DMX, the New York rapper whose gruff tone electrified the US music scene in the late 1990s, has died aged 50.
The star, whose real name was Earl Simmons, was hospitalised after a heart attack on 2 April, and had been placed in a critical care unit at White Plains hospital, New York. His family had organised a prayer vigil outside, which took place on Monday.
He spent time in juvenile detention centre, and then prison as an adult, for a series of crimes including carjacking – “jail was a playground,” he later said – at the same time as he began honing his rap career.
Amid his success, he had a fractious personal life, struggling with drug use that began aged 14, and committing further crimes. During the 2000s he was given minor sentences for convictions including animal cruelty, drug possession and various driving charges, and spent short periods in prison, including for parole violations.
In 2015, he was sentenced to six months in prison for failing to pay child support. Simmons fathered 15 children, with the most recent, Exodus, born in 2016. In 2018, he served a year-long sentence for tax evasion.
During a jail term in 2010, he was moved to a mental health unit. At his original sentencing, the judge had said she believed he had an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Simmons never announced a diagnosis, but referred to having multiple personalities, including in 2020 when he said: “There’s a few things, a few people in me – they get me through life.” In 2011, he said: “I used to be really clear on who was what and what characteristics each personality had, but I don’t know at this point.”
He visited drug rehabilitation facilities numerous times, most recently in 2019 when he cancelled tour dates, citing an “ongoing commitment to putting family and sobriety first”.
