Year Of The Dog...Again (Explicit) : DMX : Review : Rolling Stone

Coming off a thirty-day stint last year at Rikers relating to his impersonation of an FBI agent -- and an uncharacteristic three-year break from recording -- the only artist in history to have his first five albums debut at Number One returns to tear apart a rap game gone soft from bling. Year of the Dog . . . Again thrives on a classic formula: Swizz Beatz's compressed, head-drilling fanfares and DMX's adrenalized, gland-chewing rhymes. "If you gots the whip, you better get on/'Cuz if I pull up it won't be for Grey Poupon," X greets us on "We in Here." (To hear him bark his trademark "What!" remains a thrill on par with Iggy Pop's "Huh!") The Busta Rhymes co-feature "Come Thru (Move)" sports a club-savvy chorus, and "Baby Motha" mines some Isley Brothers-style soul as X laments, "Nigga, 'cuz we got a kid together I'm stuck with her." The atrocious, heavy-metal-driven "Wrong or Right (I'm Tired)" could be a Gitmo torture jam, and "Blown Away" ("Went to jail a few times, but that didn't stop me/All it taught me was not to be sloppy") is undermined by saxophone drivel. "Goodbye" veers close to comedy when X shouts out, "Jesus!" and growls like a pit bull in the same breath, but he's obviously so serious the laugh gets stifled. The unwritten message of Dog: Darkman X can still kick all y'all asses. And who are we to argue?

PETER RELIC

(Posted: Jul 31, 2006)

News and Reviews

How to Play This Album

Click the play button.
Register or enter your username and password.
Let the music play!

No commitment.
It's FREE.

Track List

Play All

Your Turn

Give us your review of Year Of The Dog...Again (Explicit)

Review 1 of 2

5of 5 Stars

SICK!!! X keeps his shit real. He ain't comformin to da bullshit you hear on the radio. He's hood for real, and raps his life. Dog still outraps the cats, so scratch the rest of the pack and feel his tactics, it's some mad fat shit. He'll bark off your hat quick, this dog's hard cuz he's that sick. The D is a #1 pick until he dies, he tries to be true and it's true, he's been through more than you so listen to him tell his story over a Perfect swizz core beat. Much love for X, #1 for life.

Aug 7, 2006 12:02:19

Review 2 of 2

5of 5 Stars

Listened to the lbum one time and did not think much of it, but after the third time, I elevated it to a level right below "And Then There was X". Easily it is his third best album. The passion is still there and it offers you much more than the nonsense coming out of the Souht. Tracks 12 and 13 are the superior tracks on the album, although all of the tracks are go except for one or two.

Aug 5, 2006 05:22:53

Previous Next