Sad news, love muffins.
Rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, has passed away after being hospitalized following a drug overdose and subsequent heart attack over the weekend.
He was 50 years old.
X’s team shared a statement this morning:
“We are deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50-years-old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days. Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all of his heart and we cherish the times we spent with him. Earl’s music inspired countless fans across the world and his iconic legacy will live on forever. We appreciate all of the love and support during this incredibly difficult time. Please respect our privacy as we grieve the loss of our brother, father, uncle and the man the world knew as DMX. We will share information about his memorial service once details are finalized.”
The rapper spent his last few days “in a vegetative state” on life support prior to his passing, according to his manager, Nakia Walker.
On Wednesday, doctors performed a series of tests to determine DMX’s brain activity function and the results were “not good,” prompting his family to make the difficult decision to take him off of life support. Late Thursday evening, social media lit up prematurely with reports the rapper had passed away after comedian Luenell referred to him as ‘gone’ on Instagram.
His family made the decision to remove him from life support on Friday.
Throughout his career, DMX has been nominated for three Grammys and has won two American Music Awards.
His first three albums, released in 1998 and 1999, went 4x, 3x, and 5x Platinum.
In his personal life, DMX has had multiple legal issues over the years, including charges in 2008 of animal cruelty, and was found non-responsive in a Ramada Inn parking lot in Yonkers, New York in 2016.
The rapper has been pretty open about his issues with addiction.
On a recent podcast with Talib Kweli, he said that a mentor tricked him into smoking crack when he was only 14. “I later found out that he laced the blunt with crack. Why would you do that to a child?” he asked.
In October 2019 he cancelled tour dates to check himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic.
Prior to his passing, DMX was working on a new album featuring the hip hop group Griselda Records, U2’s Bono, and the late Pop Smoke, a New York-based rapper who was killed in Los Angeles last summer at the age of 20.
RIP.
