Roommates, less than a month ago, the legendary Earl ‘DMX’ Simmons passed away. The news stirred people all over the world, but most predominantly here in the Unites States. Thousands attended his funeral. DMX built a career filled with musical hits, awards, cultural staples, acting credits and heartfelt inspiring moments. And that’s saying the absolute least about his historic accomplishments. Among that list is one track that gets outside going every time: ‘Ruff Ryders’ Anthem.’ On Wednesday, the iconic track hit the 23-year mark.
In honor of the day, DMX’s Instagram account posted a clip of the anthem’s official music video. The 55-second video has an old-school, home movie filter on it that shows the date and different times. The video begins with a single sentence calling the song “a global anthem.” It ends with the open-ended statement “STAY TUNED.”
“1998. This song, my voice, my spirit defined a movement… this anthem became the soundtrack to the lives of DMX fans around the world,” the caption said.
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The official Instagram account for Ruff Ryders Entertainment, DMX’s record label, also shared two videos to commemorate the day. The first video is a 28-second clip of the official music video. The second clip shows the late artist giving an interview. In his own words, DMX shared his experience writing ‘Rudd Ryders’ Anthem.’
“That was Swizz Beats’ first record and that was one of the fastest songs I wrote. I wrote it in about fifteen minutes and I actually didn’t want to write it. I didn’t want to do that song.”
When DMX dropped ‘Ruff Ryders’ Anthem’ on April 5, 1998, he changed the game. The track is DMX’s third single from his debut album ‘It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot.’ This album, which perfectly captures DMX’s signature aggressive sound, took DMX to the top! According to Billboard, the album reached number one status on the Billboard 200 chart at the time. Later that same year, DMX graced fans with a second album ‘Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood.’
“I’m glad I did do it. I listened…Swizz was like ‘yo just do it’…and it worked out,” DMX said in the video shared.
Roommates, what’s your favorite DMX track?
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