to look like I want it to look!'" And then he'd take it back: "They’d be like, 'What is this?' And he’s like, 'Figure it out!'" Amen.
It's Friday
And besides the DMX album, that means new albums from BLACK MIDI, the most-buzzed about "skronky fusion math rock" band in many a British moon... Nineteen-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter NATANAEL CANO, who's on the leading edge of the trap corridos crossover movement... Manchester rapper BUGZY MALONE, whose poignant and reflective second album, RESURRECTION, earned its title the hard way after two brushes with death in 2020... Influential German rockers CAN, whose first-ever live album, STUTTGART 1975, "raises the question of what bands are supposed to do when they perform live"... Australian singer/producer PENELOPE TRAPPES, who, with PENELOPE THREE, completes a trio of albums "heavily stepped in the dreamy sounds of classic 4AD"...
And new music from NATALIA LAFOURCADE, BACHELOR (Jay Som's Melina Duterte and Palehound's Ellen Kempner), MEREBA, UV-TV, MUSTAFA, CHASE RICE, SHANNON MCNALLY (Waylon Jennings covers album), RHONDA VINCENT, DAVE HOLLAND, ANNA WEBBER, K.D. LANG (remixes), A.G. COOK (remixes), BEVERLEE, WIFISFUNERAL, KLASS MURDA, UNOTHEACTIVIST, TYFONTAINE, BRIANNA PERRY, JOEY FATTS, BLADEE, NOCTULE, BLACKBERRY SMOKE, DISPATCH, JAMESTOWN REVIVAL, MOBY, KELE (Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke), the BRUCE LEE BAND, BENT ARCANA, TEXAS, GIZELLE SMITH, LOU BARLOW, GWAR (goes, um, acoustic), PALETTE KNIFE, ELDER ISLAND...
And a reissue of the very much alive Brazilian singer JOSÉ MAURO's 1976 album A VIAGEM DAS HORAS... And, finally, RECLAIMING MY TIME is a laughably bad title for an album in 2021—unless you're a pop/rock singer/songwriter who served two terms in Congress and is now reclaiming your music career, in which case you've earned the right to use it with head held high, JOHN HALL.
If We Took a Holiday
MusicREDEF will be taking a long Memorial Day weekend. We'll be back in your inbox Wednesday morning. Wishing you a relaxing weekend with sunshine, a good book and good vinyls. Or FLACs if you prefer.
Rest in Peace
SØREN HOLM, lead singer of Danish indie-pop band Liss.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Complex |
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| Stories From the Making of DMX’s ‘Exodus,’ Told by Swizz Beatz |
| by Jessica McKinney |
| Swizz Beatz explains how DMX recorded his posthumous studio album ‘Exodus’ in two months following last summer’s ‘Verzuz’ battle. |
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Slate |
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| DMX’s Final Interview Should Be a Wake-Up Call |
| by Nitish Pahwa |
| We’re losing entire generations of rappers too early and too often. |
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The Conversation |
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| The guitar industry's hidden environmental problem — and the people trying to fix it |
| by Chris Gibson and Andrew Warren |
| Following scandals over illegal logging, and with an appetite for rare, old-growth wood, the guitar industry is rethinking its environmental footprint. |
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The Guardian |
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| Trailerisation: the movie trend resurrecting old pop music |
| by Niall Doherty |
| Trailers for "Eternals," "The Suicide Squad," "The Batman" and more have twisted vintage pop -- from Nirvana to Steely Dan -- into epic new shapes. Industry insiders explain why. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Sony Music’s spent $1.4bn on acquisitions in the last six months… and Rob Stringer’s not stopping there |
| by Murray Stassen |
| Stringer spoke at Sony Corporation's Investor Relations (IR) day. |
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Metal Hammer |
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| 'I want to keep metal alive': Meet the influencers bringing metal to a new generation |
| by Merlin Alderslade |
| A new generation of influencers are introducing music fans to metal in a whole new way -- and they’re taking over social media. |
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WTNH.com |
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| Unsolved but not forgotten: Years later family, bandmates of ‘All That Remains’ guitarist still hope someone will be held responsible for his death |
| by Ashley Baylor |
| We are taking a look back at the death of a Connecticut music star that remains a mystery. Lead guitarist for the band All That Remains, 44-year-old Oliver ‘Oli’ Herbert, was found dead behind his Stafford Springs home two and a half years ago. His death has been labeled suspicious. |
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Billboard |
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| How Gucci Mane Rebuilt His Life -- And Started Building the 'Walmart' of Record Labels |
| by Neena Rouhani |
| A half-decade after leaving prison, the hip-hop icon has found peace at home, fostered new talent and cemented his legacy. "I'm definitely still a work in progress," he says today. "I'm not perfect. I'm still evolving." |
