On December 22, 1998, DMX dropped his sophomore album Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. The album debuted at #1 and stayed there for three weeks, eventually earning triple platinum status and further establishing X as one of the biggest stars in music.

With its release, X became the second rapper to have two albums released in the same calendar year to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 (2Pac was the first with All Eyez on Me, and its follow-up The Don Kilumaniti: The 7 Day Theory).

DMX's second album has an interesting story behind it— it mostly came about because of a bet. Per The Fader, then Island Def Jam Music Group co-president Lyor Cohen said if X released another album in the same year as his debut, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, he'd give him a $1 million bonus. The album, mostly produced by Swizz Beats, included features from The Lox, Marilyn Manson, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, and more.

In a 2000 interview with Spin, X talked about not compromising his art. "When you start out, you think all you have to do is rap," he admitted. "I figured as long as I’m hot, I can just make blazing joints and get away with it. Nah. There’s a lot of other shit you didn’t think you’d have to do: interviews, sign shit, be nice to people. But I will never compromise my work. What I say, I mean—I don’t give a fuck who don’t like it. But sometimes you have to speak to people who you don’t necessarily think are your audience, just because they like you."