DMX and T.I. were planning on collaborating together before the “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” rapper’s death.
During an appearance on Shaquille O’Neal‘s The Big Podcast, the Atlanta rap legend recalled bonding with X shortly before his passing and revealed they discussed making music together.
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“X came to my house like two weeks before he died. We were planning to work together,” he said. “He came to the studio and I was recording something else. I think by the time I had finished he had to run to another engagement.
“And then one time he said he wanted to go to the studio but I was at the house with the kids and I couldn’t get out, so he said, ‘I’ma just pull up on you, man.'”
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The Grand Hustle general continued: “He came by and we just sat up all night ’til four, five in the morning, talking loud in the kitchen. I was having margaritas, I think he might have had a beer. Smoking and chilling, just talking like we known each other forever. That was the first time we had ever really [met].
“We were talking about kids and he left town that day and I left town, I was taking my kids to Orlando. And we was on the phone planning to meet back up and work again. I think maybe two, three days later, he had passed.”
Watch his comments at the 39:23 mark below.
Before his death, DMX expressed interest in working with T.I. in an interview with AllHipHop following his release from prison in 2011.
“I’m thirsty to get into the studio, I can’t wait!” he said. “The dog. Let me go! Let me go! It’s ready. The first thing I did when I walked out was thank God. Not everybody makes it. I got the opportunity, man, I’m just taking advantage of it. Be smooth.”
DMX passed away in April 2021 after suffering a heart attack. After several days in a coma, X was pronounced dead, with the medical examiner’s office later ruling the cause of death was a cocaine-induced heart attack.
The rapper and actor had a noted history of drug addiction, entering rehab three times over the course of his life and claiming to have first smoked crack cocaine at 14 years old.
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His first — and so far only — posthumous album Exodus was released shortly after his death and boasted appearances from JAY-Z, Nas, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, The LOX and more.
Close friend and collaborator Swizz Beatz recently teased another posthumous DMX album, telling HipHopDX: “We have other songs. Can we make a new X album? For sure. Will I make another X album? I don’t know. It has to feel good.”
