Review: DMX - Redemption of the Beast
By Travis Boswell, Staff Writer
[Seven Arts Music; 2015]
Rating: 2/10
Key Tracks: “56 Bars,” “One More Night”
Redemption of the Beast is the DMX album that DMX never wanted you to hear. According to DMX and Swizz Beats, Seven Arts Music released this album without their consent. Adding to the drama, DMX's manager is pursuing legal action against Seven Arts for releasing Redemption of the Beast.
The actual story of this album and who was right won't be fully clear for a while, but for now, Redemption of the Beast is out and available to buy. It also seems that the controversy and story behind this album are much more interesting than the music itself.
Redemption of the Beast isn't up to the standards of DMX's previous work, even when compared to 2012's lukewarm Undisputed. “Love That Bitch” is a three-year-old song, originally a bonus track on Undisputed. “Where You Been” is another song from the vault, containing a guest verse from Freeway where he says, “They don't want it with the Roc-A-Fella pitbull.” Freeway left Roc-A-Fella in 2009, possibly dating the song to around this time. And these aren't even the strangest inconsistencies on the album.
“It's A Problem” shows up early on the album, featuring two unnamed guest rappers. Later, the same two rappers perform the same two verses over a different beat in “We Gonna Make It,” but DMX is not on this song. Why did the same song essentially repeat twice? “I'm Gonna Win” and follower “It's A Problem” witness DMX repeating large portions of the same verse, as if they were alternate versions of the same song. It might have been excusable if one was a bonus track, but these songs have very similar lyrics and are right next to each other.
There are production issues all over Redemption of the Beast. A layer of fuzz covers up DMX's vocals on “I'm Gonna Win,” and it somehow gets worse as the song progresses. “Right or Wrong” sounds like a poor remix, as the energetic beat badly outpaces DMX and Jannyce's vocals. “Gonna Get Mine” is lead by a tuneless guitar and awkward piano keys. After DMX's vocals end at 2:45, skip to the next song because there's no reason to stick around for almost two minutes of an incompetent band wailing away at their instruments.
Adding to the mixtape feel of the album, the songs follow no continuity or attempt to tell a story like in DMX's best works. “How It's Goin' Down” is a run-of-the-mill sex song with hilariously bizarre lyrics like, “This bitch was like yo / I mean shorty was like YO!” immediately followed by “Shout It,” on which DMX talks about how God has changed his life. Maybe this album was made of remnants of his proposed gospel/hip-hop double album Walk With Me Now/You'll Fly With Me Later that were awkwardly jammed together onto one disc.
If Swizz Beats and DMX are still working on an album, it will almost certainly be better than this one. Redemption of the Beast is full of poor production, lazy lyrics and badly sung hooks from DMX, as well as repeated material. The only thing worth salvaging from this project are the legitimately good songs “56 Bars,” “One More Night” and DMX's amusing drunken antics in “How It's Goin' Down.” Hopefully, his next album will be so good that this one can be forgotten.
