DMX is the latest in a long line of successful rappers who have made the segue into acting. In his latest film, Never Die Alone, he plays a drug kingpin, whose return home touches off a turf war. Not one who relishes the media, DMX addressed the media following the rest of the Never Die Alone junket. PAUL FISCHER reports.
PF: The recurring themes of your music redemption and living without morality how does that apply to this film and your acting as opposed to music?
DMX: I had actual events and issues to draw from. I think that is the theme of my life. Right, wrong, good, bad, heaven, hell. I think you have to know both in order to honestly choose one. So I'm familiar with both sides of the fence. That was the character. All right, be a grimy nigger for a minute, then fuck around and get a conscience.
PF: How do you apply that to your career?
DMX: Well, I'm not a grimy person, so it doesn't really apply. I already got passed that point. So I treat people with the same respect that I want. I don't walk around big headed. I'm not a superstar. I'm a man like you're a man. We're all people. It's a mutual respect. I'm not going to disrespect you, don't disrespect me. I say what's up, I'm easygoing, but if you violate, shit happens.
PF: What attracted you to this film and the role of King David?
DMX: I've read every one of Donald Goines' books. So as soon as I heard there was an opportunity for one of his novels to be turned into a movie, I jumped at the opportunity.
PF: Why King David?
DMX: Well, who else would I choose in that movie? It was brought to me. Someone brought it to me and I thought yeah, I'm with it. I knew I could do the King thing.
PF: Is this character different than the previous four you've played?
DMX: Yes. Well, my last three movies, all with Warner Brothers, I was kind of the same person. Black guy doing karate, lotta money. It's all right for one or two movies, but there's not much realism in that character. This is a chance, this character, I don't want to walk off in the sunset with the girl and everything is right. Reality hits. Despite the fact that I'm coming to terms with the wrongs that I've done, I still get what I deserve.
PF: Is there a message in the movie?
DMX: The message is you do dirt, you get dirt. You get what you get.
PF: Explain in terms of the characters of the girls?
DMX: Well, he didn't get it like they got it. He'd give them heroine, tell them it's coke, just to get them strung out. This is a ruthless bastard. I didn't like him as a character, because of some of the things he did, but I'm glad I was able to play him well enough to where it's believable.
PF: How do you expect women to respond to it?
DMX: To the movie? I suppose somebody will be upset. Somebody's upset with every movie. But there's a few sex scenes in there, so I don't think women will be too upset. [LAUGHTER]
PF: How did you discover Goines and how did you apply what you read?
DMX: I was locked up for a term when I read the first book of his. It was like here were a set of novels that didn't always have a happy ending. There were a lot of things that I could relate to. A lot of the characters I knew.
PF: How did you take that into the film?
DMX: That pretty much answers itself. Know it, familiar with it, just carried it out.
PF: What did you find out about working with Ernest Dickerson and being a producer, with little rehearsal time?
DMX: No rehearsal time.
PF: Different from Warner Brothers?
DMX: Yes, it was a much smaller budget. The energy level was more intense because it was like we have this amount of time to shoot it. There wasn't much time for error. We had a lot of shots in like one or two takes. That's all due to the fact that we had a great cast, great crew. We all got along and would work with each other. That made for a great product.
PF: What kind of producer are you?
DMX: A new producer. [LAUGHTER]
PF: What does it mean for you?
DMX: That I have to attend a lot of meetings. Have to be there for a lot of the talking about- - I didn't really enjoy that part of it, but I did it. I was in on the casting, everything.
PF: What other roles do you want to play besides the rich black guy?
DMX: There's a lot of roles I'd love to play. Giving you an idea of the character would be somewhat giving away the story, and these are things that are on the table right now. It's not always going to be about that. This is more realistic movies with good stories. I think that's very important.
PF: Would you remake something like Sean Combs on Broadway?
DMX: I would love to- - not to take away from Samuel Jackson, great actor, I'd love to work with him. I would have loved to have done Shaft though.
PF: Talk about DMX the family man and Bloodline films?
DMX: When I'm at home, I don't discuss business. I don't talk business. I don't answer the phone. It's just me, my wife, my children, my dogs. That's my world. We go out, take a ride in one of the low riders or something. Totally different person than when I'm working. But the work comes to some headaches.
PF: You don't bring it home?
DMX: No.
PF: And Bloodline films?
