Pharrell
Pharrell actually did try to make a collaboration with DMX happen, but X laughed him off. Back in 2005, which lines up with the time DMX was recording the “Year Of The Dog….Again”, DMX ran into Pharrell at an awards show and Pharrell approached him by saying they needed to make “some hot shit together”. X laughed him off and wasn’t impressed by Pharrell. X made fun of him by saying the Pharrell was still in high school when “Ruff Ryders Anthem” came out (which is actually not true) and making fun of his height saying he was only 5’2. X was not interested in working with him or the Neptunes. We can only image what kind of heat DMX and Pharrell could have cooked up in the studio had X given him the chance.
DJ Premier
Of all the producers on the list, this one hurts the most. Can you imagine a DMX track produced by Premier?!?!? Premier has worked with all of the greatest pretty much: Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie and a whole host of others, but never had the chance to connect with the dog. Prior to his death, Premier had said that he had always wanted to work with DMX but never had the chance even though he was pestering Swizz Beatz to make it happen. We guess that means Premier technically could have had a chance to produce for the recently released “Exodus” album.
Diddy
We put Diddy on the list because, well Diddy tried unsuccessfully to get DMX on Bad Boy Records. First, when DMX was looking to join Bad Boys Records, Diddy rejected him by saying his voice was too rough and he would be difficult to market. Which by the way, was similar to what he first said to Biggie once meeting him in person. But later after X had started building a name for himself in the streets and the industry, Diddy changed his mind and unsuccessfully tried enticing him to become a Bad Boy. Since Diddy did most of his production work with the Hittmen, obviously a Diddy and Hittmen late 90’s production would have been amazing. Just imagine how X would have sounded on Shyne’s “Bad Boys”.
Lil Jon
Its really upsetting this one never happened. DMX and Lil Jon often performed at the same shows together back in the day, and Lil’ Jon often produced for artists that ran in the same circles with Def Jam affiliated artists. Lil’ Jon started joining the elite list of hip-hop producers back in 2003-2004, right at the time DMX was peaking and cruising. Think about how a Lil Jon rock-sampled beat (think “Let’s Go” featuring Trick Daddy) would have sounded with X providing the rap verses. Unfortunately, we will never know.
9th Wonder
This is another one that has us scratching our heads. In all the years that DMX was alive ad recording, how did he never cross path with 9th Wonder to do a track? 9th Wonder had produced for Def Jam artists and artists that worked with the Ruff Ryders, so how did this never happen? We know that X and the Ruff Ryders preferred Swizz and Dame Grease ahead of everyone else, but damn, they should have given 9th Wonder a shot of producing for DMX. Maybe 9th Wonder can pick up a few of X’s old tracks and remix them for a mixtape project. Fingers crossed!
Picasso Baby 