DMX Was Originally Supposed to Appear On Nas’ ‘One Mic’ According to Producer

Rapper DMX (Earl Simmons) performs onstage during The Dean Collection X BACARDI Untameable House Party – Day 3 on December 5, 2015 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Julia Beverly/Getty Images)

A rarely told chapter of hip-hop lore has surfaced. Legendary rapper Nas nearly featured the late DMX on his iconic track “One Mic,” Nas and Chucky Thompson co-produced, the story goes. But according to insiders, X’s verse never made it to the final cut.

Chucky Thompson, the primary producer behind “One Mic,” confirmed the legend in a private interview with industry peers. “It was supposed to happen,” Thompson said. “Nas and DMX wanted to bring something raw to that verse. It just didn’t materialize in the end.”

Released in April 2002 as part of Nas’s Stillmatic album, “One Mic” is widely acclaimed for its stark production, driven by a Phil Collins-inspired crescendo and deliberate lyrical pacing. The song’s structure builds gradually, then peels away, reflecting Nas’s emotional range. A DMX contribution would have added another layer of street-charged intensity to its charged atmosphere.

Why the DMX Connection Never Materialized

Thompson shed light on why the collaboration fell through. “DMX was busy with his own peak projects. We didn’t connect in time,” he explained. “It just felt like creative energies didn’t align facility-wise.”

DMX had recently released his explosive debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, in May 1998. The album debuted at number one and solidified his role as a force in hip-hop. At that time, Nas and DMX were both rising New York stars, so a crossover made sense culturally, even if it remained unrealized.

Thompson described the sentiment, saying, “We all wanted that raw collision. But sessions get tight. Saturdays run out. It just wasn’t in the cards.”