DMX’s Posthumous Album 'Exodus' Released, Features Jay-Z, Nas, Bono & More

DMX‘s first posthumous album has arrived.

On Friday (May 28), the late rapper’s record label Def Jam released Exodus — a 13-track LP featuring JAY-Z, Nas, Swizz Beatz, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Bono, and more.

The release of Exodus comes just over a month after DMX died at the age of 50, days after suffering a heart attack.

“We did the whole album — the album was done — before he passed,” the late rapper's friend, longtime collaborator, and Ruff Ryders crewmate Swizz Beatz said in a recent interview with the New York Post. “It’s not an album that was pieced together after he passed. We had plans to do a two-month cleansing and workout [program] before we came with the album. He was gonna re-brand himself with new photos of him looking the best that he could look … But unfortunately we didn’t get to that part.”

According to Swizz, who served as both executive producer and producer on Exodus, DMX began working on the album 10 months ago, shortly after he appeared in a Verzuz battle with Snoop.

“He was feeling all the fans’ love, and he was feeling all the support from his peers,” Swizz recalled. “He said, ‘Man, I love the love. I love the new younger generation showing me love. I just wish I had new songs for them to hear.’ And I said, ‘Well OK, let’s go!’

The two eventually began working on the project and got some of the biggest names in music to get involved.

“[X] was really feeding off of the features,” Swizz shared. “He was like, ‘Wow, Bono is agreeing to be on the album? Wow, Alicia’s showing up, Usher’s showing up.’ All of those things were just fueling him … It was just so amazing to see that everybody wanted him to win.”

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