With his world falling apart, DMX sought creative refuge and discovered a temporary safe haven leaving the East Coast for Scottsdale, Arizona around 2008. He described the desert as “God’s country” until Dark Man X “met the devil in God’s country.”
Rolling Stonepublished a feature on Tuesday detailing X’s path of destruction surrounding the creative process of his lost 2008 double-album. The project was tentatively titled Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later with one side rap and the other featuring pure gospel songs.
“No songs about bitches, no songs about robbing, just straight ‘Give God the glory,'” he reportedly said to producer Pat Gallo at the time.
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Gallo — who produces under the alias of Divine Bars — revealed that most of the gospel side of the album was recorded in one night in 2008 where X would take breaks to smoke crack in the bathroom upstairs and come back to craft tracks with warp speed.
DMX worked exclusively with Pat Gallo and an unknown singer named Janyce who X met while shopping at a Phoenix Nordstrom’s.
Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later was never officially released with DMX running into a series of legal troubles during his time in Arizona in the late 2000s which saw him arrested on charges such as probation violations, animal cruelty, drug possession and traffic violations.
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Some of the records found their way onto the internet through a series of leaks in the early 2010s.
Earlier this year, HipHopDX spoke to a source close to DMX who disclosed that the completed 2008 gospel album was in the process of being shopped to labels.
DMX Fans Who Didn't Like 'Exodus' Might Be Into His Forthcoming Rumored Gospel Album
The album’s future is uncertain as Canadian businessman Howard Mann has claimed ownership of the project’s rights after reportedly discovering the collection of gospel records on a hard drive that was part of him purchasing the rights Seven Arts’ catalog in an auction.
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DMX — born Earl Simmons — passed away at 50 years old on April 9 after suffering a heart attack reportedly triggered by an accidental drug overdose.
