Relaxed DMX Discusses New Album, Rock the Bells Tour

DMX will join a who's who of hip hop, including Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Ice Cube, Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa, Common and dozens more, in San Bernardino this weekend for the kickoff of the Rock the Bells tour.

For DMX, it's his first time on the influential tour. Once he found out about the festival's history, he jumped at the chance to join RTB 2012.

"Not only did I come to the conclusion it's an honor to be a part of that, I'm just really grateful for the opportunity," he tells Rolling Stone. "It's credible emcees. It's not whoever's-hot-right-now type of shit – it's motherfuckers who paved the way and earned the respect of genuine fans."

After a six-year absence between albums, DMX, who will release his new set Undisputed on September 11th, is looking to win back those genuine fans. Since 2006's Year of the Dog . . . Again, the multi-platinum rapper has endured several run-ins with the law, including serving jail time on multiple occasions for violating probation.

"X," as he's called when he gets on the phone with Rolling Stone on this day, is still full of bravado but totally relaxed as he walks with his daughter while we chat. The only time he gets upset is when talking about the repeated delays that have pushed back the release date of Undisputed.

"I put The Weigh-In out just because the album [got] pushed back three different times and I got tired, 'cause I'm the only one saying what the date is, so it looked like I'm a fucking liar," he says, explaining the free EP he released. "So I said, 'Fuck it, I'm just going to give them a free joint to hold on to until the album comes out.'”

Don't expect him to make that a habit of that, though. While he says he's sitting on four albums' worth of material – "besides going to jail and prison, on my own time I was in the studio" – he's not going to be rushing new material to make up for lost time.

"I'm not the mixtape guy who's gonna put out a new one every month," he says. "I'm gonna allow my albums to marinate and resonate and whatever type of 'ates' they can do. I'm gonna let my music grow on them."

He's going to start at Rock the Bells, where he promises some "new joints," including first single "I Don't Dance" and "Time to Get Paid," which features a Notorious B.I.G. sample.

The new album also features collaborations with Busta Rhymes and Machine Gun Kelly, among others. There are other big names – Jennifer Hudson and Tyrese have been rumored – but DMX doesn't want to focus on the guests.

"I never look at it as who did I work with. I don't care what that perception is," he says. "I just look at it like I'm doing my album and I'm grateful for collabs at this point. I appreciate the fact that everyone was on it and it's a banger."

After a long break, artists oftenfeel as though they're starting over. DMX doesn't buy that.

"Once you start a race, you might start off in first place, and during the course of this marathon you're gonna end up in third place, fourth place. You might even fall back to 20th place," he says. "[But] just because you're passing more people doesn't mean you're starting again. It's the same race. I'm just getting back to the front of the line."

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Relaxed DMX Discusses New Album, Rock the Bells Tour

DMX will join a who's who of hip hop, including Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Ice Cube, Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa, Common and dozens more, in San Bernardino this weekend for the kickoff of the Rock the Bells tour.

For DMX, it's his first time on the influential tour. Once he found out about the festival's history, he jumped at the chance to join RTB 2012.

"Not only did I come to the conclusion it's an honor to be a part of that, I'm just really grateful for the opportunity," he tells Rolling Stone. "It's credible emcees. It's not whoever's-hot-right-now type of shit – it's motherfuckers who paved the way and earned the respect of genuine fans."

After a six-year absence between albums, DMX, who will release his new set Undisputed on September 11th, is looking to win back those genuine fans. Since 2006's Year of the Dog . . . Again, the multi-platinum rapper has endured several run-ins with the law, including serving jail time on multiple occasions for violating probation.

"X," as he's called when he gets on the phone with Rolling Stone on this day, is still full of bravado but totally relaxed as he walks with his daughter while we chat. The only time he gets upset is when talking about the repeated delays that have pushed back the release date of Undisputed.

"I put The Weigh-In out just because the album [got] pushed back three different times and I got tired, 'cause I'm the only one saying what the date is, so it looked like I'm a fucking liar," he says, explaining the free EP he released. "So I said, 'Fuck it, I'm just going to give them a free joint to hold on to until the album comes out.'”

Don't expect him to make that a habit of that, though. While he says he's sitting on four albums' worth of material – "besides going to jail and prison, on my own time I was in the studio" – he's not going to be rushing new material to make up for lost time.

"I'm not the mixtape guy who's gonna put out a new one every month," he says. "I'm gonna allow my albums to marinate and resonate and whatever type of 'ates' they can do. I'm gonna let my music grow on them."

