S. Samuel
With this week's buzz surrounding rap star DMX's upcoming The Weigh In EP, SOHH reached out to contributing producer Dame Grease for an inside scoop on the project.
Promising nothing but raw music, Grease said the EP would definitely serve as a teaser for X’s upcoming solo album dropping this summer.
“Man, this sh*t is the sh*t. It’s a blowout. [laughs] Basically. We completed the album, Undisputed and we completed this at the same time,” Dame told SOHH referring to the upcoming Weigh In EP. “We wanted to go and give the fans something because it’s been like six years from the last album. We wanted to give the fans a teaser of the music before the album comes. We wanted to get this out there to the entire world. DMX is remembered for a lot of things like movies but he just wants people to remember him for his music. I just got the artwork and we’re probably going to put that out and a new track later this week. Next Tuesday, we’re releasing the whole EP.” (SOHH)
Grease also went on to compare the EP-to-LP release to legendary rap crew N.W.A.‘s early 1990’s music projects.
“All things come full circle, man,” Dame added. “When you think about the rap game back in ’98, one of my first X songs was ‘Get At Me Dog’ and so you look at from when that was out to where the rap game is now, you’re just looking for that substance music ‘with’ that raw sh*t that everybody f*cks with. We actually cut about three albums but we wanted to just get this project ready strictly for the streets. If you know, I’ve been doing the mixtapes for a minute with Max B, French Montana and those guys. DMX is an artist. He’s like way super too big for a mixtape. So we decided to put this out with no deejay and in an album format. It’s almost like, I don’t want to do comparisons, but imagine [N.W.A’s] 100 Miles and Runnin’ [EP] before [their] N*ggaz4Life [album].” (SOHH)
The EP, which drops next week, features heavyweight collaborations courtesy of Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne.
The Weigh In EP has features from artists such as Snoop Dogg and Tyrese and also includes an interlude featuring Lil Wayne. At press time, confirmed production on the project comes from Fredwreck Moog, Rich Kidd, and X’s longtime collaborator, Dame Grease. The EP marks one of the first projects from X since his last album, Year Of the Dog…Again, was released more than five years ago in 2006. (Leadership)
Last week, Ruff Ryders producer Swizz Beatz talked about X’s return to the rap game after trials and tribulations with the law.
“X is working on a couple side of things on the personal side of his life as people can see in ‘Couples Therapy.’ …. I like that he’s dealing with demons that’s in his life that’s been interfering with his music and his life.” (“The Breakfast Club”)
The Weigh In officially drops Tuesday, May 15th.
