Swizz Beatz Remembers DMX: “He Lived His Life for Everyone Else”

The music world continues to mourn the loss of DMX, who died Friday, April 8 after suffering a heart attack the prior week. Today, X collaborator Swizz Beatz posted a longer remembrance of the rapper as a video on Instagram, describing him as a “different type of artist, different type of creative, different type of soul.” 

“Since the day that I met him, he lived his life for everyone else,” Swizz says in the video. “You ain’t ever seen him next to a Lamborghini… You ain’t ever seen him iced out with no jewelry, he did not care about any of that… He was the biggest because he prayed for everybody else.”

Swizz Beatz’s first placement in the music industry was his beat for DMX’s “Ruff Ryders Anthem,” released in 1998. “I’m in position because of DMX,” he says at one point. “My brother was one of one. None before, none to come.  He was the most loyal person I’ve ever known… You couldn’t buy DMX. His loyalty, who he loved, was never for sale.” Watch the full clip below.

Read Pitchfork’s Afterword, “Remembering DMX, Who Changed Rap Forever.”