He's going to start at Rock the Bells, where he promises some "new joints," including first single "I Don't Dance" and "Time to Get Paid," which features a Notorious B.I.G. sample.

The new album also features collaborations with Busta Rhymes and Machine Gun Kelly, among others. There are other big names – Jennifer Hudson and Tyrese have been rumored – but DMX doesn't want to focus on the guests.

"I never look at it as who did I work with. I don't care what that perception is," he says. "I just look at it like I'm doing my album and I'm grateful for collabs at this point. I appreciate the fact that everyone was on it and it's a banger."

After a long break, artists oftenfeel as though they're starting over. DMX doesn't buy that.

"Once you start a race, you might start off in first place, and during the course of this marathon you're gonna end up in third place, fourth place. You might even fall back to 20th place," he says. "[But] just because you're passing more people doesn't mean you're starting again. It's the same race. I'm just getting back to the front of the line."

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Mark Ronson Discusses Recording New Song With Katy B for Global Olympic Ad Campaign

Mark Ronson signs the 'Beat Wall' during the launch of the Coca-Cola 'Move to the Beat' campaign for the London 2012 Olympic Games.Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Mark Ronson and athletics haven’t always mixed well. A year after moving from London to Brooklyn, the DJ, artist, and Grammy-winning producer managed to head in the wrong direction at a relay race during fourth-grade field day. He spent the final three years of elementary school saddled with the nickname "Wrong Way Ronson." More than a quarter-century later, Ronson will earn some redemption and be inescapably linked to this summer’s London Olympics after teaming with dance-pop singer Katy B to write "Anywhere in the World," the centerpiece of a global Coca-Cola ad campaign in which the musicians will also star.

Coca-Cola approached Ronson at his Brooklyn studio in the hopes of enlisting him to create a pop song built in part from samples of Olympic athletes in training. Best known for crafting warm, classicist sounds with Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Lily Allen, he wasn’t a natural choice to work with a dance star and innovative sampling techniques, but that’s exactly what drew Ronson to the project. "I'd kind of enjoyed the challenge of a different way of recording," says Ronson. "It's kind of a science project. That's what makes it fun to me. That's what stimulates my brain." (Ronson is also following in the footsteps of his stepdad, Foreigner’s Mick Jones; his band’s "Street Thunder" was the official marathon theme at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.)

Ronson himself was charged with selecting a vocalist, and in Katy B – fresh off the critical and commercial success of her On a Mission LP – he got his first choice. "I think Katy B encapsulates Young London in a way I never could," says the London native, who splits time between the U.S. and the UK. "She reps London harder than anyone song-wise since Lily Allen."

To provide the track’s unique rhythm, Ronson traveled the world and conducted field recordings of Olympian hopefuls: American hurdler David Oliver, British table tennis player Daruis Knight, Russian middle-distance runner Kseniya Vdovina, Mexican taekwondo practitioner Maria Espinoza, and Singaporean archer Dayyan Jaffar. "[The athletes] were excited but at the same time they are in the middle of training," says Ronson. "They're some of the most focused and determined people I've ever met in a way that makes musicians look like slackers. Which we are."

Despite the challenges of having an unfamiliar recording process imposed on him, Ronson – with help from longtime Olympics sound designer Dennis Baxter – found creative ways to capture everything from grunting to the distinctive sounds of a table tennis volley. Vdovina ran on a treadmill, with a microphone and a stethoscope attached; her heartbeat recorded at 120 bpm provides the literal pulse of the song.

Ronson, Katy B, and four of the five athletes recently staged a live performance of the song in order to film ads that will serve as the centerpiece of an extravagant Coca-Cola Move to the Beat™ London 2012 Olympic Games campaign. The resulting spot, filmed in the shadow of London’s Olympic Stadium, looks like a live-action Busby Berkeley musical with Ronson directing elaborate choreography designed to bring different elements of the track to life. Ronson will also have the honor of carrying the Olympic torch on part of its journey to the Opening Ceremony at East London’s newly constructed Olympic Stadium on July 27.

Coca-Cola has a long history with pop music, starting with the famous, Haskell Wexler-directed "Hilltop" ad that propelled "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" to the top of the charts in 1971. Even if "Anywhere in the World" doesn’t match that, songs linked to high-profile athletic competitions have fared well in recent years. Shakira’s "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)," written for the 2010 World Cup, hit Number One in more than a dozen countries. So too did Junkie XL’s remix of Elvis Presley’s "A Little Less Conversation" after it was featured in Nike’s 2002 World Cup ads. "This gives me an opportunity to have our songs played in places that have never heard of us," says Ronson. "The Coke people have always seemed dedicated to exposing talent that's not so obvious. They could have signed will.i.am. I feel pretty lucky that this is something I get to be part of."

