On the passing of DMX (Earl Simmons) 1970-2021
Yonkers, New York was the first city in America to be found guilty of discrimination for both housing and education. In 1985 it was ordered by the federal court to integrate the city. I visited Yonkers extensively between 1999 and 2003. Yonkers had a black valley and a white hill. It remained segregated then and likely remains so to this day.
DMX, who died in April of 2021, was raised under difficult conditions in Yonkers. He experienced the other side of Yonkers first hand. As a fan then, and a fan now, I would like to share some thoughts on his life and particularly how his achievements outshines his circumstances.
DMX, Dark Man X, X, Earl Simmons was an artist who spoke to fans at a depth beyond many of his contemporaries. DMX focused on both aggressive violence and spirituality. DMX laid these contrasting themes side by side, either as a song talking to god following a song on the same album about a fatal shoot-out with the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms - a paramilitary federal police organization in the United States), or even within the same song, as an example:
[sotto voce-softly]
Many questions, no answers, stress
Try to hold my head and remember that I'm blessed
[growling]
With the curse and it gets worse as time goes by
Can't see straight cause I'm so high
Why ask why when you know?
N$$$$, when its your time to go, you go
-Stop Being Greedy, DMX
DMX put drama and heart into his rapping and he reaped immense commercial success in the pre-Napster music industry. By now the outlines of DMX and his career are likely familiar from his obituaries in the media. Here are some lesser known anecdotes and aspects of DMX from his own words and those of his friends.
DMX brought his entourage to Angola to perform two shows. They were there as guests of a well-connected person in the dictatorship. The first show was a huge success but the second show was cancelled. their host,allegedly, Henrique ‘Riquhino’ Miguel, wanted to move that show to a later date and keep DMX and his entourage in Angola. When DMX balked at the new terms proposed by the Angolan, he was told that he could not leave. The story as told by DJ Nonstop is great to hear, but in summary, DMX was able to get himself and 9 of his people out of the country splitting them up, sending a few to contact the US embassy and the others to distract the guards. From the account, DMX remained calm and took command:
"yo I'm gonna take them back to the store
cuz they're gonna follow me when we
leave I'm gonna take two or three people
you all run to the rooms
pack everybody's bags get them ready
get them downstairs so that when the embassy
gets here we can load up and be out"
The group bounded out of the hotel and into waiting bulletproof SUVs from the US embassy. DMX had paid $5,000 a person to get the whole team on a daily Oil industry flight from Luanda,Angola to Dallas,Texas. He had been paid $30,000 to give the concerts in Angola and spent $45,000 to get his whole team out alive.
The team had been warned that artists were often stopped at Angolan customs and stripped of their cash. DMX claimed to customs that he was carrying the team's payroll. Each person told customs their money was with DMX. Meanwhile, the actual payroll was with the DJ who sneaked it in another bag. Once again quick thinking and leadership saved the day.
Outside on the tarmac, government officials were banging on the window glass and demanding that DMX's team get off the airplane. Luckily the plane doors did not open and the plane took off. Once in the air, DMX for an audience of his team and the plane half full of Texas oilmen, gave a prayer of thanks over the loudspeaker, followed by cheers from all. As DJ Nonstop puts it:
nobody panicked
everybody played their position
the dog kept everybody cool
it was a bunch of men and we handled our business
nobody got shook
DMX was a man of faith from a young age, though by no means a saint at any time. His mother was a Jehovah's Witness and his grandmother a devout Baptist. DMX had his first experience of god at 14 years of age. He escaped from a medium security jail in upstate New York and walked for ten days to get home. DMX and his friend put vaseline on their legs and wrapped themselves with saran wrap while wearing three pairs of clothes for the cold. Despite the preparations, this was an arduous journey. DMX felt God's hand in his survival. A young Nishnawbe boy of similar age escaping from a residential school in Canada, Chanie Wenjack, died of cold and exposure when he walked 36 hours in subzero temperatures. When DMX arrived at home his mother made him turn himself in. Miraculously he escaped any new charges or added years to his sentence.
DMX lived a life full of pain, his mother would braid three extension cords together and beat him with them. He would often go without food. In that environment, DMX was forced to survive off of his own earnings from a young age. Unsurprisingly this lead to crime and robbery. Even as a robber DMX was interesting, he would reportedly stick up drug dealers using a well trained attack dog instead of a gun. All of this time DMX was writing rhymes and aspiring to be a rapper instead of a robber. After thirteen years of disappointments, DMX would go on to be one of the best selling artists in the pre-digital era. Despite this wealth, DMX was subject to a series of drug induced legal problems, including a long stint in Joe Arpaio's Maricopa county prison for violating probation. Maricopa prison is well known for various cruel and unusual punishments such as insufficient nutrition, chronic exposure to extreme heat and making the inmates wear pink uniforms.
