It’s always good to hear stories of how legends started their careers. From how hard they grind, to being turned down and bouncing back. A lot of artist are turned down by labels when they are trying to enter the music business, but when you hear the stories of how or why some are turned down, it leaves you in a very WTF? moment. For instance, Noreage and DJ EFN released the third episode of their Drink Champs podcast which features the Hip Hop icon, DMX. Nore brings up the story of Diddy turning DMX down and X tells the story in full. Puff felt DMX wasn’t marketable and here’s where you’re stuck in that WTF? moment. DMX, not marketable? When you see the success of his first two albums, you know Diddy knew he messed up bad.
“One thing I respect about Puff is that at least he told me to my face what he felt,” DMX says. “[Ruff Ryders executive] Dee told Puff, ‘If you like the Lox, you’re gonna love X.’ I spit, or whatever, and he was like, ‘Uhh. His voice too rough and you’re not marketable.’ [I] didn’t like it, but I had to respect it.”
Check out the clip of the interview below and you can listen to the interview in its entirety on iTunes or Play.It.
