(Tommy doesn't like anyone that ever dissed Jay-Z)
Anyway. DMX made some decisions that were questionable business-wise that effected his career. One of which was dissing Jay-Z, the other was leaving Def Jam.
He's been on drugs his entire career, hell he was on drugs before he became a rapper but it began to show about 2003-2004 around the time of Grand Champ and his retirement.
Dude had 4 great albums in a row and one unquestionable classic (I would say he has two but I'm a hardcore fan). But to say Dog can't rap is ridiculous, he may have fallen off but he did his thing lyrically and while being fairly basic was still superior to most.
His rhymes are reflective and introspective but still real and raw. There was no flowery language, no puffery from X:
I been through mad different phases like Masons
To find my way & now I know that happy days are not far away
If I'm strong enough I'll live long enough to see my kids
Doing something more constructive with they time
Than bids I know because I been there
Now I'm in there sit back & look
At what it took for me to get there
First came the bullshit the drama with my mama
She got on the fly shit until i split
And said that I'm gonna be that seed
That doesn't need much to succeed
Strapped with mad greed and a heart that doesn't bleed
I'm ready for the world or at least I thought I was
Baggin' niggas when I caught a buzz
For thinking about how short I was
Going too fast it wouldn't last but yo I couldn't tell
Group homes & institutions, prepare my ass for jail
They put me in a situation forcin' me to be a man
When I was just learnin' to stand without a helpin' hand
Damn, was it my fault, somethin' I did
To make a father leave his first kid at 7 doin' my first bid?
Back on the scene at 14 with a scheme
To get more cream than I'd ever seen in a dream
And by all means I will be living high off the hog
And I never gave a fuck about much but my dog
That's my only motherfucker I had offered my last
Just another little nigga headed nowhere fast ("Slippin")
will spend mad time in one spot, plotting my next move
Trying to figure out what is it, that X do what X do
Some questions go unanswered, that's what I'm afraid of
Sometimes I can't show, but I know what I'm made of
They made love, or should I say they made lust
Bound, there didn't have to be love there, but they made us
I got quite a few sisters, I was the only boy
But being with my dog, was my only joy
Like a kid with a new toy, I forgot about the ?
Escaped the misery, didn't think about the crime
Lost all track of time, was in another world
Everybody knew Earl, but there was another Earl
Like the side of the dark, riding the park but wouldn't want to
when they jump me, became a good runner
One by one they all went under, so I had the last laugh
They all thought it all was a joke, but I had the last laugh ("Coming From")
His demons overcame him and he didn't have much staying power but dude set the bar high as fuck and had shit locked up til '03. Dude was creative, brought great energy, charismatic, down to earth and realistic.