There’s probably a lot that we don’t know about DMX and according to a new Rolling Stone profile, DMX had a gospel album in the tuck. Back in 2008 during a trying time in his life and career, he recorded Walk With Me Now and you’ll Fly With Me Later while in Arizona. Unfortunately, the album never saw the light of day.
At the time, he was at the peak of his career, financially bringing in millions, though his personal life was a wreck. His drug addiction was out of control, marriage was spiraling and he was the target of unwarranted police harassment for the crimes he committed under the jurisdiction of notorious Maricopa County Sherriff Joe Arpaio.
Walk With Me Now and you’ll Fly With Me Later was produced by Pat Gallo and had backing vocals from singer Janyce.
It was meant to be a two-disc set, with Disc 1 comprised of Hip-Hop records and Disc 2 being profanity free, spiritual and an uplifting gospel side.
He was even supposed to tour southern megachurches and open up his own church (House of the Afflicted) where he’d focus on helping those who struggled with drug addiction and homelessness. This never happened, though. His tour got cut short because of X’s arrest record and he was sent to jail.
The album suffered leaks and his label lost the rights to the album to Seven Arts Entertainment.
Unreleased tracks from the gospel side are on hard drives in the possession of Canadian businessman Howard Mann, who won the rights to the Seven Arts Entertainment catalog in an auction.
The future of this project is unclear, with many who worked with DMX in the past expressing to Rolling Stone that they would recreate the album the way it was originally meant to be released. At this point, X left no will and many have come forward to claim their estate. As of now, three of his sons have been named co-administrators of his estate and it sounds like Mann and the family have not reached an agreement to release anything in his possession.
Ron Sweeney, who represents the son and worked for X in the past said this:
“Howard Mann has no authority that we’re aware of and hasn’t shown us anything to reflect that he owns any music that DMX recorded. He has absolutely nothing to do with the estate and, to the extent that he has DMX’s music, the estate has not authorized the use of DMX’s name and likeness.”
Rest in power Earl Simmons.
