DMX Jumps On Kanye West’s Beat And Makes It About Real Pain (Audio)

In March of 2016, Swizz Beatz teased a remix of Kanye West’s “Real Friends,” from his Life of Pablo album, that featured DMX. On his Instagram post, Swizz said “Oh yeah and since we’re talking @dmx new music alert ⚡️ we’re ready to start it up now!!!! X is my brother and my #realfriend ???????? stay tuned Soundcloud on the way let’s set it off!! It’s been way 2 long! RR 4 life…… This is just a sampler something lite …” Whether the remix was official or not was unclear, but, in any event, the track never surfaced.

Now, more than a year and a half later, a snippet of DMX rapping over the track has leaked. X sticks to the script of the dark themes of the original version of the song, opening with “Thanks for the love and support, baby. Thank you. I hate you.” He then launches into his verse, which touches on his oft-visited theme of death. Dark Man X raps “I hate who I love. I’m blessed with the curse / I was born to die, best to the worst / Wings, but can’t fly. But, first things first / I will until I’m stretched in a hearse.

Listen to DMX’s remix of “Real Friends” here.

This is not the only mysterious track featuring DMX to arrive this year. In February, Swizz Beatz nearly broke the internet, when he premiered a track featuring JAY-Z, Nas, Jadakiss and DMX at the tail end of an hours-long beat battle with Just Blaze. Over the course of 18 months, Swizz has teased new music from DMX, saying he and DMX were “seriously working” and he “can’t wait” to release the music, and that X’s next album would “change the game.”

While Swizz did release their song, “Bain Is Back,” near the top of 2017, sadly, not much more music has followed, due to DMX’s ongoing legal and substance abuse problems.