.IDK.’s New Single Features DMX Over Surging Kaytranada Production

Today, PG County, Maryland’s .idk^[1]. dropped the music video for “S.T.F,” the first single from his upcoming Even The Devil Smiles mixtape. The uptempo, Kaytranada^[2]-produced track contains vocals from the late DMX^[3], who begins the track proclaiming, “I gots to make a move and make it soon / I gots to hit the block and make it boom.” The beat, which evokes an early ‘00s New York feel, drops while .idk. shouts out the track’s producer and feature: “K got the beat that make me feel like a wrestler / X got the voice to make me rap with my chest up.” 

The Ella Ezeike-directed video alternates shots of .idk. rapping alone in a room and amongst his homies with intermittent clips of others dancing. The clip alternates between full color and black-and-white, including scenes of .idk. cruising up the block. “S.T.F” originally debuted at Lebron James’ Forever King Tour in China, a move that he says came from LeBron and his team being “tapped in.” He recalls that they were “specifically looking for [an] energetic song, and I was like, I know the perfect one. And they liked it enough to do it.” 

Throughout “S.T.F,” .idk. rhymes with a rapid-fire, slithery delivery over Kaytranda’s thumping percussion while DMX delivers his classic ad-libs. .idk. tells Rolling Stone that DMX’s portion of the song is from a track they originally recorded together with another unnamed artist. He believes that the track was on track to be released before DMX died in April 2021^[4]. 

He recalled their prior collaboration after listening to the beat that would become “Start To Finish”  in a Kaytranada beat pack. “[That] was a beat that originally didn’t catch my ear, but after seeing K DJ and [observing] how he did music, it put a new context to some of these beats that I’d heard previously. When I heard this particular one, I remembered X’s vocals right away because it reminded me of something he would’ve done, but in a Kaytranada way.” 

From there, .idk. reached out to X’s team, eventually getting clearance from Desiree Lindstrom and Sasha Simmons, co-administrators of the Estate of Earl “DMX” Simmons — he’s the first artist to receive such clearance. In a statement, his estate said, “It means a lot to have artists like .idk. and Kaytranada tap into Earl’s energy and create something that is fresh and authentic to who he was. He set this collaboration in motion before he passed, so it was important for us to see his vision become a reality.”

.idk. adds that the clearance “means that there’s a trust with the family and all of us being able to create a moment so special. But it’s even more special to me because I get to continue to spread his legacy and push the music that he’s been doing to newer audiences.” .idk. has previously used a DMX prayer on his 2019 Is He Real album and 2021 USee4Yourself albums. He says the two met on multiple occasions, with the first time being around 2016. During another occurrence, he “chased down” DMX to get his “blessing” to use his prayer. The two didn’t get to build on spirituality, a shared heavy theme of their music, but .idk. says his prevailing memory of X was a “really cool dude.”

And of his cultural legacy, .idk. lauds, “he was able to create a world and a lane in which he didn’t have to be flashy and have a bunch of money to be able to participate in. You might have to spend a couple dollars on a motorcycle or something, but outside of that, it was pretty much straightforward. It was about being authentic. And he represented that. I think that was something that he brought to hip hop that he either didn’t have it for a long time or never had it in the way that he brought it.” 

.idk. shares that he doesn’t just have gratitude to DMX’s estate, but to the spirit of the Yonkers rapper. “I’m very spiritual, so I believe that in order for this to happen, there’s got to be a proper connection with the person who’s on the track, who’s no longer here,” he says. “So thank him for allowing all of this to happen in the way that it’s happening and we’ll continue to properly honor his legacy.”