DMX Once Made Nas Cry
DMX was a beloved New York rapper and an icon of hip-hop. He commanded respect from his peers in the industry and was known for being a down-to-earth person with a realer-than-real personality. One of his close friends and collaborators was fellow New York legend Nas.
DMX and Nas worked together on the film ‘Belly’
DMX and Nas were good friends for decades, and often collaborated together on various projects. In 1998, the two rappers starred in Belly, a crime drama written and directed by music video director Hype Williams (his film directing debut). The movie starred DMX, Nas, Method Man, and TLC singer T-Boz, with DMX and Nas playing partners in crime who deal with real-life problems.
Belly was released as DMX’s career took off with his back-to-back 1998 albums, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. Nas and DMX went on to work together on a number of songs from the late ’90s up until DMX’s death in 2021. DMX’s posthumous album Exodus featured their last song together, “Bath Salts,” with a special appearance from fellow New York legend Jay-Z.
DMX made Nas cry on the set of ‘Belly’
Nas reflected on the death of DMX and his relationship with the late rapper in an October 2021 interview on Desus & Mero. He specifically recalled the great memories he had with him when filming Belly.
“We formed a brotherhood,” Nas said of the late rapper. “I didn’t have to see him or he didn’t have to call me, but when we saw each other though, it was that! Even working on the film, we cried.”
“We were at the Tunnel [nightclub] doing a scene and I was like, ‘You feel that, bro?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he’s crying and now I’m crying,” he remembered. “He was talking with that, ‘Grrr.’ I was like, ‘This man’s energy is something else.’”
DMX was a genuine person
During his life, DMX was known for being a down-to-earth person who didn’t abide by the typical rules of celebrity. He carried that attitude with big-name music industry players like Nas to restaurant workers he crossed paths with.
In 2011, for example, DMX stopped in at a Waffle House in Greenville, South Carolina at 4 o’clock in the morning to get some food after leaving a nearby party. One of the Waffle House employees told TMZ that he was mopping the floors when he realized DMX had just walked into the restaurant. He told the rapper that he was a big fan of his, and DMX was so touched that he grabbed the mop from his hands and finished cleaning the restaurant for him.
“I was in a good mood and felt that I would do that for him since it was 4 a.m. and [the employee] had been working all night,” the rapper said at the time. “The minute you get too big to mop a floor or wipe a counter, that’s the exact minute you have life f—ed up.”
