Songoftheday 3/31/22 -And all them other cats you run with get done with dumb quick, how the f*ck you gonna cross the dog with some bum sh!t...

 

 

"Party Up (Up In Here)" - DMX

from the album ...And Then There Was X (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27 (five weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 11

 

Today's song comes from rapper Earl Simmons, who records under the moniker DMX, who broke into the crossover top-40 in the spring of 1998 with the single "Get At Me Dog", from his multi-million selling debut album It's Dark and Hell is Hot. The year wasn't even done and DMX released a second record, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood. Although the set again topped the Billboard 200 sales tally for three weeks (his only album to spend multiple weeks at #1), radio wasn't playing along in America, with lead single "Slippin'" stalling down at #60 on Billboard magazine's R&B singles chart, not even coming close to making the pop Hot 100. It was surprising, since the song was a much more measured and introspective turn that seemed more radio-friendly, though over in the UK it got more love, landing his first top-40 hit there at #30. It probably didn't help that he was spending more of his time in trouble with the law for firemans and animal cruelty charges.

In 1999, DMX returned with his third effort, ...And Then There Was X. The first single released from the record was "What's My Name", which probably confused a lot of people with the big hit from another canine-themed rapper, Snoop Dogg. While it got to #23 on the R&B chart, it stalled at #67 on the Hot 100. Simmons had much better luck with the follow-up "Party Up (Up In Here)". Written by the rapper with producer Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, the song is nothing but a club track meant for top volume and bouncing around having fun. Unfortunely there's homophobia from the get-go with the reference to prison rape, then oscillating between bragging about his toughness to dissing anybody who either gets in his way or carries on "emotionally" about women. Of course nobody paid attention except for the sing-along chorus that you chant on the dancefloor, which is pretty addicting. In the end DMX found himself with his biggest hit (at that time)...

"Party Up" became DMX's second top-40 crossover hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in April of 2000. The song was his sole lead-credit to make the top ten on the R&B chart at #8, while just missing the top ten on the Rap Singles list at #11. On the radio, the track had enough popularity to make the Mainstream Top-40 chart at #39, while getting to #7 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format list. The ...And Then There Was X album, released in December of 1999, spent a week at #1, and stayed on the chart for well over a year, going on to sell over five million copies, and also topping the R&B Albums sales tally for two weeks. At the Grammy Awards in 2001, "Party Up" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance, losing to Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady", while And Then There Was X was also up for Best Rap Album, which also went to Eminem for The Marshall Mathers LP. 

The third and final single from the album, "What You Want", was an album cut originally called "What These B!tches Want" toned down for radio and adding Sisqo of Dru Hill and "Thong Song" fame. The song missed the R&B top ten by a notch at #11, while peaking around the halfway mark on the Hot 100 at #49. 

This drop-off probably was exasperated by DMX's legal troubles, spending time in jail in 2000 and 2001 over drugs charges. During that stretch, he was featured on DJ Funkmaster Flex's single "Do You", which was a top-40 R&B hit at #34 while returning DMX to the Hot 100 at #91 in 2000. The following year, his contribution to his movie Exit Wounds where he starred with Steven Seagal, "No Sunshine", which was a minor hit at #67.

DMX started off 2002 with more charges of animal abuse and drug possession, but after his lawyers got him negotiated to community service, he came back with his next studio album The Great Depression. The record topped the Billboard 200 and sold over a million, but again radio gave it a pass, with the biggest of the three singles from the set, "Who We Be", reaching #16 on the R&B chart, but stopping at #60 on the crossover Hot 100 (it did score DMX his second top-40 hit at #34). Nevertheless, that track got nominated for Best Solo Rap Performance at the 2002 Grammys, which Missy Elliott took home for "Get Ur Freak On". A year later, he returned with a track "X Gon' Give It To Ya" from the movie Cradle 2 The Grave, which he starred in with martial arts star Jet Li (which he previously worked with on the film Romeo Must Die with the late Aaliyah). The song almost brought him back to the Hot 100 top-40, landing at #46, and got to #32 on the R&B chart in Billboard, but was a huge success across the pond, reaching #6 in the UK in 2003. That was followed by Grand Champ, which broke a record by being his fifth consecutive #1 album, which was his entire output to that point. The lead single, "Where The Hood At", went to #68 on the Hot 100, his final lead appearance there during his lifetime, while hitting #24 on the R&B list. In 2004, Atlanta-based rapper Yung Wun used DMX on his single "Tear It Up", which slipped into the R&B top-40 at #39, while getting to #76 on the Hot 100, his last featured appearance on the tally. 

Despite all this success, DMX continued his criminal ways, ending up in Rikers Island prison for over two months in 2005 for violating parole, which included the incredible feat of carjacking pretending to be a federal agent. Oofdah. Of course, Simmons was rewarded for this with a big record contract when he switched to Columbia Records. When his first release with the label, Year Of The Dog...Again, it missed becoming his sixth #1 album, with less than a thousand behind the Now That's What I Call Music 22 hits compilation in 2006. Again, radio wasn't on board, which the second single "Lord Give Me A Sign" being the only thing to place on the R&B chart down at #70. 

That record would be DMX's only one on Columbia, with a supposed "retirement" was just a stint of the rapper in and out of jail again and again for drug, animal abuse, and traffic charges. The only thing he was on in those six years was a feature on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Bizzy Bones' single "A Song For You", which was his most recent R&B chart showing at #61. When he did re-emerge in 2012, it was on the Seven Arts label with Undisputed, which only spent four weeks on the Billboard 200 sales chart with a high of #19, a huge comedown from his previous work. No track from the set got any attention, including a very early appearance of MGK, or "Machine Gun Kelly", on "I Don't Dance". 

But again, Simmons just kept going in and out of jail, including a long stint for tax evasion in 2017, even after "X Gon' Give It To Ya" returned to the R&B top-40 at #23 helped with its inclusion in the promotion for the movie Deadpool. Returning to Def Jam records and Swizz Beatz, DMX recorded his final album Exodus, which was released in May of 2021. But by that time drugs had completely taken over his life, and a month prior an overdose which put him in a coma which he didn't recover from. On his death, "Party Up" returned to the Hot 100 top-40 at #40, while older track "Ruff Ryderz Anthem", which originally went to #94, jumped in at #16 (which eventually would make it on to this series if I ever get there). The Exodus album went to #8 on the Billboard 200, and #4 on the R&B Albums list.

(4/10)

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Here's DMX appearing live on MTV in 2001...

and lastly, live in concert...

Up tomorrow: This singer's questioning masculinity.