Dark Man X, known for his rough vocal delivery and hard-hitting beats, is back with his return album, "Undisputed". The title is only fitting, as DMX is proving to everyone that he hasn't lost a step, even with all the legal troubles over the years.

DMX starts off with "What They Don't Know", a dope track to kick off the album. The beat is nothing over the top, and that's a good thing. X comes out with, "Real niggaz running circles around you / Did dirt but now the dirt found you / On the mic, y'all niggaz suck / When shots go off y'all niggaz duck", sending a message to all wack artists out there.

The second track is "Cold World" featuring Adreena Mills. X surprisingly takes it down a notch instead of continuing with another hard track. This one starts off smooth with Adreena Mills doing her thing over a smooth beat, backed by some Barry White drums. X then comes in with a slow, lazy style, then quickly drops his trademark voice. Definitely a strong track on this album.

On "I Don't Dance" featuring Machine Gun Kelly, the vibe is flipped as this song is clearly for the clubs. It's not my style but I can see this being a big hit at any club it's played at. Hard kick, clap snare, and a looping synth is what's in this one.

"Sucka For Love" featuring Dani Stevenson is another smooth love track but this one has some tight drums and a guitar loop panned hard left. X is his usual self, showing the vocal skills he's known for.

The vibe changes up a bit when on "Slippin Again", following up on the famous track from his debut album. Not as memorable as the original, this one has a dark mood backed by a choppy synth. "If y'all only knew / What my life is like and what I'm gonna do / Baby you gotta think before you talk / You gotta crawl before you walk", spits X as he talks about his past hardships. The music is not a strong point, however it's the lyrics that shine through.

On "Have You Eva", the music consists of a dope R&Bish sample with some sweet keys and a well placed hand clap snare. "I've seen the dark / I've seen the light / I've seen the day / I've seen the night / I've seen the wrong / I've seen the right", spits X. This song is another strong one, I can see this being one of the main singles.

Finally, DMX gets crazy on "Frankenstein", a track that starts with some fast drums as X drops in with the hook, "We gonna tear shit up / Tear shit up / Tear shit up / Let's go". It's a hype track, and actually on the hook it sounds like something from the Onyx camp.

The last song on the album, "Already" is super hype. This is the kind of track I expect from DMX. "Every hood I'm that dude / Ghetto pass they getting renewed", with "already" thrown in between each line throughout the entire song. I love the hypeness, I just wish he did more lyric-wise.

Conclusion

This album is really strong but I think some things on it should be changed. For example, the placement of the songs can use some work. At the start of the album it goes back and forth between slow and fast tracks. There's also a few that seem out of place, like "Get Your Money Up", which makes the album seem too inconsistent.

Overall I didn't expect so many smooth songs from DMX. I know he's had plenty of those over the years but I thought since his message on this album is that he's the undisputed, I figured we would get more hype tracks from him, something similar to his most famous work. However, this album has a good amount of dope songs on it, and any DMX fan will surely love it.

Score: 3.7 / 5