Music : Rugged, traditional, hardcore hip-hop music

Label : Def Jam Records

Info : A product from Yonkers (born in Baltimore), New York, Dmx had bounced around the fringes of the rap music industry for several years first getting signed to Columbia Records in 1992 where recorded the promotional single "Born Loser" before fading into relative obscurity. But in late 1997, Dmx made a number of guest appearances with Puff Daddy, Mase, Ice Cube, LL, Mic Geronimo and Yonkers Neighbors The Lox, before dropping his own impressive debut single "Get At Me Dogg" b/w "Stop Being Greedy", which prepared fans for his debut LP, "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot"

"Columbia tried to put me behind other groups", recalls Dmx. "They let me out of the contract and I'm glad that they did..I always knew there would be point when someone would say, 'Somebody needs to make money off this nigga 'cause he's hot.' That's when Irv Gotti brought me to Lyor Cohen at Def Jam. Iguess It's That point now. I guess the world wasn't ready for the gutter untill now. Now they're ready for the gutter s--t, so now they get the f--kin' gutter.