DMX

Mount Vernon and School Street

Earl Simmons was born on December 18, 1970, in Mount Vernon, New York, and grew up in the School Street Projects in Yonkers. His childhood was rough and unstable. He spent long stretches of it in group homes and juvenile facilities, and he later talked openly about the abuse and neglect he went through. The dogs he kept as a kid, and the stray dogs he related to, became the image he built his whole persona around.

He started out as a beatboxer and DJ for a local rapper, Ready Ron, before he started writing his own rhymes. The name came from the Oberheim DMX, the drum machine behind a lot of early-80s rap records; later he said it also stood for “Dark Man X.”

The long road to Def Jam

He built a reputation in Westchester and uptown battles and in The Source’s Unsigned Hype column in 1991. Ruffhouse/Columbia signed him and put out “Born Loser” in 1992, but the deal went nowhere. Back home, the Dean family’s Ruff Ryders crew (Joaquin “Waah” Dean, Darrin “Dee” Dean and Chivon Dean) kept backing him, and the 1994 street single “Make a Move” kept his name alive. In 1997 he stole guest verses on LL Cool J’s “4, 3, 2, 1,” Mase’s “24 Hrs. to Live” and The LOX’s “Money, Power & Respect,” and Def Jam signed him through Ruff Ryders.

Two No. 1s in one year

It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot came out in May 1998 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Dame Grease and P.K. did most of the beats, and a young Swizz Beatz, the Deans’ nephew, made “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem.” “Get at Me Dog” and “Slippin’” were the other singles, and the album mixed barking and growling with prayers, confessions and horror. The same year he starred in Hype Williams’ Belly alongside Nas, and in December he dropped a second album, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, which also went to No. 1.

Five straight

...And Then There Was X (1999), led by the Swizz Beatz-produced “Party Up (Up in Here),” was his biggest seller. The Great Depression (2001) and Grand Champ (2003) also debuted at No. 1, making him the first artist to open at the top with his first five albums. Ruff Ryders’ Ryde or Die compilations came in between. He moved into film with Romeo Must Die (2000), Exit Wounds (2001) and Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), whose soundtrack had “X Gon’ Give It to Ya.”

Later years

After Year of the Dog... Again (2006) on Sony, his run was broken up by addiction, jail time and legal trouble. He came back with Undisputed (2012) and Redemption of the Beast (2015). In July 2020 his Verzuz battle with Snoop Dogg drew millions of viewers and turned into a celebration of his catalog. He had re-signed with Def Jam and finished a new album when he suffered a heart attack in April 2021. He died at White Plains Hospital on April 9, 2021, at 50. Exodus, executive produced by Swizz Beatz, came out that May with Jay-Z, Nas, The LOX, Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne on it.