DMX is an artist who made it in the industry by his hooks. He was blessed with that type of voice and delivery that makes it virtually impossible to mistake him for another rapper besides Ja Rule, in some instances. In fact X has dropped some of the most-introspective, even religious songs ever put forth by a hip-hop artist of his stature.
That is to say that they center on the rapper levying high-level threats against his enemies. And yes, when X resorts to this modus operandi things can get pretty graphic. Later in the verse DMX makes another reference to getting his pecker buffed by his opps, once again to illustrate his superiority or machismo over them. The beginning of the second verse implies that whom X is actually addressing, at least in this particular stanza, would be some fellow rapper s whom he has beef with.
In fact things get quite personal by the middle of the passage, with DMX dropping ambiguous clues as to who exactly he is dissing.
He refers to him as being so dumb that he is loyal to a woman who does not act the same towards him. However, it should be noted that X also had a well-publicized tiff with Ja Rule at the time. But apparently the clues point more to the former than the latter. So it appears, in his own roundabout way, that DMX is challenging male who get emotional over loose females to instead man up.
And as far as the third verse goes, it is fundamentally the same as the first. And he also further alludes to the notion that he has few, if any, qualms as far as murdering enemies is concerned. Such does make sense within the context of the verses. But as Swizz Beatz recounts , DMX came up with the chorus due to being frustrated on the particular work day in which he recorded this track.
So this is the only part of the song which is like overtly party-ish, for it reads as if DMX is inviting them to dance or something like that. And ultimately, considering the title of the track and all, the hook can also be interpreted in such a way.
Forget about the sexual identity stuff from the last paragraph. Forget about all of that. Just think about the narrative again: DMX is out somewhere, presumably in a club outside of which all his rough ri-derrrrs can meet him, and some people start talking smack. Guns are drawn there go the gun click. Someone calls the cops nine one one [stuff]. The situation is increasingly tense.
And then the DMX-narrator issues an ultimatum. This much has been delivered essentially as dialogue. While a number of alternative settings and contexts have been placed onscreen, as it were the jail, the strip club, the coffin , we can imagine that the scene in the narrative has not changed.
We are yanked away from the nightclub. Now we are in a church, in the middle of a funeral. This is most clearly indicated by the change in verb tense. The speaker, too has changed. Why this change of persona? Because DMX the Dog, the narrator of the first three quarters or so of the verse, is the guy that got killed in the gunfight.
There are three proofs for this:. But only one corpse appears at the funeral. Now think back to the scenario: someone the [person] , started talking trash. Someone else the corpse , could not let it go. And because he could not walk away from an insult, because it was so important that he maintain his reputation, that second person went and got his fool self killed. In the narrative constructed by the first verse of the song, DMX the Dog is quite clearly playing the role of the corpse.
Got some thoughts on the marxist symbolism of the second or third verse? Sound off in the comments!
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