The music industry has seen some drastic changes in the past few decades. With an increase in popularity in hip hop music, many changes have been introduced in this industry. From the introduction to electronic music to beatboxing and rapping, everything is in great demand today. The current trend is in rap and electronic music. Some of the most popular rappers in this industry are, Eminem, Drake, Nikki Minaj, 50 Cent, Tupac, and many other.
One such rapper who has contributed a lot to this industry is “DMX”. He was a freestyle rapper and an actor. Unfortunately, he died on 9th April 2021 due to a drug overdose.
DMX Net Worth
DMX originally belonged to New York City. Even after being a great rapper, he was under debt and financial crises. It was reported that during the time of his death, he had a net worth of negative -$1 million. He released his debut album in 1998. After that, he produced seven studio albums and featured in many films.
He was put into prison many times during the last decade of his life. In the year 2013, he became bankrupt and losing all his properties and Real Estate. It was reported that he had only $50,000 of assets and between 1 million dollars to 10 million dollars of liabilities issued under him. In 2017, he was sentenced to jail due to a tax fraud he committed and was under debt of $ 2.3 million.
Early Life
Earl Simmons, popularly known by his stage name DMX was born on 18th December 1970 in Mount Vernon, New York. He was brought up by his mother Arnett Simmons, who gave him birth at the age of 19. Simmons’s family shifted to Yonkers when he was five. He was raised in Jehovas Witness Community and had a terrible childhood. He was abused by his mom and her boyfriends.
During his primary school days, he was thrown out of his school and was sent to Julia Dyckman Andrus Children’s Home. During his teenage days, Simmons started writing rap and performing for his friends. He was later introduced to a local rapper Reddy Ron.
Reddy was highly impressed by Simmons beatboxing skills and eventually, they became partners. Later, Simmons gave himself a stage name “DMX” which was inspired by the instrument Oberheim DMX drum machine, which he used to play at the boys’ home. The name was also interpreted as Dark Man X.
Career
Simmons career originally started in the late 1990s. His debut album was, It’s Dark and Hell is Hot, which was released in 1998. The album was a success as well as became a matter of criticism. More than 251,000 was sold during the first week of its release. Till now more than 5 million copies are sold. His next album, And then there was X, was released the next year became one of his best selling albums worldwide.
The album stood at number one on Billboard and was certified six-time platinum. His album Party in (Up in Here) became one of his biggest hit singles and his first top ten hit on R&B charts. His other popular hits are “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” (1998), “What’s My Name?” (1999), “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” (2003), and “Where the Hood At?” (2003).
His most recent album is “Undisputed” which was released in 2012. The album was also a hit selling more than 17,000 copies in the first week and more than 70 million to date.
Simmons also won the American Music award in 2000 and 2001 for favorite rap and hip-hop artists. He was also nominated for 3 Grammy Awards and 5 MTV music video awards.
Personal Life
Simmons was married to Tashera in 1999. They were in alliance for 10 years and later got separated. He had four children then. It was reported that Simmons had extramarital affairs during his marriage. He fathered Monique Wayne son’s in 2007 and had to give compensation amount of $1.5 million. Simmons had fathered 15 children.
Simmons was highly into drugs. He began consuming them when he was 14. He claimed to have bipolar disorder. In April 2021, Simmons suffered a heart attack due to a drug overdose which left him in a coma. He died on 9th April.
Legal And Financial Problems
Simmons was put in jail for many reasons. From animal cruelty and to identity falsification. He was filed for a ban in Manhattan court. His debts restricted him from obtaining a passport. Simmons wanted to restructure his debts so that he could perform overseas.
Simmons was again put in trouble when he was charged with 14 counts of tax fraud. He was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in 2018. He was expected to pay his debts in monthly installments.
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Conclusion
Even after being a great rapper, Simmons had led a troublesome life. He was in debt and was a drug addict. His life went into misery. He was put into lock-up under so many changes. Simmons had lost almost everything in the last few days of his life.
