DMX’s posthumous album, Exodus, came out on Friday (May 28), but like many emcees in the game, the Yonkers native has a lot more music that has never seen the light of day. About 50 of those records were produced by Harlem hitmaker Dame Grease, who still has the songs in his possession.
“Yall Ready? @dmx #Amen produced by @damegrease129,” he wrote. “I’ll give the masters to @defjam only … New album coming! The legacy continue. The passion and soul recorded at my house with 50 more songs!”
Dame was a longtime friend and collaborator of X. He produced many of the songs on the late rapper’s 1998 debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, including “How’s It Goin’ Down,” “Stop Being Greedy” and “Get at Me Dog” featuring X’s Ruff Ryders’ labelmate Sheek Louch.
He was also behind some of the hits on succeeding projects Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, And Then There Was X, Undisputed and more. He didn’t craft any of the beats on X’s posthumous record.
The songs sitting in Dame’s vault are only a few of X’s unreleased tracks. During his Verzuz rematch against Timbaland, Swizz Beatz previewed a never-before-heard version of “Bath Salts” featuring J. Cole. The Ruff Ryders producer revealed there’s enough recorded material to release another posthumous album.
“We have the material,” said Swizz at listening party for Exodus. “He’s not here, but we do have the vocals and everything like that. This project definitely needs a part two.”
Among the unreleased songs, Swizz added, is “a different set of music that’s all gospel.” According to the Verzuz cofounder, it was once his goal to release a gospel album.
“That was like his dream dream dream. We gotta try to make that happen,” he teased.
In the wake of X’s death, Swizz fulfilled his wish to name his latest album after his four-year-old son. As the producer is dedicated to honoring his late friend, a DMX gospel album may come to fruition in the near future.
Look below to see Dame Grease’s Instagram post.