DMX rapper dies at age 50 after a week hospitalized for a heart attack
The American rapper DMX, one of the most important figures of hip-hop, has died this Friday in New York at age 50 after a week hospitalized because of a heart attack.
Earl Simons, known as his artistic name of DMX or Dark Man X, headed the lists in the late 90s and the beginning of the 2000 thanks to successes such as "Party Up" (1999) or "X Gon 'Give It To Ya" (2003), although his career was marked by his legal problems and his prison income.
"Earl was a fighter who battled until the end," said his family in a statement.The record company Def Jam Recordings also, with which he launched some of his most famous works, has described the rapper as a "brilliant artist and an inspiration for millions of people around the world".
Difficult childhood
Born in Baltimore on December 18, 1970, Earl Simmons grew up with his mother and his brothers in Yonkers, a suburb of New York."I really had no childhood," said the artist in an interview with Rolling Stone.
He grew up with a difficult child reputation, known for his outbursts of rage, and spent a good part of his youth in host homes.
From the age of 14 he began to commit a series of robberies that made him pass through the prison and had problems with drugs, an addiction that would accompany him the rest of his life.
Even after jumping to fame, he continued to have problems with the law, with positions for possession of narcotics, cruelty with animals, dangerous driving, default in the maintenance of his children and even impersonation of identity of a federal agent.
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In 2017, he declared fiscal evasion, was sentenced to one year in prison and had to return about 2.3 million dollars.
Referent in the world of rap
But his legal setbacks were not an impediment to succeed in the world of rap, a style in which he became one of the referents thanks to his guttural voice.
In 1984 he began in the 'beatbox', a genre rooted in hip-hop music that consists of performing different sounds with his mouth.After a step in jail, he began writing his own letters and acting in an animation center in his neighborhood.
Throughout the nineties he managed to make a name on the Underground scene in New York, although his duels with Jay-Z made him a star.
His first great success was "Get Me A Dog", released in 1998 as part of his first studio album, It's Dark and Hell is hot, which also contained the theme "Ruff Ryders Anthem", which reached number one of the listsfrom Billboard and supposed the beginning of a commercial success that lasted several years.
In total, DMX launched seven official albums - more than an unofficial eighth, published in 2015 - and an autobiography, edited in 2003.He was nominated three times to the Grammy although he could not win the prize on any occasion.
Father of numerous children -15 of several different women, according to some media -also boasted from their Christian faith and sometimes assured that he would like to be a pastor.
The artist was preparing a new album with collaborations by Bono, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg or Usher, as it has transcended.
