We Miss You D M X. Thank you for helping us get to another day.
The Hero We Recognized by His Scars
Written by DajeVu
The passing of DMX has raised a lot of mixed emotions. Some try to find solace in losing hip hop legend and icon where others scratch their heads at the celebration of a convicted felon.
For those of us who grew up without a voice that commanded respect in our households or in the streets, we welcomed and used his.
DMX was the original influencer.
Nobody questioned DMX’s ruggedly-smooth siren. It commanded authority and we threw it at him. It was a serious sense of urgency mixed with the sexiness of bad boy grit that connected us to our masculinity. We watched his trials and tragic life circumstances play out in front of us in real time. Each situation being all too real and all too relatable — not just to those of us who lived similar lives or came from similar backgrounds , but to anyone that had a caged dog trapped deep inside them that was growling mad, trying to get out.
DMX set the rules on fighting to survive but laced his lyrics with the mission of his ministry – to take care of home and be a compassionate human being to those who needed help the most. Never being able to escape the trappings of the environment that gave rise to his fame, you
could feel the tension and the pressures of his everyday existence with every word spoken or every character he played in videos and movies. Even when he softened his flow to acknowledge a brief moment of happiness or joy, there always seemed to be this nagging sense of dread waiting for the next moment to snatch it all away.
He was our navigator. The gravel lines in his voice tapped the edges of our spirit reminding us that inner strength is required to make it through the daily grind.
His lyrics were our instructions to make no excuses – to buckle down, man up and get it done – because that’s what a REAL MAN is supposed to do . . .regardless how grim the situation. ~ HollyWood Wright