DMX: Bloodline films, this is our first project
and ContentFilm. I'm glad it went as successful as it did, staying within budget, knocking out what we had to knock out. The color looks great. I have about- - my next I think maybe three or four projects will be under Bloodline films as well.
PF: You won't do a movie unless you produce it?
DMX: No, I wouldn't say that. But right now, that's what I'm focusing on because I have a lot of good stories.
PF: Are you comfortable under the pressure of one or two takes?
DMX: Yeah. I actually become the character for the duration of the movie, on and off set. I try to stay not all the way in where I expect somebody to call me King or something, but I might take the walk home, or the way the character talks, I might take that home, the body language.
PF: Talk about the character's style of speech?
DMX: I did a couple of things. For one, I had to learn how to walk comfortably in a suit, because I don't like suits at all. So that was one of the hardest things. Not just walking, but walk like I like to wear suits. The talk, because I usually talk kind of fast, I didn't think King David is as amped as I am. I don't think he has as much energy as I do, so I had to slow the whole thing down and just some old grandfather shit, old man talking shit to the younger person. What's wrong with you, boy? Almost a southern type of thing. But it wasn't that hard.
PF: Are you unapologetic?
DMX: In my choices? I think I make pretty good choices. I think there's nothing to be sorry about. My choices, I mean, I'm pretty much able to know what the outcome of every decision I make will be, so everything I ask for, I'll get. Even if it's not the right choice, I don't think I'd be apologetic because I knew what it was going to be before I made that decision.
PF: How is your artistic approach different from music to film?
DMX: They're different because they're art forms in which I get to express and act out something. With the music it's verbally, of course, with the films it's physically. And difference? The money. Big difference?
PF: Which is bigger money?
DMX: In movies. In music, the highest paid artists get 18 cents off of a dollar and the record company still owns their product even though they paid for it. It's like straight robbery. Straight robbery. They give you nothing. Everything is an advance. But they'll offer it to you. "Hey, we were looking at the new Range Rover. We thought it'd be a great idea if we got it for you." And they'll get it for you, then you look on your PNL report, you've got $80,000. You end up thanking yourself.
PF: What's your pay scale?
DMX: Like I said, the highest paid artist, 18 to maybe 23 cents off of a dollar. And they still advance you the money. They advance you the money, okay, that's cool. You give me the money, I make the music. After I pay you back the money, I should own the music, because that was the money, you put up the money. They still own it, they always own it and they ask for maybe 27 songs for each album, yet they only use about 16. And the rest they give away to soundtracks. It's robbery. I can't be a part of it anymore. I feel like I'm being disrespected and- -
PF: How close was Grand Champ to this film?
DMX: You know, I really don't remember. Grand Champ took me the longest to record. I recorded in like five different states for this album. I went and did a few songs here, went and did a few songs here, a few songs there. That's just because of the bitter taste I had for the industry and what they really think about you. It's like you do so much for them, you make so much money for them, at the end of the day, you're nothing but a number. And if you don't cooperate with what they want, then they play the little game of okay, well, we'll not promote you as much as we normally have and see what happens there. They want to keep you hungry, keep you wanting that advance. The first time they heard I was doing a movie, they said, "No, no, he can't do a movie. He has to go over there and make- -" What do you mean I can't do a movie? You stick with the music, mind your fucking business. I'm going over here and I'm going to do this movie.
PF: Did you track down your grandfather?
DMX: Yeah, tracked him down, found out where he was at. I picked a time where I wasn't going to be too far out of it. I think I did a show in Atlanta, I had something going on in Atlanta. We took two stretched limos, road to the town and I met him for the first time. It was cool. I didn't really know my father too much, so it's like you want to know the things about you that only your father or your grandfather could tell you. He don't even gotta tell you. You can just look at them and see why you do certain things. Like oh shit, I do that too. It's like little things. You wonder why you do it, then you see them and it's like okay, then you also know how you're going to look when you get that age.
PF: Had he ever heard of DMX?
DMX: Yeah. It's like one of those really, really small towns. Half the roads were dirt roads. We had to park in the middle of the street. There was no parking anywhere. We stayed in the middle of the street.
PF: How difficult is it to be gracious with fans?
DMX: Extremely. Extremely, extremely, extremely because people don't understand that I am a person and I might not be having a particularly good day. I might have just gotten a phone call, some bad news, but they'll walk up and- - this really fucks with me, when people just like ask me for shit without saying hello. Say, "Yo, what's up, how you doing? Dog, yo, hey." Say it before you- - don't ask me for shit until you've spoken to me first. Because I get this so much: "I want a hug. I want a picture." It's like hey, how you doing.
