Let me ask YOU a question… are you a Hip Hop Head? I mean for real though… not no culture vulture who is trying to make lame comparisons between the same day passing of an English Prince who walked behind the Queen of England for decades vs the passing of the King of All of Mt Vernon, Yonkers, the Bronx and Beyond, who when he took that stage couldn’t nobody out shine him. Who didn’t ever walk behind anybody, and who hit so hard with his 1st two studio albums that even a queen would have had to bow down.
Yeah, you guessed it, I’m talking about the guy who was born Dec 28th 1970, named Earl Simmons also known as Dark Man X, aka DMX.
In 1998 this music Icon took the world by storm. He was only the 2nd artist since Tupac to release his first two back-to-back studio albums in the same year, that both went Number 1 on the Billboard charts.
Now here’s the 2nd question. Do you remember exactly where you were in 1989 when you 1st heard those immortal words? Get at Me Dawg!!! Or even, Stop! Drop! Shut Em Down, Open up Shop!!! I remember that moment like it was yesterday, I was in Harlem NY, at this little hole in the wall comedy club called the Uptown, and as soon as the dj threw on each song, that hip a$$ed Harlem audience Lost their minds.
And when you really get down to it, that is what hip hop is all about. Reppin your Hood. See, I was born and raised in the Mott Haven projects in the Boogie down Bronx. Yes, the Boogie Down, where Hip Hop music was born. The notable names that come to mind when you think about the Boogie Down are Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Boogie Down Productions and KRS1 and Cardi B just to name a few. When you hear Brooklyn Hip Hop, the 1st two names that come to mine are Biggie and Jay Z. Queens you think Run DMC and LL… When you hear West Coast, you think NWA… Yawl see where this is going Right?
