First Listen: DMX’s Bark-N-Growl Is As Strong As Ever On “Bane Iz Back”

There’s a disturbing trend among older Hip Hop heads that demand artists they listened to in their adolescence sound exactly the same. (Yeah, I’m taking it to the generation gap for a second.) They rejoice when Jay Z raps about wrapping keys, knowing damn well he’s more domesticated than a Keurig machine. There’s unified hope whenever Nas releases some multi-layered blippity-blippity bars like he’s gonna single-handily kill mumble rap.

Fuck all that. Times change like the seasons and eras are unique to the period they inhabit for a reason. It happened in that era. Now I’m not sitting up here on a high horse claiming that evolution necessarily equates to improvement, but just know that that change is inevitable.

Of course, there are select exceptions to the rule in Hip Hop. Sometimes an MC walks it like he talks it, even if his mouth (and actions) are most detrimental to his lifestyle. That MC would be DMX, who has managed to keep his name in headlines without releasing an album in four years (or a full decade if we want to keep it 100).

His legal failings are well documented — there’s no need to elaborate on them, especially when he’s on the righteous path of creating relevant content. As his longtime producer Swizz Beatz quips on their new single “Bane Iz Back,” it’s that real shit.

Whether he was running naked in a hotel room or challenging George Zimmerman to a celebrity fight, no one would ever confuse X’s crazy with insincerity. Unlike his class of ’99 peers (and beyond), who wait until they hit a soundproof booth to rhyme “trigger” with … use your imagination, X’s gunplay talk on the high-octane track sounds rather authentic. There’s lyrical dexterity spliced in between the violent overviews, as well as clear consciousness of the present day. (In all actuality, he sounds surprisingly of Ruff Ryders-era CD quality.) The vocals — still gruff and refined with clarity — could easily pass for one of his earlier recordings when he held the undisputed title of The Hottest Rapper On The Planet.

X released his last studio effort, 2012’s Undisputed, as the world was reeling from the horrific actions of James Eagan Holmes, who killed 12 people and injured 70 others during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. The real-life tragedy and the anti-climatic storyline undoubtedly overshadowed Tom Hardy’s bang-up job as oft-overlooked Batman villain, Bane — especially following the footsteps of Heath Ledger’s Academy Award-winning Joker portrayal.

The Rise & Fall Of DMX: And guess what? He ain’t dead yet. Plenty of time for more “rising.”

Well thankfully, the masked strongman with juice flowing through his veins gets the proper platform he deserves, coming out hard for the new year. If this track is a warm-up for what’s about to join Dark Man X’s discography, hell hasn’t got any cooler. If it’s his current peak, at 46 years young, you still gotta throw him that bone.