For a canine, New York City's Central Park is like an amusement park. This may explain why Mr. "Get at Me Dog" DMX can't help but attack the swings in one of the huge park's deserted playgrounds. It's a cold February night, and though he's a little saucy from the Bacardi Limon in his plastic cup, he uses his whole five foot eleven body to propel himself through the air. "That feels good," says DMX, dragging his feet to stop.
This Yonkers MC isn't the least bit embarrassed about his high-flying escapade. After all, when you got the hottest record in New York, you just don't give a fuck.
You know how there's always one song that sets off a party as soon as the first note pours out the speakers? Well, right now, DMX has got that song-the one that makes kids bum-rush the dance floor and bark along with his signature "Where my dogs at?" call-and-response refrain. And fans of DMX's no-preservatives-added hip hop hungrily await more of the same from his upcoming album, To Hell And Back (Def Jam), due late this spring.
Even other celebs are feeling him. Appearing on albums as diverse as L L Cool J, Mase, Mic Geronimo, and Cam'Ron, DMX is clearly about to pull a "Foxy Brown". Everyone wants a piece of him; over the next few months, he's got joints coming out with Ice Cube, Jermaine Dupri, as well as a lead role in Hype William's first feature film, Belly, due out later this summer. "I stay getting love like that, and I love it. I'm gonna feed everyone," he says about his popularity. "Give 'em the Eukenuba, the lams, and the Science Diet-that real official shit."
But to care for his growing kennel of fans, DMX is also establishing his own presence. Case in point: "Get at Me Dog" was originally a collaboration with fellow Yonkers natives The Lox. Although this version appears on a DJ Clue mix tape, DMX's label reps appropriates the song and turned it into a soliloquy for the rapper's own album. "I really wasn't feeling [the revised solo version]. I didn't see the meaning in it at first," says DMX. "Now I see it was done to let niggas know I'm here. There's dogs out there who don't have a voice. I'm here to soak up their pain and make it felt everywhere by spitting it out a hot beat."
