Five Finger Death Punch released the digital deluxe version of their 2022 album AfterLife on Friday (April), which features four new bonus tracks. Among those freshies is an unexpected collab with late Ruff Ryders rapper DMX.
The song, “This Is the Way,” comes complete with a video directed by X’s longtime collaborator Hype Williams, which mixes black and white performance footage of FFDP with photos, cartoon images and memorial murals of DMX. “Ya’ll heard it through the grapevine (what’s that?)/ Expect I’m gonna take mine/ Name of the game is get in where you fit in (what?)/ Dog, I fit in at the beginning,” DMX growls in the first verse in his signature rough-edged style.
“Music is meant to be universal and without boundaries, and it starts at the top with us, the artists,” said FFDP guitarist Zoltan Bathory in a statement. “We have always embraced the mixing of genres, whether it be the remake of LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ featuring Tech N9ne as a guest, or our collaboration with blues warrior Kenny Wayne Shepherd, country star Brantley Gilbert, and Brian May, the legendary guitarist of Queen, on the song ‘Blue on Black.’”
The release did not mention when the DMX vocals were recorded, but Bathory added that the idea of a collab with the “X Gon Give It To Ya” MC had been “in discussion for years, and it was a long and winding road to turn this particular item on our wish list into reality. He was a lyrical warrior, a true original who spoke his mind incorruptibly.” The guitarist said the group had always considered DMX the “metalhead of hip-hop” because of the rapper’s “aggressive, raw, and untamed” style.
“He growled and snarled, aiming to rattle some cages–an attitude we share, as Five Finger Death Punch has always been drawn to the fearless and the real,” he said. “It made all the sense in the world, but today this is more than just a song; it’s a salute to a legend, a way to honor DMX’s memory.” DMX died in April 2021 at age 50 after experiencing a heart attack triggerd by a drug overdose.
The digital deluxe edition also features three acoustic versions of the album tracks “The End,” “Judgement Day” and “Thanks For Asking.” FFDP will tour Europe this summer on a headlining tour featuring Ice Nine Kills before joining Metallica as the opening act on a run of the rock icons’ European stadium shows.
Watch the “This Is the Way” video below.
