If you're looking for "It's dark and hell is hot" Part 2 you may be disappointed with this one. Which makes me wonder why only 7 months after that legendary debut album he released this, he could've just rested on his laurels, the Hard Knock Life Tour w/ Jay-Z was about to happen and a few months later the first Ruff Ryders compilation , "Ryde or Die: Volume 1" was coming out. I can remeber many fans (myself included) who were confused with this sudden follow-up. There were the old and new DMX albums, yet the first one was released last May!

That said, this is an extremely strong album in it's own light. "Slippin" was a somewhat poor choice for a first single in that it was mellow. The opener "My Niggaz" is a semi-skit with a nice keyboard line. Speaking of skits, there's only one more on the entire album, "Pac-Man" which is the perfect compliment to "Mickey" off his debut. DMX's superb flow accompanies the beats well.Trouble maker Damien returns for "The omen", which features a terrific background noise inspired by a Heart rate machine at a hospital. Marilyn Manson, like him or not, sings the chorus. Some may complain that "It's all good" is a bit cliched, but it goes along with his "I don't give a" attitude. There's a clever use of the Tania Gardner "Heartbeat"/"Turnaround" bass line.

The afforementioned "Slippin" is good. X once again employs a female singer with a pretty voice to sing the background vocals.

On "No love 4 me" he continues to demonstrate his lyrical prowess, along with help from fellow Ruff Ryder Drag-ON, who also rips it. Next is my favorite song on the whole CD "Dogs for life" which is widely overlooked in the DMX catalog, it contains deep introspective lyrics from Dark Man and he even speaks a little Spanish. Es Loco, Muy Bien! The organ and piano from Swizz Beatz is top notch. Following that is "Blackout", which ranks alongside Noreaga's "Banned from t.v" among all-time greatest posse cuts. Hey, the L.O.X also appeared on that song, they're batting .1000. Jay-Z has an ice verse and of course X drives it all home with his patented "Grrrrrrrrrr." I always looked at that track as a warm-up for Jay and DMX, preceding their Succesful tour. The title track has an interesting solo at the end, I'm not sure what instrument it is. I enjoy the line saying "Matter of fact I think I'll drop another song tonight" Meaning he doesn't care if it gets 5 Mics in the Source; He's satisfied with it, which ranks above all in terms of importance.
I gotta give credit to that skill, he can rush a tune without making it sound half-assed.

The weakest track on the album beat-wise is "Heat". I think Sheek sings the chorus, though I'm note, The liner notes don't credit anyone, but maybe that adds to it's mysterious-ness.
He gives a shout-out to Boomer, his pet dog who got hit by a van, the words "One love Boomer" are tattooed on DMX' back.

The closer to the record is "Ready to meet him" an epic, spiritual cut that starts out with the expected prayer. This differs from his other albums because the prayer and song are combined as one track. Whereas usually there seperate. If you're not familiar these songs are highly emotional with DMX talking to the lord, voiced by himself. There's scenarios like "Thou shall not kill/but what if he's trying to kill me?" That wordplay paints an eery picture that rolls up smoothly alongside Swizz' Creepy, haunting background melody. This ending track is over 7-minutes long, and unlike It's dark and hell is hot, there's no quick message from DMX to finish the album, I'm not saying that's good or bad, just different.

The actual disc is a little less fancy then the first one, and at first I hated this albums cover, Now it's tied with the debut for number #1, to be honest if he had this cover on his first album, it probably would've been less popular.

Admittedly this album as a whole is just a notch below It's Dark and hell is hot, and this arrived only a short time after it's precursor, still, it shouldn't be overlooked, give this a listen when you get the chance.

Let's be honest... This album is not all that impressive. A few good tracks, with a lot of filler tracks that can be very easily ignored.

On the positive side, this album did birth one of my favorite hip hop tracks of all time: SLIPPIN'
Why they never released an unedited version of this track is beyond my understanding. This DJ Shok beat is amazing. The Grover Washington Jr sample floats on with X laying his heart on the verses. This is not what people expected from DMX, but the hip hop soul in this track can not be ignored. Great track.

A decent effort, but not enough quality hip hop tracks on here to truly impress.

DMX has skills beyond human comprehension! Everything from his incredibly sexy thuggish appeal to his deep and insightful lyrics never fail to astonish me. His strong forceful voice always manages to summon tears to my eyes. This man is a colossal inspiration to me as well as infinate others. This man is practically a god! As far as "Flesh of My Flesh,Blood of My Blood" goes,he gives 110% in every single track! He is unstopable! I especially love that little prayer/poem thing he did. I really appreciate the fact that he took the necesary time to acknowledge the Lord. When DMX rhymes, you can feel where he's comin' from. For example, when I first heard "Slippin'", I was ballin' in tears. It's like his music leaps inside you and makes you feel what he feels. It's an inexplickable feeling when I hear his voice. This CD is OFF THE HEEZ! and it deserves 6 stars, and to the who gave this beatiful CD 1 star, e-mail me cuz we need to talk!

DMX is back after only 7 months since his chart topping debut, and he creates another good album. All in all this album is his darkest to date and one could tell that just from the album cover. Has 3 songs featuring other rappers and one with Mary J Blige on the hook, and even one with Marilyn Manson. Production is mostly handled by Swizz Beatz (9 songs out of 14) and he does (surprisingly) a pretty good job. Has a bunch of dark tracks, but a few gangsta ones and party ones as well, and a few very deep songs. Has 2 or 3 songs I skip and about 3 ok songs, the rest are very good or classics. A must have rap album.

#2 - 9 (fast beat)
#4 - 7.5
#5 - 9 (f/ Jadakiss & Styles of the LOX -- about being crossed by a homie)
#6 - 7
#7 - 5 (f/ Mary J. Blige -- I don't like the beat on this one)
#8 - 8.5 (upbeat song about fu*king hoes)
#9 - 9 (second song w/ him talkin to Damien (the devil) f/ Marilyn Manson)
#10 - 10 (classic -- a very deep song)
#11 - 9 (f/ Drag-On & Swizz Beatz -- upbeat)
#12 - 6.5 (slower more relaxing beat)
#13 - 10 (classic -- f/ Jay-Z & LOX {Styles, Sheek & Jadakiss)
#14 - 9 (upbeat)
#15 - 6
#16 - 9 (has a 2 minute intro before the song starts -- about being ready to meet God -- good beat)

Earl Simmons -- b. 12/18/70 -- b. Baltimore, MD - moved to Yonkers, NY
"Where My Dogs At **** Grrrrr!!!!!!"

check all my reviews

This is one of DMX's best reccords with 16 tracks including the popular "Slippin'" Any fan of Ruff Ryders must have this in their collection