DJ Khaled Brought Together the Jay Z, Ja Rule, and DMX Supergroup That Never Was

DJ Khaled’s win streak this year is insane. He went from Snapchat celebrity and signing a management deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation to opening for Beyoncé and sharing keys to success with Tony Robbins. Now, the We the Best mogul has etched his name in hip-hop history.

Tonight is the final show on Beyonce’s Formation world tour in East Rutherford, N.J. at Metlife Stadium, and DJ Khaled is opening for her. And to use his own catch phrase, he was up to something.

Backstage, Khaled had Jay Z, Ja Rule, and DMX pose for a photo (see above), which was taken by Atlantic Records’ President of Black Music, Mike Kyser. The three of them together is significant because they were once a short-lived supergroup called Murder Inc. The trio posed for the ninth issue of XXL back in 1999, signifying their arrival in the New York rap scene.

Although the group arrived on the scene with a big splash, they never ended up releasing an album together. In 2014, Ja spoke to MTV News about the formation of the supergroup and how egos complicated things.

 “We tried to deliver that album. It was a situation where egos all just played a part in its demise. We couldn’t get X and Jay in the same room, from long ago, their storied battle on the pool table, guns out [and] all of that. That carried over into our careers and we were all trying to do our thing separately and it carried over. It was hard to get all of us into a room to do what we needed to do. We did a few records together and those records will always be classics to a lot of people in the history of hip-hop. I wish that album would’ve came to fruition, it would’ve been real dope… I think there might be one– one or two joints that’s still out there that y’all haven’t heard.”

It’s funny that Ja mentions the infamous mid-'90s Jay vs. X rap battle at a pool hall in the Bronx, because X actually references it again in front of Jay. Even in 2016, X doesn’t forget the slightest details. “You know, I still gotta get you on the pool table, man,” he says. Apparently in a nostalgic mood, X also quotes back to Jay the latter's verse from one of the few songs the trio actually did together, Ja Rule's "It's Murda."

Imagine what could have been...

In addition to bringing X onstage, Khaled treated the Jersey crowd to a slew of special guests including Remy Ma, DJ Mustard, August Alsina, Fetty Wap, Young M.A., the L.O.X., T.I., and Mase.