The Prayers Of DMX: An Exploration Of The Gospel Of Earl Simmons
On nearly every project, DMX offered prayers. You can’t understand his biggest hits without them.
You can’t understand the fire and brimstone of DMX’s most famous songs unless you also take into account his moments of quiet grace. On each of his first six albums, DMX released prayers that were as lucid as they were jarring – diametric opposites to the bullet-riddled euphoria elsewhere. Abandoning his typically pummelling instrumentals, DMX would wade into the eternity of the microphone with a naked vulnerability, pleading to the sky for guidance. These tracks make up the Gospel of Earl Simmons – rap’s most compelling tale of spiritual warfare.
Order DMX’s Let Us Pray: Chapter X now.
Stretched out across his first six albums, each DMX prayer serves as a poignant slice of micro-theater. On his debut LP It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, X tells the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for a chance to live large (“Damien”), with a “to be continued” ending hinting at a voyage to the depths of the dark side. It’s a precursor to “Prayer (Skit)” and “The Convo,” tracks that embody the push-pull struggle between his best and worst impulses. Stripped of a musical backing, the first DMX prayer spills out like a stage play monologue. It’s a vent session that leads to “The Convo,” wherein X assumes the role of both himself and God. The exchange leads to momentary catharsis: “And it’s been you speakin’ to me inside my mind?/And it’s been you who has forgiven time after time?/It was you who opened my eyes so I could see?/It was you that shined your light on me.”
By the time DMX released his similarly biblical-themed Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood at the end of 1998, that light had begun to dim – or at least, it felt like it. Beginning with the comparatively soft “Prayer II,” he shifts from praying for his enemies to an exasperated call for a swift death: “Lord, You left me stranded and I don’t know why/Told me to live my life, now I’m ready to die.” By the end of “Ready to Meet Him,” X has seemingly conquered his doubt again: “‘What have you learned?’ That I can’t go on without You/’What have you learned?’ I must’ve been a fool to ever doubt you.”
That solace remained elusive. Through his first three albums, DMX was as grateful as he was exasperated. Toward the very end of …And Then There Was X, the calm of “Prayer III,” his most restrained entry up to that point, once again melts into frenzied resolve on “Angel,” a sequel to “Ready to Meet Him.” That see-saw continued across The Great Depression, Grand Champ, and Year of the Dog… Again. In 2024, the Let Us Pray: Chapter X project saw producer Warryn Campbell add a different angle to things, with swirling strings and the bubbling vocals of Mary Mary. It’s a celebration of the triumphant confidence that DMX takes when the Lord offers him favor.
Juxtaposing the world of hip-hop and religion wasn’t new by the time DMX arrived on the scene. Tupac Shakur had plenty of songs where themes of damnation and gleeful sin sit next to one another. Conventional wisdom says these realities can’t co-exist. Shakur and DMX turned those contradictions into mirrors – mirrors for themselves and the world that created them. DMX reminded us, constantly, that faith is all that is required. And faith is almost impossible to hold on to.
In addition to the recorded examples of DMX’s prayers, the rapper’s transparent faith journey inspired generations of performers as well. His prayers at live shows felt like proclamations from a holy gladiator. As Boosie BadAzz once recalled to Sway: “When he said that prayer at the end bro? Me and my cousin [were] holding hands. Man, we was holding hands crying… It was my first big concert I’ve ever been to… I never seen nothing like that in my life.”
JAY-Z remembers the near-impossibility of performing after DMX. “First the guys are going crazy, now the girls are going crazy. And then he gets to the end, and he starts a prayer,” Hov explained. “And now they’re crying, the whole arena is crying. And they’re like, ‘OK, now you go.’”
On Year of the Dog…Again, DMX unloaded the last of the prayers from his initial six-album run. Titled “The Prayer VI,” Earl Simmons calls for divine wisdom. He implores God to leave him with directions to the path of righteousness. Years after his death, it’s unclear whether he ever got them. There are still plenty of lessons to be learned in hearing him search.
