Rapper DMX blows off ringtones, online music biz

Never mind that artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor are releasing albums online. And forget that ringtones have helped lift rappers like Flo Rida to stardom and earned them some serious money.

These digital experiments apparently don't interest hip-hop icon DMX.

Hip-hop icon DMX on music distribution moving online: 'People want the actual CDs.'

(Credit: Bodog Music)

"I don't even think about it," the multiplatinum-selling rapper told a writer for hip-hop magazine XXL in a recent interview. The response came when the journalist was trying to ask how DMX feels about music increasingly being distributed through the Internet.

Here's a snippet of the interview:

XXL: How do you feel about the digital--like, everything going through the Internet as far as...
DMX: I don't even think about it. I don't even think about it.
XXL: The music business is pretty much going in that direction.
DMX: I don't know. That's just...that's probably not...People want the actual CDs not no s--- that's disposable.
XXL: It's like the ringtone rappers are the guys that are selling right now.
DMX: Good for them, good for them. I'm glad they eating right now.
XXL: You don't feel a certain way about that.
DMX: Nah, I don't even think about it, for real. I mean, it's a waste of energy to think about what somebody else is doing and how they doing it. I'ma just do what I do. All that s--- is a headache.

That's the front he's showing at least, because his music is definitely available online.

DMX, who's preparing to release two albums later this year, shares some tracks on his official MySpace.com page, just as so many signed and aspiring artists do.

And I have to wonder, has DMX bothered to log onto Apple's iTunes store recently? I just did and found not only an ample catalog of his works, but an exclusive 15-track "Essential DMX" compilation featuring anthems like Party (Up in Here") and What's my Name?

Online music, by the way, isn't the only thing that's not on DMX's mind. He apparently wasn't familiar with Barack Obama at the time of the interview in late January.

[yotaruvegeta]

X is nuts!

If you didn't think DMX was crazy before, this is nuts. As his star fades, he adds insult to injury by saying that no one who's actively purchasing his music over the web is participating in something worthwhile.

I love X, but I think one of his dogs may have taken a bite off his brain.

[rodaniel]

Not Nuts. Willfully Ignorant!

This coming from the same moron who (in a recent interview) not only admitted that he doesn't know who Barack Obama is - and insisted that the name "Barack Obama" is stupid for a "n*gga" - but specifically stated that he has no intention of voting.

He's a belligerent idiot and I'd consider anyone who supports him by way of purchasing - or even listening to - his music or concert tickets to be suspect of some glaring mental deficiencies as well.

[tyrone8323]

wow...

you've got some serious issues. just because people listen to certain musicians, they've got "glaring mental deficiencies"? he may not care about certain things in this world but at least he's honest about it - he apparently doesn't care about what people think of him and i for one, respect that more than anything. it seems to me that you're the one who is "willfully ignorant".

[Thomas, David]

You Fool

Seldom, in this planets history, has a good or great artist, leader,
etc. personably ever turned out to be what people might think they
are. The personal character, which is seldom seem, does not
diminish the work they do.

[tyrone8323]

computer illiterate

it's very possible that no one has really showed him the business model about being online so he doesn't really care. if someone, anyone, were to sit down with him and show him the endless possibilities of reaching a wider audience via web, he would be all for it.

but, than again, this is X we're talkin about - he literally does whatever he feels like doin. i didn't even know about his albums, we'll see how those do considering the last 3 albums didn't do so well.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

Doin his own thang

The dude obviously wants to do his own thang, as long as the $$ rolls in.

[grinwax]

never buy what u cant ride on. dmx is a real good thug with no momocide . dmx is love. let him do this thing its not about albums doing well its about the hardness in him. its grinwax