As a longtime DMX fan, he certainly did have his flaws, but in a world of braggadocious rappers he was one of the few who also took every opportunity to point out his flaws. He always seemed like he was doing his best to get over the mountain to a better place, but just kept losing his footing. There was certainly plenty of violence in his music, but I never came away with the impression that who he was or who he wanted to be.
It's a stage persona. You would never think that about Anthony Hopkins from Silence of the Lambs.
I'm a white kid from the 90s, compared to many rappers, especially from DMXs' era, I had many advantages and seemingly very few things to relate to. First and foremost, these songs were fun to listen to, annoyed parents, which was great, and it's popularly stated that white kids were the main consumers of these songs by market share. As someone now in their 40s, I also struggle with the message of many popular rap songs from the nineties. I worry that it's just a more modern version of minstrelsy in a way. Yet, to this day I love rap, especially 90s rap. I'll admit the most popular / top charting songs glorify crime and up until very recently were much more misogynist amongst other -ists. The thing is, if you do even a just shallow dive, even of some of the top names like Tupac, there are a lot of human stories that are easy to connect to. Like reading a novel about a topic you think you have nothing in common with, you would be surprised. And then there's also early Outkast albums, which in my mind belong in the pantheon of works of art.
I was talking about rappers in general. You're right that I didn't make that clear. That being said, even in DMX's case I wouldn't be surprised if it was exaggerated for image reasons.
It's one story of many posted on Hacker News for your consideration. You have the option of voting up, down and/or leaving a comment. No one is asking you to care about DMX. Your comment and belief that someone is asking you to care about DMX indicates to me that you would score high on a self-centeredness scale and low on an empathy scale.
It was apparent that other people here care, so I wanted to know why. I know that transferring that kind of appreciation may be difficult; as I remember how some people were not amused with the Eddie van Halen thread being popular on HN, and I sure would be incapable of finding a way to explain to somebody like that how much his work means to me. But still I'd like to know what is it that makes DMX's work significant, and how does it fit in to the "gangsta" image.
His voice, his aggressive style, his sometimes (extremely) disturbing lyrics followed by confessions of his struggles. Dude had a very troubled past and got caught up in addiction. I was really hoping his reappearance on the scene recently meant he would get clean, but sadly, that did not happen in time. Seeing videos of him in recent years is so sad, dude was very damaged from the addiction (particularly the video of him trying to use Google).
As far as glorifying that gangsta image, that's what he grew up in, so that's what he rapped about. It's a reality for these guys. No sane listener supports those depraved acts.
If you wanna see a happy ending to a similar story, check out Gucci Mane. Was in a similar position to DMX (in and out of prison, addiction, etc... though I don't think he was doing crack) but got clean and turned his life completely around. Great example of a person that promoted that lifestyle, and now is an inspiration to people in similar circumstances.
That's my question here too. Most of the users here bathe themselves in their logic and integrity, yet glorify the most destructive "art form" in history so far.