PF: Have you ever given someone an attitude?
DMX: Once.
PF: What happened?
DMX: It makes me look bad either way, whether I'm right or wrong. It makes me look bad because I'm yelling and sometimes there's kids though. They wonder why am I mad. That's not a side of me that they normally see. I was at a mall one time, minding my business. I had just gotten my food, about 10 of us, 15 of us, we were sitting down at the table. So this girl walks over and she's waving the tray there, "Oh, so you some big celebrity, so I guess you payin' for my lunch." Like yells it out like crazy loud. I'm like, "Girl, what the fuck are you talking about?" "You're making all this money. I guess you payin' for
" just going on and on. I'm like, "Yo girlfriend, you don't even fucking know me, you're gonna be talking like that. Pay for your own lunch. Don't nobody turn up at the food court without no money." That was one time where it just got to me that time.
PF: Have you ever thought of releasing your own music on the internet or however?
DMX: Yeah. I actually wanted to start a union. Protect the rights of the artist. We have no one to look out for our rights. We have a few people that look out for our be[st interest] in terms of collecting our money, but what about what's right in a contract. The standard contract is five to seven years, five to seven albums. How the fuck do you call me a risk, yet you hold me down for five to seven years? And the average expectancy of any artist is three years. So you're already holding me for longer than you think I'm going to last. There is no risk factor. They got a lot of artists out there that's like straight garbage, and they play them so fucking much that after a while, you find yourself singing their shit. They control the market. They've got BET and MTV in their back fucking pocket. They do favors for each other. All the radio stations are bought and paid for. It's like, "Play this, play this, play this." It all comes from the heads of the record companies. It's not even about talent anymore. It's about who they like, who's their guy, who's their buddy? I'm nobody's fucking buddy. Fuck that. I'm not cooperating. If you don't like it, fuck it.
PF: Is your music career over?
DMX: Yes, it is.
PF: You won't do it anymore?
DMX: I refuse to give another dime to that record label, to Def Jam. I gave them their best year. I made $144 million for them in one year. $144 million dollars in one year. Guess how much they gave me?
PF: 3 mil?
DMX: Nope.
PF: 3 thou?
DMX: Nope.
PF: Nothing?
DMX: There you go. They didn't give me shit. What they did was they loaned me three towards my next album. It was like soon as they give you that money, you already owe them two more albums. They don't give you anything. They advance you or they'll give you something and have you pay for it later.
PF: By taking this stand, do you worry your life is endanger?
DMX: Nah, not my life.
PF: Has anyone taken your union idea?
DMX: See, I had first spoken about this idea with Rondell who has something to do with that, but I don't know if he's taking my idea and running with it. But I know who I'm going to look out for. If I'm a risk, one year. And you have to put this amount of promotion, put this amount of effort into it because they use a lot of artists as write offs. They know damn well they're not going to sell. They know they're- - oh, we'll give them a big budget and bam, that's a write off.
PF: Is there that problem in the film industry?
DMX: No. Not that problem.
PF: As a producer, do you own this movie?
DMX: Yeah.
PF: What about recording for soundtracks?
DMX: Well, because I'm signed to Def Jam, of course they're not going to allow me to sing. But this is some shit. How the fuck do you tell me I can't sing another song for somebody else? That's why we need the union, for shit like this. I'm an artist, I was an artist before I met y'all, I'm going to be after I leave y'all. How could you tell me that I can't put a song somewhere else?
PF: When does your contract expire?
DMX: Two years, something like that.
PF: When did you know you had something special with your voice?
DMX: It's funny you say that. I listened to a tape of when I was about 16, 17. My voice sounded nothing like this. Nothing like this. I always knew that I was different. I didn't quite categorize it as special at the time. I knew I wasn't like a lot of the other kids. I knew I was smart. That's one thing I did know. I knew that I was bright before I knew what they were talking about. I'd always hear the teacher say, "Oh, he's very bright." I'm thinking that maybe it's my smile or something. I didn't know what the fuck they were talking about.
PF: What did you learn from Joel Silver about producing?
DMX: [Long pause] No comment.
PF: What's the next Goines novel you're doing?
DMX: We're doing Daddy Cool.
PF: Will you be Daddy Cool?
