During his career as one of hip-hop’s most intensely spiritual, conflicted MCs, DMX was constantly shifting between the gritty streets and the sacred texts he depended on to keep him on the righteous line. Earl Simmons tried to dodge his drug, legal, and marriage troubles by working on a gospel-influenced double record while living in Arizona in the late 2000s, according to a new Rolling Stone profile of the gruff-voiced rapper, who died in April at the age of 50.
The album was titled “Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later,” and it was split into two discs, one with hip-hop tracks and the other with profanity-free spiritual rhymes; on his first three platinum albums, Simmons always strived to find a place for more spiritually centered songs.
According to RS, the compilation was completed but never delivered in the way X planned, with some recordings being released against his desires and the remainder being stored away on hard drives for almost a decade. The rapper, who has always included prayer in his live performances, recorded the gospel EP with producer Divine Bars and a local singer named Janyce in Arizona. After her coworkers pushed the talent competition winner to sing for the rap superstar, DMX reportedly met her at the Phoenix Nordstrom where she worked.
RS claims she spent several hours in the studio laying down hooks and bridges for X’s tracks, namely “Let Me Be Your Angel.” When she finished the recording, the rapper was waiting outside the studio for her and was apparently so impressed that he quickly recorded two verses for it on the spot.
X and Gallo recorded the majority of the tracks for the gospel record in one night in 2008, with the rapper writing and recording seven tracks before the sun came up, spurred by numerous trips to an upstairs loft to reportedly smoke crack. Following a series of run-ins with Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which resulted in the MC being arrested repeatedly over the subsequent few years on charges related to probation violations, animal cruelty, traffic incidents, identity theft, drug possession, and more, the album was put into limbo, with very few public performances at Gilbert, Arizona’s Morning Star church.
According to one source, DMX planned to tour Southern megachurches with the gospel record and eventually start his own church, House of the Afflicted, to cater to the homeless and others battling with addiction.
The album’s future was hazy after DMX’s release from prison in 2009, with the label he’d signed to experiencing its own legal issues. The majority of the tracks leaked online in the early 2010s and tracks like “It’ll Be Alright” can still be found in low-quality recordings on YouTube. Seven Arts Entertainment finally got the album’s rights, but it reportedly ran afoul of the rapper’s team when it dropped Redemption of the Beast, which was made up of unfinished tracks during his stay in Arizona.
After winning the rights to Seven Arts’ catalog at an auction, Canadian businessman Howard Mann discovered the gospel tracks on a hard drive that came with the purchase. He was unable to secure a deal to unleash the songs when attempting to purchase the rights to them. Since X’s passing, Mann said he’s been speaking to engineers and producers who worked with the late rapper, as well as labels and distributors in an effort to release the gospel collection.
Mann claimed that since X’s death, he’s been in contact with engineers and producers who worked with the late rapper, and labels and distributors, in order to have the gospel album released.
With no will to settle his estate, the project’s future is uncertain, according to a lawyer who represented DMX early in his career — and now represents three of his sons — who claims the estate is “absolutely not” working with Mann on the record.
