DMX, the late Yonkers rap legend known for weaving prayer into his music, recorded a gospel album that was ultimately scrapped. One track surfaced in a 2011 leak, and his enduring spiritual side resurfaced posthumously through features, revealing a devout dimension that ran alongside his hardcore, gritty public persona.
Key Facts:
- Renowned rapper and planned creator of the double album titled “Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later.”
- Intended to feature a hip-hop centric disc and a Gospel music disc.
- Planned to tour southern megachurches and aspired to open a church named House of the Afflicted.
- Faced legal and personal challenges that hindered the album’s release, including arrests and jail time.
Renowned for his hard persona and gritty voice, DMX consistently interspersed soulful prayers into his performances throughout the course of his illustrious career. Fans of the late Yonkers legend were delighted when he recently appeared on Joyner Lucas’ “Didn’t Go” from his Not Now I’m Busy album (2024). However, some listeners may not know his verse was originally meant to be on X’s scrapped Gospel LP.
The track leaked in April of 2011 and was recorded for his 2008 unreleased double album called Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later. The first disc was slated to be a hip-hop centric offering and the second disc was a Gospel record with profanity free, uplifting, spiritual messages.
He planned to do a tour of the album in southern megachurches and wanted to open his own church called House of the Afflicted with a focus on preaching to those grappling with homelessness and drug addiction.
Unfortunately, X’s arrest record caught up with him, and he had to serve jail time. His label also ran into legal issues, and the album eventually went to Seven Arts Entertainment. Three years later, the imprint went on to release an unauthorized compilation of his unfinished material.
The rest of the unreleased tracks ended up with Canadian businessman Howard Mann, who won the rights to Seven Arts Entertainment’s’ catalog in an auction.
According to Rolling Stone, Mann hoped to work with some of X’s past collaborators to recreate the album in the way it was initially intended to be released. DMX’s former lawyer Ron Sweeney (who represents three of his sons who are co-administrators of his estate) made a statement saying Mann “has absolutely nothing to do with the estate and, to the extent that he has DMX’s music, the estate has not authorized the use of DMX’s name and likeness.”
With the estate’s stance clear, the future of DMX’s Walk With Me Now and You’ll Fly With Me Later sadly lingers in a state of uncertainty.
SOURCES:
https://www.thefader.com/2021/12/28/dmx-unreleased-gospel-album
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/dmx-gospel-album-1271728/
