25 Best DMX Song Lyrics And Quotes About Addiction, Mental Health And Faith
His life has not always been easy.
Hurricanehank/ Shutterstock.com DMX, best known as a rapper, singer, and actor with a ride-or-die persona and complex song lyrics about addiction, mental health, and faith has passed away at age 50.
Born as Earl Simmons in Mount Vernon, New York, DMX had a traumatic and abusive childhood.
There's an old saying, "write what you know" and for DMX, his songs tell us so much about his life experiences with addiction, mental health, and faith.
His childhood and rise to fame despite his life's hardships inspired his song lyrics. Like many rappers, DMX grew up in New York, and spent much of his life enduring the streets.
DMX was in and out of homes for troubled boys and often spent the nights walking around the city alone, and the loneliness he felt was often shared in quotes that DMX used in his rap music.
His life made a turn for the better in the early 1990s when he began rapping under his stage name DMX or Dark Man X.
In February 1998, DMX released his debut single, "Get at Me Dog." Then came his first album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, which sold 251,000 copies within the first week of release. Later the same year, DMX released a second album, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood.
Over the years DMX, has released a total of eight studio albums and 46 singles.
His first five albums all debuted at number one, something no other rapper had accomplished at the time.
He has been nominated for three Grammys and five MTV Video Music Awards and won two American Music Awards.
Though his music career has been indisputably successful, DMX's life has been far from smooth sailing.
It's not uncommon to hear his views about making mistakes and feeling the guilt that comes along with consequences in his rap music and song lyrics.
DMX had been arrested repeatedly, and in 2008, he served time in jail after pleading guilty to animal cruelty, drug possession, and theft.
He has written rap songs about addiction, mental health, and his faith. DMX has also been open about his substance abuse and how it has influenced his life.
What's plain to see is that his songs have touched countless lives everywhere, and his lyrics are powerful to listen to.
Here are the 25 best DMX song lyrics and quotes about addiction, mental health and faith:
1. Get at Me Dog
Album: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
“The days are longer and seems like I'm facing time/ I've got a lot of dreams, but I'm not really chasing mine.”
2. Ruff Ryders' Anthem
Album: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
“All I know is pain, all I feel is rain/ How can I maintain with that shit on my brain?”
3. Party Up
Album: ...And Then There Was X
“That’s why you laying on your back, looking at the roof of the church/ Preacher telling the truth and it hurts!”
4. Fame
Album: ...And Then There Was X
“We each have a star, all we have to do is find it/ Once you do, everyone who sees it will be blinded.”
5. Slippin’
Album: Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
“See to live is to suffer, but to survive/ Well that’s to find meaning in the suffering.”
6. Lord Give Me a Sign
Album: Year of the Dog... Again
“Crying about, ‘Life ain’t nothing’/ But you either be the one mad cause you trapped or the one hunting.”
7. Dogs For Life
Album: Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
“Now who I am is who I’ll be until I die, either accept it or don’t f**k with it/ But if we gon’ be dogs then you stuck with it!”
8. Let Me Fly
Album: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
“This is hell, go get the devil and get me the key/ But can't be worst than the curse that was given ta me/ It's what I live for, you take away that and I'm gone/ There's a difference between, doin' wrong and being wrong.”
9. It's On
Album: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
“Never become so involved with something that it blinds you/ Never forget where you from someone will remind you.”
10. Dogs Out
Album: Grand Champ
“When there's nothin left to eat, I ate away at my soul/ Felt destructive cause I don't give a fuck if I go…”
11. Do You
Album: The Mix Tape, Vol. 4: 60 Minutes of Funk Album (feat. Various Artists)
“Like f**k it, you wanna be me? Here's what you do/ Grow up neglected by both parents and still pull through.”
12. Coming From
Album: Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
“Places that I've been, things that I have seen/ What you call a nightmare, are what I have as dreams.”
13. Ready To Meet Him
Album: Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
“It's easier to sin, but it hurts my heart/ I'm really tryin' to win, so where do we start?”
14. Jesus Loves Me
Album: DMX Jesus Loves Me, (feat. Troy Bell)
“It's like, the darker it gets, the brighter my light will shine/ So regardless I'm lovin this life of mine.”
15. The Convo
Album: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
“Two sets of footprints; I was right beside you there/ But what about them times I only saw one? / Those were the times when I was under the gun. It was then I carried you my son.”
16. Here We Go Again
Album: ...And Then There Was X
“Didn't listen, so I might as well have been talkin' to the air/ Everybody makes mistakes, a mistake is aight/ But if it ain't, I'ma tell you straight, time to say, ‘Goodnight’”
17. Stop Being Greedy
Album: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
“But I don't like drama, so I stay to myself/ Keep focus with this rap shit and pray for the wealth.”
18. Where'd You Go My Lord
Album: My Last Words
“I really need to talk to you lord/ Since the last time we talked the walk has been hard/ Now I know you haven't left me but I feel like I'm alone/ I'm a big boy now but I'm still not grown.”
19. 2 Tears in a Bucket
Album: Ryde or Die Vol. 2
“It's all in the mind, I stay ahead of time/ While you're falling behind, trying to relight ya lime.”
20. Angel
Album: ...And Then There Was X
“Be careful of the ones that always wanna get you high/ Cause when the time comes, that one'll let you die.”
21. Real Friends
Album: The Life of Pablo, by Kayne West (feat. DMX)
“I knew from the start that this life wasn't mine/ That's why from the start, I put my life on the line/ Gangstas runnin' 'round cryin' about dyin'/ I got faith, I'ma go when its my time!”
22. 24 Hours To Live
Album: Harlem World, by Mase, (feat. The Lox, Black Rob & DMX)
“Out with a bang, you will remember my name/ I wanted to live forever, but this wasn't fame.”
23. Grand Finale
Album: Belly (feat. DMX, Ja Rule, Method Man, Nas)
“I've lost my grip on reality or so it would seem/ Pinch myself to wake up, cause I know it's a dream.”
24. I Got Your Back
Album: Undisputed
“Go get your stories if your dreams will come true/ I got your back and I'm gonna be there for you/ When this place is too much and you don't know what to do/ I got your back and I'm gonna be there for you.”
25. Who We Be
Album: The Great Depression
“The funerals, the wakes, the churches, the coffins/ The heartbroken mothers, it happens, too often…”
Audrey Jaber is a writer living in Boston, Massachusetts. She covers a variety of topics for YourTango, including news, entertainment and astrology.