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Mark Ronson Discusses Recording New Song With Katy B for Global Olympic Ad Campaign

Mark Ronson signs the 'Beat Wall' during the launch of the Coca-Cola 'Move to the Beat' campaign for the London 2012 Olympic Games.Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Mark Ronson and athletics haven’t always mixed well. A year after moving from London to Brooklyn, the DJ, artist, and Grammy-winning producer managed to head in the wrong direction at a relay race during fourth-grade field day. He spent the final three years of elementary school saddled with the nickname "Wrong Way Ronson." More than a quarter-century later, Ronson will earn some redemption and be inescapably linked to this summer’s London Olympics after teaming with dance-pop singer Katy B to write "Anywhere in the World," the centerpiece of a global Coca-Cola ad campaign in which the musicians will also star.

Coca-Cola approached Ronson at his Brooklyn studio in the hopes of enlisting him to create a pop song built in part from samples of Olympic athletes in training. Best known for crafting warm, classicist sounds with Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Lily Allen, he wasn’t a natural choice to work with a dance star and innovative sampling techniques, but that’s exactly what drew Ronson to the project. "I'd kind of enjoyed the challenge of a different way of recording," says Ronson. "It's kind of a science project. That's what makes it fun to me. That's what stimulates my brain." (Ronson is also following in the footsteps of his stepdad, Foreigner’s Mick Jones; his band’s "Street Thunder" was the official marathon theme at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.)

Ronson himself was charged with selecting a vocalist, and in Katy B – fresh off the critical and commercial success of her On a Mission LP – he got his first choice. "I think Katy B encapsulates Young London in a way I never could," says the London native, who splits time between the U.S. and the UK. "She reps London harder than anyone song-wise since Lily Allen."

To provide the track’s unique rhythm, Ronson traveled the world and conducted field recordings of Olympian hopefuls: American hurdler David Oliver, British table tennis player Daruis Knight, Russian middle-distance runner Kseniya Vdovina, Mexican taekwondo practitioner Maria Espinoza, and Singaporean archer Dayyan Jaffar. "[The athletes] were excited but at the same time they are in the middle of training," says Ronson. "They're some of the most focused and determined people I've ever met in a way that makes musicians look like slackers. Which we are."

Despite the challenges of having an unfamiliar recording process imposed on him, Ronson – with help from longtime Olympics sound designer Dennis Baxter – found creative ways to capture everything from grunting to the distinctive sounds of a table tennis volley. Vdovina ran on a treadmill, with a microphone and a stethoscope attached; her heartbeat recorded at 120 bpm provides the literal pulse of the song.

Ronson, Katy B, and four of the five athletes recently staged a live performance of the song in order to film ads that will serve as the centerpiece of an extravagant Coca-Cola Move to the Beat™ London 2012 Olympic Games campaign. The resulting spot, filmed in the shadow of London’s Olympic Stadium, looks like a live-action Busby Berkeley musical with Ronson directing elaborate choreography designed to bring different elements of the track to life. Ronson will also have the honor of carrying the Olympic torch on part of its journey to the Opening Ceremony at East London’s newly constructed Olympic Stadium on July 27.

Coca-Cola has a long history with pop music, starting with the famous, Haskell Wexler-directed "Hilltop" ad that propelled "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" to the top of the charts in 1971. Even if "Anywhere in the World" doesn’t match that, songs linked to high-profile athletic competitions have fared well in recent years. Shakira’s "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)," written for the 2010 World Cup, hit Number One in more than a dozen countries. So too did Junkie XL’s remix of Elvis Presley’s "A Little Less Conversation" after it was featured in Nike’s 2002 World Cup ads. "This gives me an opportunity to have our songs played in places that have never heard of us," says Ronson. "The Coke people have always seemed dedicated to exposing talent that's not so obvious. They could have signed will.i.am. I feel pretty lucky that this is something I get to be part of."

