Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much I love metalcore music—and then randomly, one of DMX’s old songs came on, and I felt that same guttural energy I get from a breakdown.
And then it hit me: DMX is metalcore in rap form.
No seriously—hear me out.
Both metalcore and DMX are raw. There’s nothing polished or sugar-coated. DMX didn’t just rap about pain, loss, anger, and survival—he lived it. You can hear the cracks in his voice, the growl in his throat, the rage and desperation in his delivery. Sound familiar? That’s basically the entire ethos of metalcore. The screams, the breakdowns, the heavy riffs—they’re all a form of release, just like DMX’s barking delivery and aggressive verses.
Metalcore tends to come from this place of emotional chaos—love, betrayal, trauma, inner demons. DMX was doing the same thing in a different genre. His music was heavy even without guitars. It was emotional weight. And honestly, sometimes his tracks hit harder than any double kick drum ever could.
I think that’s why both styles connect with me so much. They don’t pretend. They don’t play it safe. They say what most people are too afraid to admit out loud.
DMX might not have been screaming over breakdowns or playing dive bars with mosh pits, but the spirit? The truth? It’s the same. Whether it’s a band like Architects or Parkway Drive screaming about pain and struggle—or DMX growling, “Y’all gon’ make me lose my mind…”—the message is this: I’m fighting to survive, and this is what it sounds like.
If metalcore is a bleeding heart with a guitar, then DMX was that same heart with a mic and a pit bull by his side.
And that’s why, in my book, he belongs in the metalcore hall of fame.
—Aunty Christine
(who’s still blasting “Where the Hood At” like it’s 2003)
P.S. If anyone ever makes a mashup of DMX and a metalcore breakdown, please send it my way. I’ll lose my mind—in the best way.
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