DMX: I don't know. I'm not going to star in every one of my movies. But I'm telling you [pounds fists] what I will bring to this film industry is the same thing I brought to the record industry when I came into it. Realism. Uncompromised, unconditional dog love. Not love for everybody, but we gotta click, we tight, then we're going to bring official shit to the table. Like official no big animated this, that and the others. The truth is undeniable. You tell somebody the truth, it's undeniable.
PF: Why is there a lack of realism in storytelling?
DMX: I don't know. You'd have to talk to the people that are writing these stories. I don't know. They're reaching right now. They're digging up comic heroes that half the people haven't heard of. A lot of the movies are the same thing over and over again but different actors. It's getting kind of redundant. The movie comes out, "Oh, I saw that but I saw the one where Tom Hanks was in it." It's the same shit.
PF: Is this a different gangster story?
DMX: Yeah. Like I said, there's no hero walking off into the sunset. And that happens with every fucking movie, man. It's like okay, you go through everything, but the guy doesn't die. He might die for three seconds and then come back to life.
PF: Do you look at movies of the '70s?
DMX: Yeah. Superfly, The Mack, all that shit.
PF: Your favorite movie?
DMX: My favorite movie
Zoolander. [LAUGHTER]
PF: Can you talk about the FBI following rappers...?
DMX: They still are.
PF: What's your take on that?
DMX: I mean, it's harassment, but shit, I remember one night, they followed us all night. We were at the concert at Nassau Community Center. They followed us around all night and were just blatant about it. Maybe 50 yards behind us, [whistles]. We turned, once we turn, they started like what the fuck. Yeah, all right, fuck it. Let's see what they're going to do now. They didn't do shit. They were just following us like come on, man, don't you know where I'm going? It's documented, my shit. That was the only night I seen them like just like right in your face like we're following you but we're not going to say anything. I had all my security with me and everything. I'm like I don't know if it's police. Go out and check them fools. They checked their badges and everything.
PF: Were people unfair to Janet?
DMX: I think it's been blown a little bit out of proportion. And I gotta say this. Michael Jackson will always be the king of pop. Always. I personally don't think he really committed any crimes as far as touching kids. You don't wake up one day and just start touching kids. And if was happening for a while, why is it just coming to light. The dude is something like, what, 50 years old? You can't hide the shit that fucking long. What parent would allow their child to be living under those circumstances for any kind of money? There's no amount of money on your child's mental health. You don't do that.
PF: Do you admire him for standing up to Sony?
DMX: Yup. I admire anyone who stands up to their record label.
PF: How many dogs do you have?
DMX: I got seven dogs, but my main bitch is pregnant. It wasn't supposed to happen.
PF: What does street cred mean anymore when it can be artificially constructed?
DMX: It can't be artificially constructed. The only way you can get street credibility is just from being official nigga on the street. Not too many of these rappers can go to the hood. Not too many of these rappers can walk through the projects by themselves without 50 motherfuckers. It's like yo, I'm good.
PF: Does it mean anything in terms of creating music?
DMX: Not really.
PF: Samuel Jackson once said rappers should stick to rapping and not act. What are your thoughts on that?
DMX: Just because someone raps, doesn't mean that's all they can do. A lot of people are multi-talented. Now, you're right. A lot of people get roles just because they're selling a few records and they suck. It's up to the producer to really make that decision and not allow that to happen. Because that's what you call selling out, when a producer puts a motherfucker because they sold a certain amount of records in a movie knowing they suck at acting.
PF: What would you say about Master P and his philosophy?
DMX: Honestly speaking , I had no idea that there was a new no limit.
PF: Will you ever change your billing from DMX?
DMX: Yes. Don't know when. I will.
PF: Tell me about Kato?
DMX: Kato. He gave me these dog tags. Friend of mine from Chicago. It says DMX on the front and it has my wife and my children's names on the back. This one says dogs and it has my dogs that died on the back. It's a very considerate gift. I mean, good friend, man. We were working in the same studio and we just got close. I introduced him to stuff, he showed me stuff because he was like the head of the Latin Kings out there, but I never knew that. He was just a guy I met. And he was cool. He had pets and I had pets. I got him into remote control cars. Shit like that. We laughed a lot together.
PF: How old are your kids?
DMX: 11, 4 and 14 months. You gotta see the baby when he looks at the TV and sees me sitting there. He goes like, "Da da?"
PF: Are any other artists interested in your union idea?
DMX: Yup.
PF: Can you say who?
DMX: Nope.