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Video: Dave Gahan Discusses Depeche Mode's Upcoming Album

Depeche Mode are just about ready to record their 12th album, says frontman Dave Gahan. The record will be produced by Ben Hillier, but Gahan says Depeche Mode co-founder Martin Gore will step up with more production responsibilities than on previous LPs. "We've got about 20 songs demoed and we're going to begin recording at the end of next month," he recently told Rolling Stone. "It's a very different process from what it used to be. You've got to put interesting people around you, you've got to work with people who are gonna inspire you to take the songs you've written into a completely different direction, because there's nothing more boring than going to the studio and predictably knowing what is going to happen."

Interview by Patrick Flanary, video by Eric Helton and Matthew Murphy

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Video: Dave Gahan Discusses Depeche Mode's Upcoming Album

Depeche Mode are just about ready to record their 12th album, says frontman Dave Gahan. The record will be produced by Ben Hillier, but Gahan says Depeche Mode co-founder Martin Gore will step up with more production responsibilities than on previous LPs. "We've got about 20 songs demoed and we're going to begin recording at the end of next month," he recently told Rolling Stone. "It's a very different process from what it used to be. You've got to put interesting people around you, you've got to work with people who are gonna inspire you to take the songs you've written into a completely different direction, because there's nothing more boring than going to the studio and predictably knowing what is going to happen."

Interview by Patrick Flanary, video by Eric Helton and Matthew Murphy

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Mountain Goats' John Darnielle Discusses the 'Satan Record'

John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats performs at Antones in Austin, Texas

John Darnielle hasn't gone soft, and he wanted his audience to know it. During the Mountain Goats' tour kickoff show at Antone's in Austin on Thursday night, the singer reassured the packed and slowly roasting crowd that even though he recently became a parent, they won't hear overly sentimental "doting father" songs on the band's next album.

"Instead, you get the Satan record," he joked. He was referencing the Mountain Goats' album in progress, tentatively titled Transcendental Youth. It deals with religious and social outcasts and was written while tending to his infant son Roman in his Durham, North Carolina home. The day before the show at Antone's, Darnielle rehearsed the new songs with bandmates Peter Hughes and Jon Wurster for the first time; on Thursday, the group debuted four of the tracks and were greeted by a warm reception from their devoted crowd.

The new material showcased Darnielle's often-lauded eye for lyrical detail and character construction, with minor chords lending a somber and menacing feel that became increasingly dominant in such songs as "In Memory of Satan." Darnielle based the album on a loose cast of recurring characters and set it mostly in Washington state, yet it isn't a concept album in the strictest sense. The next morning, Darnielle chatted with Rolling Stone about four of its tracks and the overall tone of the record.

"In Memory of Satan"
Mid-tempo and piano-based, it's a look at the process of someone becoming a borderline recluse, getting inside their head and looking out at a world that seems too much to take. "Everyone has spent those years, or maybe entire seasons, indoors where you don't really leave," Darnielle said. "That's when you go into the inner realms of the spirit. This guy's in hiding, and it's this most spiritual realm. That old saying holds here, that you can't be in a cave unless there's an exit, or else it's a grave."

Sample lyric: "Something sacred, something blue/Crawl down here to dig for bones/One more season then I'm gone/Black drapes over the crosses"

"Transcendental Youth"
The song uses piano to swing in what Darnielle termed an "Italian cafè style." It is something of a sister song to "In Memory of Satan" in that it looks at a couple on an antisocial downward spiral, although they are trying to move forward. "You look at this one as what ‘Satan' would be with more than one person involved. It gets into the coping strategies you use for mental illness, which are really the fabric of what keeps society moving forward at all," explained Darnielle.

Sample lyric: "Sing for ourselves alone/Speak into the microphone"

"Diaz Brothers"
Of the four songs debuted on Thursday, this one is most likely to become an anthemic favorite for the band's fan base. Clocking in at under three minutes, it's a pounding piano number with an undeniable chorus – "Mercy for the Diaz brothers!" – and is based on the drug-dealing siblings referenced briefly in the movie Scarface. "Frank tells Tony he has to respect the Diaz brothers, and Tony tells him to eff the Diaz Brothers, and by the time we do see them, they're dead," said Darnielle. "I'm obsessed with people we never got to know but who we know about, because you have a sense of who they were and what became of them since they died, but they're essentially blocking characters in this story we all know. And we're all basically blocking characters in life, when you think about it."

Sample lyric: "Draw my arms into my hospital gown/Seeing the sky open up and rain down/Mercy for the Diaz Bothers!"

