Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel includes: DMX, Swizz Beatz, Chinky, Sheek, Syleena Johnson, Infa-Red, Cross And Drag-on, Eve, Jadakiss, Cam'Ron, Big Stan, Monica, Magic Val, Patti LaBelle. | | Producers include: Tuneheadz, No I.D., DJ Scratch, Joaquin "Waah" Dean, Swizz Beats. | | DMX loves dogs, and feels a connection to them; he's certainly never made a secret of it, infusing his raps with numerous references to man's best friend. On the intro to his fifth record, GRAND CHAMP, the East Coast rapper/actor asserts his canine preference as, not surprisingly, the pit bull ("they make good companions, but even worse enemies/it's all in how you take 'em"). It's a fitting portrait of the gruffer-than-gruff-voiced, remarkably uncompromising hardcore rapper, who leaves the listener to either embrace his stark world or get the hell out. | | GRAND CHAMP reveals DMX to be as fierce as ever ("only know how to be one way, that's the thug"), spewing his usual blend of unconstrained love and vitriol. He follows the intro with one of his trademarked laying-it-on-the-line rants before launching into a series of furious condemnations. Like 2Pac and Nas, DMX has learned the value of the schizophrenic combination of the inspirational and the ultra-violent; he could be his own greatest companion and his fiercest enemy. It's this quality that makes him one of the most intriguing hip-hop superstars out there, and GRAND CHAMP continues his larger-than-life legacy. |
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