The story of DMX and Damien began on DMX’s 1998 debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot on the track “Damien”. The story continued on DMX’s second album Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood on the track “The Omen”.

However, DMX’s following album, …And Then There Was X featured no songs having to do with Damien. Because of this, Damien seems to believe that DMX either forgot about him or hates him. The main reason DMX did things for Damien was to get big as a rapper, which he has obviously accomplished due to the success of his previous 3 albums. Damien points this out by exclaiming that DMX has been “eatin' real good lately”.

A reference to his own 1998 single, “Slippin” from his sophomore album Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. The line is part of the hook of “Slippin” with the full original hook being

Ay yo I’m slippin' I’m fallin' I can’t get up
Ay yo I’m slippin' I’m fallin' I can’t get up
Ay yo I’m slippin' I’m fallin' I gots to get up
Get me back on my feet so I can tear shit up!

Nate is going to kill some people, which will cause their bodies to turn cold.

When this music video was displayed or played on the radio, the word “cold” was censored out. This was somewhat controversial, because it showed that black artists like Nate couldn’t say very much without it being silenced.

While left as a mystery at this point of the story, it is revealed at the beginning of the following chapter Pittsburgh what Bill was referring to:

Ellie: How did you know?
Joel: Know what?
Ellie: About the ambush.
Joel: I’ve been on both sides.
Ellie: Oh. So, ah, you kill a lot of innocent people?
[Joel sighs.]
Ellie: I’ll take that as a yes.
Joel: Take it however you want.

It is never explained how Bill is aware of Joel’s past as a hunter (or how they met in the first place). While it is possible Bill himself was a hunter in Joel’s crew, it is more likely that he was simply told by Tess or Joel himself.

While a large amount of rap content is derived from violence and acting hard, such as the gangsta rap and mafioso sub-genres, Posdnuos and the rest of De La Soul focus on destroying this “terror.” The peace-loving attitudes the group displayed on their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising earned them the nickname of “the Hippies of Hip-Hop.” They’ve continued to develop new styles of conscious rap ever since.

Pos expressed this sentiment years earlier on Buhloone Mindstate’s “In the Woods”:

Fuck being hard, Posdnuos is complicated

Legendary ‘60s rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix was known for pulling a wide variety of stunts at his shows, from playing guitar with his teeth to iconically setting his guitar on fire at the end of his set.

RBX compares himself and Xzibit to the hidden treasure located under the X of a treasure map.

This is not the first time the two “X artists” have been tied together in this way. On his DMX diss track “Callin' Out Names” fellow West Coast artist Kurupt raps:

Mothafuck D, Mothafuck M, only X I know is Xzibit or RBX