Steve 'Flash' JuonIt’s hard to not be cynical about “Let Us Pray: Chapter X.” To be clear, I’m not saying the late DMX (Earl Simmons) would be opposed to this album. He would probably appreciate it. X included a “Prayer” on each of his first seven albums. You might have missed “Prayer II” but it was on the aptly titled “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood” under the name “Ready to Meet Him.” Every other one before or after this track had “Prayer” in the name. Earl was a complicated and troubled man but he was also a spiritual man. He believed that Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind, he believed in his faith, he believed in redemption and that a heavenly paradise awaited him after his death. That’s why he was “Ready to Meet Him.” Every day brought him closer to the moment he’d be with God.
My cynicism has nothing to do with his faith. While I don’t follow his path in Christianity, I understand the peace that faith brings to true believers. I have family and in-laws that practice and I celebrate the holidays with them because it’s a time to come together and appreciate one another. You literally only have “One Life to Do It” and with each year that passes you’re a step closer to the last time you can. We all have an expiration date and I have already outlived many friends, family members and loved ones. I’m under no illusion that my day won’t come. For some religion is the only thing that can bring them peace at a time or loss or ease their fears about their own mortality. I would not take that peace from anybody nor should you, whether you share their beliefs or not.
What bothers me about “Let Us Pray: Chapter X” is partially that we have no idea if this is how Earl Simmons would have wanted to express himself, and partially that it entirely benefits Def Jam Records. There is no new posthumous recording material. We had already reached the end of that journey with “Exodus.” Whatever could be done with whatever he had done before his demise has been done. What Def Jam chose to do here was go back through DMX’s back catalogue, pull his “Prayers” out of mothballs, and remix them with guest stars like MC Lyte, Snoop Dogg and Killer Mike. It’s not a knock on any of them for their contributions. I wouldn’t turn down the payday nor the opportunity to pay respect to a rap legend; nor to express a conviction they shared with X about their own faith.
It’s not hard to notice the issues though if you look closely. With so little material to pull from to mix into new tracks, “Let Us Pray” is only eight tracks long and HALF of them are instrumentals of the other half. That’s a combined 27 minutes of which 50% doesn’t even have any words from DMX at all. If you’re not at least somewhat cynical about that, I gotta be honest — the fuck is wrong with you? That’s in no way the statement Earl Simmons would want to make about his belief in God. He would have done a whole album about it. A proper, full album, with hand picked features from his favorite gospel artists. He would have recorded new verses, said new prayers, and made a genuine statement about his beliefs. This isn’t that. While this is being marketed as the “10th chapter” of his career, it barely qualifies as an album and even calling it an extended play is a stretch. I’d rather listen to his original “Prayers” the way that he intended them to be heard and I think you would too.