HOURS of unseen footage of DMX and dozens of unreleased songs recorded before the rapper became a household name have been compiled into a DVD and an album.
DJ Superior – one of DMX‘s first DJs and longtime friend – talked about the project with The Sun in an exclusive interview Tuesday.
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During the interview, he shared a never-before-seen picture of DMX rapping in his room in 1994 and debuted the design of the album cover.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, died at the age of 50 in a Westchester County, New York, hospital on April 9 from a cocaine-induced heart attack that caused a lack of blood circulation to his brain.
His birthday – December 18 – was declared DMX Day in New York State, and there will be a celebration of his life in his hometown of Yonkers, New York, on School Street where he grew up.
DJ Superior, who will MC the event, said, “There’s so much we could’ve done in this world.”
“It’s sad talking about X. We lost a legend,” he told The Sun. “Look the impact DMX had on the world.
“They took his body from Yonkers through many states in a monster and back to Yonkers. Everybody joined in. People all over were throwing DMX parties. Even the cops were fans. The world really lost somebody.”
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In the early 1990s, DJ Superior recalled all the times he, DMX, Jadakiss and Sheek Louch used to spend hours in his Mulford Gardens 527 apartment in Yonkers joking around, writing lyrics and recording songs.
“We called it the ‘House of Hits,'” DJ Superior said.
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“I used to have X write rhymes about guys we might see in the streets in case he needed them,” he said while laughing.
Many of the songs recorded in DJ Superior’s room became international hits after DMX signed with Ruff Ryders and Def Jam.
He talked about one song in particular called “Get at Me Dog,” where DMX dissed fellow rapper K-Solo after K-Solo released a song called “Spellbound.”
“They met in prison, and X felt like K-Solo ripped his lyrics,” DJ Superior said. “It wasn’t really the same song but the style was similar. But I have the original recording where he was dissin’ Tupac; not K-Solo.”
DJ Superior, who’s still regarded as one of the gatekeepers of Yonkers rap that included legends like Mary J. Blige, Jadakiss, the Lox, among others, said he just needs a distribution company to make this project a reality.
He said he hopes Def Jam comes calling.
“I just want people to know that they can work with me,” he said. “But I want a deal to be structured to be what’s best for X’s estate and his kids.”
Rappers continue to emerge from Yonkers, which borders the Bronx and is the fourth largest city in New York, and DJ Superior said he’s been working on this project to show the next generation how much they worked before they “made it big.”
“We grinded hard before the world could see us,” he said. “I want the kids today to see that. And I want keep this man’s legacy going.”
DJ Superior didn’t hide the fact that he and DMX had fights over the years, but he said they kept their issues to themselves, and he was in the hospital room with DMX’s uncle the night he died.
“He was like my brother. I might’ve fought with him because I wanted him to be better, but I always had his back no matter what,” he said.
“I was there in the beginning and at the end. I loved him.”
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