"Night Light"
The only guitar-based song of the evening and also the most menacing in mood, its lyrics discuss someone fearful of a presence that remains just out of their sight. Darnielle said the "Jenny" referenced multiple times in it is the same character who got her own song on 2002's All Hail West Texas album and who has appeared in other Mountain Goats songs through the years. "She's one of those disruptive characters, really through no fault of her own," said Darnielle. "I hadn't planned on her reappearing but once I had an idea for the song's sound, I just tried barking out some random lyrics, which is how I usually start until I get to a chorus and just go from there. So I'm barking this stuff and there she was again and I was just, ‘Well, I'll be goddamned.'"

Sample lyric: "Jenny calls from Montana/She's only passing through/Probably never see her again in this life, I guess"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Mountain Goats' John Darnielle Discusses the 'Satan Record'

John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats performs at Antones in Austin, Texas

John Darnielle hasn't gone soft, and he wanted his audience to know it. During the Mountain Goats' tour kickoff show at Antone's in Austin on Thursday night, the singer reassured the packed and slowly roasting crowd that even though he recently became a parent, they won't hear overly sentimental "doting father" songs on the band's next album.

"Instead, you get the Satan record," he joked. He was referencing the Mountain Goats' album in progress, tentatively titled Transcendental Youth. It deals with religious and social outcasts and was written while tending to his infant son Roman in his Durham, North Carolina home. The day before the show at Antone's, Darnielle rehearsed the new songs with bandmates Peter Hughes and Jon Wurster for the first time; on Thursday, the group debuted four of the tracks and were greeted by a warm reception from their devoted crowd.

The new material showcased Darnielle's often-lauded eye for lyrical detail and character construction, with minor chords lending a somber and menacing feel that became increasingly dominant in such songs as "In Memory of Satan." Darnielle based the album on a loose cast of recurring characters and set it mostly in Washington state, yet it isn't a concept album in the strictest sense. The next morning, Darnielle chatted with Rolling Stone about four of its tracks and the overall tone of the record.

"In Memory of Satan"
Mid-tempo and piano-based, it's a look at the process of someone becoming a borderline recluse, getting inside their head and looking out at a world that seems too much to take. "Everyone has spent those years, or maybe entire seasons, indoors where you don't really leave," Darnielle said. "That's when you go into the inner realms of the spirit. This guy's in hiding, and it's this most spiritual realm. That old saying holds here, that you can't be in a cave unless there's an exit, or else it's a grave."

Sample lyric: "Something sacred, something blue/Crawl down here to dig for bones/One more season then I'm gone/Black drapes over the crosses"

"Transcendental Youth"
The song uses piano to swing in what Darnielle termed an "Italian cafè style." It is something of a sister song to "In Memory of Satan" in that it looks at a couple on an antisocial downward spiral, although they are trying to move forward. "You look at this one as what ‘Satan' would be with more than one person involved. It gets into the coping strategies you use for mental illness, which are really the fabric of what keeps society moving forward at all," explained Darnielle.

Sample lyric: "Sing for ourselves alone/Speak into the microphone"

"Diaz Brothers"
Of the four songs debuted on Thursday, this one is most likely to become an anthemic favorite for the band's fan base. Clocking in at under three minutes, it's a pounding piano number with an undeniable chorus – "Mercy for the Diaz brothers!" – and is based on the drug-dealing siblings referenced briefly in the movie Scarface. "Frank tells Tony he has to respect the Diaz brothers, and Tony tells him to eff the Diaz Brothers, and by the time we do see them, they're dead," said Darnielle. "I'm obsessed with people we never got to know but who we know about, because you have a sense of who they were and what became of them since they died, but they're essentially blocking characters in this story we all know. And we're all basically blocking characters in life, when you think about it."

Sample lyric: "Draw my arms into my hospital gown/Seeing the sky open up and rain down/Mercy for the Diaz Bothers!"

"Night Light"
The only guitar-based song of the evening and also the most menacing in mood, its lyrics discuss someone fearful of a presence that remains just out of their sight. Darnielle said the "Jenny" referenced multiple times in it is the same character who got her own song on 2002's All Hail West Texas album and who has appeared in other Mountain Goats songs through the years. "She's one of those disruptive characters, really through no fault of her own," said Darnielle. "I hadn't planned on her reappearing but once I had an idea for the song's sound, I just tried barking out some random lyrics, which is how I usually start until I get to a chorus and just go from there. So I'm barking this stuff and there she was again and I was just, ‘Well, I'll be goddamned.'"

Sample lyric: "Jenny calls from Montana/She's only passing through/Probably never see her again in this life, I guess"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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