In interviews, DMX displays that state of mind, or range of states of mind, that are typical of drug users. In some he is hyperactive and magnanimous, in others depressive and furious. At his best, he was spiritual and insightful. His music also reflected these feelings, some songs were spiritual, others aggressive and others introspective. He loved to tell stories. Whether it was how he found his affinity for dogs as a child after stealing a pitbull by winning it's trust (he ultimately returned it), or meeting Prince in Toronto where Prince in a deep voice told him to own his masters (the master recordings of his music). [It might also be noted that he stated that Toronto had the most beautiful women.] DMX mostly comes across as good natured, humble and full of common sense. Some said that Earl Simmons was the good smart Christian boy who loved and was loved by his grandmother and DMX was the beserk warrior that he constructed to protect Earl from the world. As is the case with many whose lives are taken up by drugs, DMX's personality and real self was likely a blend of all of these elements. It is often difficult to untangle.
DMX leaves behind an image of a thoughtful, talented,if troubled, adventurer. A real life Han Solo. Or maybe a blend of both the serious knight and his humorous liege returning from the Crusades to die in the Seventh Seal.
DMX was not prone to dogma either, in 2020 an interviewer attempted to get him to state that the Coronavirus was a sign of end times, intimating that the vaccine would be used to implant microchips in people that would ultimately trigger the rise of the beast as in Revelations. Seeing this conspiracy theorizing for what it was, DMX offers a rebuttal that displays his commitment to personal redemption and his disregard for the mid-wit antics of end-times prophecy.
the minute were born we're dying
the minute were born we're dying because
we're taking step towards our death
nobody knows when it's gonna be
but the minute you're born you die
so of course when you look at like that
yeah yeah we're we're moving towards the
end of days
it's just something to make you aware of
how fragile life is during the most
difficult situations that you become
aware of what God is willing to do for
you
so of course we're gonna hurt when
people that we loved I pass on but
they're in a better place if we look at
it along those lines
we'd be happy for them because we're
gonna miss them because we're not gonna
see them again
but if you if you had
that spiritual relationship with God
then you know you're gonna see them
again
Earl Simmons was a sinner and a believer. He was one who left behind more good than bad. Imagine what he could have done if he had been given half a fair chance back in Yonkers.
God bless DMX.
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Luke 18:9-14
He spake also this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were just, and despised others.
Two men went up into the Temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, O God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican.
I fast twice in the week: I give tithe of all that ever I possess.
But the Publican standing [c]afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast, saying, O God, be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man departed to his house, justified rather than the other: for every man that exalteth himself shall be brought low, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Sources:
adizzle102. “DMX Interview On Dr Drew's Lifechangers.” YouTube, YouTube, 10 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5280GaRMWA.
BETNetworks. “DMX & The Ruff Ryders Reminisce On Rough Road To Success – Ruff Ryders Chronicles Full Ep 1.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Aug. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRorPmK5xkM.
djvlad. “DMX's First Sermon: The Power of Resurrection (Unreleased).” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Apr. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZNlBDa84sE.
“DMX DEAD AT 50 | THE TRUTH | HIS FINAL WORDS TO AMERICA | THIS REALLY LEFT ME SPEECHLESS.” YouTube, YouTube, 10 Apr. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3i5JEPpvXo.
kerrlocher. “DMX Interview In Jail, Part Two.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 Jan. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-oXpe6vGA.
revolttv. “DMX On New Album Ft. Pop Smoke & Griselda, VERZUZ, Aaliyah, Prince & More | Drink Champs.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 Feb. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWWKJ8a3vqc.
scoopblog. “DMX On CoronaVirus -End Times, Battling Jay Z On Versuz, Microchips And Mark Of The Beast (Part 3).” YouTube, YouTube, 1 June 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybalnJQj5o8.
VintageHipHopSeattle. “Talib Kweli & DMX Talk Jay-Z Battle, Aaliyah, Prison, Murder Inc, & Addiction | People's Party Full.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Nov. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwOcFjAzlhQ.
“DJ Nonstop & DMX - They Tried To Kidnap Us With DMX In Africa We Needed Help From US Embassy.” YouTube, 3 May 2020, youtu.be/CHbmGdbA1Jw.
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