Hood Blues

5.26.21

Exodus Release Date 5.28.21

DMX will be releasing his first posthumous album, Exodus, this upcoming Friday. It is bound to be a huge deal for those whom grew up listening to DMX, to those whom have just begun doing their research since he tragically passed. Hip-hop around the world is preparing for the project, some even delaying their albums (like Lil Baby and Lil Durk) to let his project live in it’s own glory for the day. While it already seems like we have been waiting forever for the project, today we’ve received the first track, with a Griselda feature: Hood Blues.

The track list for the album was previously released, and has a lot of great features. From The LOX, to Swizz Beatz, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Griselda, Moneybagg Yo and more. Some questioned the reason for dropping this project with so many features after the passing. Posthumous work is many times sensitive and motives get questioned. In an interview with Swizz Beatz who was a major part of the project, he mentioned that the Moneybagg Yo track was the only “Tribute Track.” From that, I get that the album includes a bunch of songs that were previously recorded and unreleased, besides the Moneybagg album. There surely was a tie between the two where it made sense to keep him on their.

Griselda shows up on the project multiple times, and it makes sense. Griselda is holding together what DMX’s hip-hop scene once was. Hip-hop no longer sounds the same, but Griselda reminds us what it did sound like. It is cool to see they were collaborating prior to the passing of DMX. It would have been amazing to see what work they would have done in the future.

Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, and Westside Gunn all have verses on the track. Everyone is throwing their adlibs, their quotes, and growling in order to hype each other while they lay their verses. DMX goes last, as the God Father of the bunch. They all tell their stories about the things they’ve been through, and they all have their own distinct voices and flow. The chemistry there was crazy, and I am definitely excited to see what the other tracks with them sound like.

I think the LOX and the Swizz Beatz tracks will also have great chemistry, but Grisdela may take the cake. I am excited for all of them. For Alicia Keys to sing with DMX one more time, to hear what he does with Moneybagg, and to see which way Lil Wayne goes on a track. This will be memorable. Though I am not a huge fan of posthumous work, this stuff was meant to be heard.