2017 marks five years since DMX has released an album. Swizz Beatz has been involved in all seven of Dark Man X’s albums, and his eighth will be no exception. Appearing on DJ Whoo Kid’s Whoolywood Shuffle show on Shade 45, Swizzy confirmed collaborations coming forth between he and the MC who helped introduce his production and vocals to the masses.

At 6:30, Whoo Kid references DMX’s on-the-spot-cover of holiday cover of a Christmas classic for Power 105 (posted below). Swizz explains that it not a gimmick, but a true reflection of a fully-formed man from Yonkers, New York. “[DMX] likes to have fun; we like to [have fun]. See, like, in the streets, you play jokes all day. Like, that’s what it is. You crack jokes, you make fun of people, you do stupid shit like sing ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.’ You just have fun, and I love that he’s still having fun after all these years and everything he’s been through. He’s still having fun with it, especially when they hear this new music that we comin’ with.”

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Whoo Kid mentions another comedic effort by the onetime Ruff Ryders superstar in a Reading Rainbow theme song remix. Swizz waves it off. “We gonna get rid of all those in five minutes [after new music is released]. It’s gonna go from Heaven to Hell in two seconds,” says the producer of X hits like “Party Up” and “It’s All Good.” Swizz, who revealed X’s reported plans to record with Dr. Dre and Kanye West last year, says he sees a change in the former battle rapper. “He converted his self. See, the thing…you can always want something for somebody, but they have to want that for themselves. Right? Like, we can all want DMX 100,000 times. But if he’s not mentally there and spiritually there, it’s an empty space. This man’s been showing up to the studio before me, been showing up to shows before me, being on time.”

Swizz Beatz says this from the perspective of an in-demand superstar. He is no longer just the hungry relative of Ruff Ryders founders, but a mogul. He continues, “I gotta respect it, ’cause at the end of the day, I’ve got a busy life. So for me to take time out and be in the studio with any artist, it has to be respected. Because I don’t really even play in that space like I used to. It’s not my main thing. But I love it, and when I go in there, I take it very serious. The fact that Dawg and every artist that I’ve been working with has been taking that serious is a beautiful thing. I just can’t wait to let this thing off.”

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Swizz Beatz revealed that he and wife Alicia Keys have had DMX, as well as KRS-One as guests at their home. The producer also jokes that The LOX should still be exclusively showing the Ruff Ryders sign, not the Roc Nation diamond.

Swizz appeared alongside Cassidy on Whoo Kid’s show in a video released yesterday. There, his former Full Surface star protege ripped a freestyle.

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#BonusBeat: DMX’s aforementioned freestyle rendition of “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”:

This was done before Christmas for Power 105.