The 50-year-old DMX, hardcore hip-hop star whose ominous, snarling raps chronicled the struggles and violence of the American street has died.
DMX’s death was confirmed by the rapper’s longtime lawyer after a statement from the family of DMX was being widely shared on social media. The statement read that the artist died after nearly a week on life support following a heart attack. His birth name was Earl Simmons.
Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end, read the statement. The rapper died with his loved one by his side at White Plains Hospital north of New York City.
The statement also read that he loved his family with all of his heart and they cherish the times that they had spent with him. Information on a memorial service was forthcoming, according to the family.
Laying his inner demons out for the masses in gritty, hard-driving anthems that gained him critical and commercial acclaim, the agitated rapper-who reigned over the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits including “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” and “Party Up”, DMX was among the darkest stars of hip-hop.
The artist endured a grim childhood while being raised in the New York suburb of Yonkers, where he grew up in the projects with his mother and siblings where he suffered abuse.
He entered a cycle of incarcerations at 14 that would persist throughout his life because he committed robberies that regularly landed him in jail.
Simmons was in and out of homes for troubled boys for much of his youth as he gained a reputation as a problem child prone to rage-fueled outbursts.
DMX continued to have run-ins with the penal system even after he achieved celebrity for his artistry with charges including animal cruelty, drug possession, failure to pay child support, reckless driving, and tax evasion.
Between 2002 and 2005, he pleaded guilty to evading $1.7 million in tax payments, in November 2017. He spent a year in US federal prison and payed $2.3 million in restitution.
It was his blunt, confessional raps delivered with his singular deep-throated growls that left an indelible mark on hip-hop’s sound in spite of his colorful criminal record made headlines.
In a statement following his death, Def Jam Recordings said that DMX was a brilliant artist and an inspiration to millions around the world. His search for the light out of darkness, his message of triumph over struggle, his pursuit of truth and grace brought them closer to their own humanity. Def Jam Recordings released some of his albums, put DMX’s death. They said that DMX was nothing less than a giant.
He started writing his own lyrics and peddle mixtapes and began beatboxing in the mid-1980s.
Especially in rap battle rings, the charismatic artist spent most of the 1990s making a name for himself in New York’s local underground scene.
His calling card was his gravelly, menacing, and raw style imbued with hypermasculinity.
For hours in a smoky pool hall in the Bronx, he famously battled with Brooklyn’s up-and-coming star Jay-Z in the mid-1990s, who was then primarily an emcee.
The producer Ski Beatz who was in attendance said that it was dope. He did not know who DMX was.
The love of dogs of DMX was such that he integrated growls and barks into his teeth-baring brand of rap.
In 1999, he told the Los Angeles Times that your dog will die for you. He said that is how dogs get down, unconditional love. He said that humans were not really capable of unconditional love.