IDK And Kaytranada Reunite And Bring DMX Into The Mix With ‘S.T.F.’

Cross-generational collaborations where one of the acts involved is deceased are always tricky. It’s hard to know whether the decedent would actually have approved their voice pairing with the contemporary artist employing it.

However, there’s little doubt that DMX would have loved contributing to IDK’s new single, “S.T.F.” IDK and DMX are so similar philosophically that “Start To Finish” is a perfect mesh of their voices and styles. Kaytranada, with whom IDK had previously collaborated on the smooth Simple, provides a surprisingly hard beat that perfectly captures the propulsive vibe of DMX’s best work, while Jay turns his normally laconic flow up to 11 to match the energy of the Dawg’s vocals on the insistent chorus.

In the press release, IDK explains how the song came together, saying, “Back in 2020, I recorded a song for DMX called ‘Dream.’ After he passed, I always wondered what happened to it. Years later, while going through a folder of beats Kaytranada had sent me, one I originally passed on stood out — and my first thought was how X’s verse might sound on it. I reached out to Pat Gallo, and when he sent me the vocals, they locked in perfectly. Somewhere out there, the full DMX verse from the original record still exists, but what you hear now is the piece that became ‘START 2 FiNISH – S.T.F’.”

The collaboration was also approved by Desiree Lindstrom and Sasha Simmons, X’s former fiancée and daughter, who co-administer his estate. “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,” they said in the press release. “He set this collaboration in motion before he passed, so it was important for us to see his vision become a reality.”

IDK has kept up a steady stream of singles and collaborations in the wake of his 2024 album Bravado + Intimo, including “S.U” with Denzel Curry, “Prince George” with Cordae, and “My Friend” with Theo Croker.

You can watch IDK’s “S.T.F.” featuring DMX above.