DMX is Ready to Party for 20th Anniversary Album

Photo: Streeter Lecka (Getty Images)

Hide the women and pets. DMX is coming to a city near you. The infamous ’90s rapper was recently released from the big house and is ready to “Party Up (Up In Here).” It’s been a rough road for the “Ruff Ryder” who spent the past two decades in and out of incarceration (the latest for tax evasion), battling crack addiction, and fathering 15 kids. It’s a shame because the gravely-voiced Yonkers rapper was one of the top dogs of the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Now DMX is sniffing out a comeback, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his classic debut, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot, with a 32-date tour that begins in Oklahoma City this March with stops at Boston, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, and Chicago, before culminating with a headlining gig at Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival on May 12.

Hard to believe it’s been two decades since we barked along to the “Ruff Ryders Anthem” but it’s actually been 21 years as It’s Dark and Hell is Hot came out in 1998. DMX is celebrating the anniversary now because he was locked up last year. Fair enough. Well, here are five seminal albums that did come out in 1999. Happy Anniversary.