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YouTube |
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| Race to Equality: Asian American Leaders in the Music Industry |
| by Grace Lee, Wendy Ong, Joseph Patel... |
| Grace Lee, Kevin Nishimura, Wendy Ong, and Joseph Patel talk about the challenges and opportunities Asian Americans face in the music industry and beyond. |
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Austin Chronicle |
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| Black Pumas Backline Lauren Cervantes and Angela Miller Maintain 20 Feet From Stardom -- On Purpose |
| by Kahron Spearman |
| Respect and admiration remains the key to their success as co-frontwomen and backup singers. |
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Vogue |
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| Jewel: 'My Life's Work Has Not Been About Music. It Has Been About Solving for Pain' |
| by Jewel |
| I recall the moment clearly. I was 15 years old, I had just paid the first month's rent ($400, I believe) on a new home, and I was standing at the front door. This wasn't just the door to a ramshackle one-room cabin with no electricity or plumbing. |
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The Washington Post |
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| Liz Phair is back, and she’s setting the record -- and the record business -- straight |
| by Geoff Edgers |
| Phair's album “Soberish” is both a throwback and a reinvention. The songs are stripped of the gloss of her Capitol Records debut but it isn’t jangly, lo-fi pop. “Soberish” is also sung by an adult. It’s a relationship record where the awkward spaces are framed by experience and perspective, not post-dorm fumbling. |
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Music Tectonics |
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| Music Tectonics: Measuring Music: Data & Deep Questions with Christine Osazuwa of WMG |
| by Tristra Newyear Yeager and Christine Osazuwa |
| These days, once you hit play on your favorite track, you’re generating data, from Spotify analytics to recommendation algorithms on Youtube. Host Tristra Newyear Yeager sits down with industry leader and founder of Measure of Music, Christine Osazuwa to talk about the influence of data and analytics in the music industry. |
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Variety |
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| How the Rembrandts’ ‘Friends’ Song Became the Most Iconic TV Theme of the ’90s and Beyond |
| by Leena Tailor |
| No one told them the song was gonna blow up this way. |
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NYLON |
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| Lil Huddy: Pop-Punk's Heir Apparent |
| Chase "Lil Huddy" Hudson talks his turn from TikTok star to emo hero, getting vulnerable in the process. |
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The New York Times |
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| New Books About Music to Read This Summer |
| by Alan Light |
| Books about everything from Tupac Shakur to Latin music and memoirs by Sinead O’Connor and Rickie Lee Jones offer an answer. |
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Okayplayer |
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| Is The NFT Market a New Frontier for Independent Artists or Just Another Tech Bubble? |
| by Zo |
| It may seem as though all of your favorite creators are suddenly NFT obsessed. But crypto's art-world infiltration has been long-stewing. |
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FLOOD Magazine |
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| Black Midi on the Colorful World of 'Cavalcade' |
| by Raphael Helfand |
| Geordie Greep, Morgan Simpson, and Cameron Picton discuss the broad, unpredictable sounds of their new album. |
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The Guardian |
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| My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields: ‘We wanted to sound like a band killing their songs’ |
| by Alexis Petridis |
| The band have released only one album since 1991 classic "Loveless," yet their influence remains undimmed. Their frontman discusses destroying buildings with noise, losing his mojo -- and preparing new music. |
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Variety |
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| 10 AAPI Executives Making an Impact in the Music Industry |
| by Jazz Tangcay |
| As the world trains its attention on members of the AAPI community who are are making a difference, Variety is putting a spotlight on 10 executives from the music business who are helping lead the way into an era of greater representation and awareness - on top of just navigating the industry through its own upheaval. |
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From "Exodus," out today on Def Jam.
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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