DMX Bio: One of Hip Hop's Most Singular Voices

About
Latest Posts

Colin is a content creator based out of New York City. Colin loves rap music because it brings together various things that he enjoys, like art, fashion, and film. He spends his time writing and producing music when he's not working. He's eager to share with you his first hand experiences in the industry.

DMX Quick Facts

Full Name: Earl Simmons
Birth Date: December 18th, 1970
Birth Place: Mount Vernon, New York
Nick Name: Dark Man X, the Ruff Ryder
Nationality: American
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
Siblings: Bonita Simmons, Shayla Simmons, Montana, Joseph Baker
Children: 17
Partner / Spouse:
- Tashera Simmons (1999 – 2014)
- Desiree Lindstrom (2016-2021)
Most Successful Songs / Albums:
- Its Dark and Hell is Hot
- Flesh of My Flesh
- Blood of My Blood
Earnings: N/A
Net Worth: -$ 1.2 million
Social Media: @dmx
Awards:
- 4 Grammy Nominations
- 1 American Music Award
- 1 Billboard Music Award
Last Updates: June 2022

DMX Birthplace

DMX had a troubled upbringing, and there are conflicting reports as to exactly where he was born. Some say he was born in Baltimore, Maryland, while others say he was born in Mount Vernon, NY. When he was young, his mother moved the family to the dangerous School Street projects in Yonkers, where he mostly grew up.

DMX Parents

DMX’s parents were Joe Baker and Arnett Simmons, who were both still teenagers when they had him. They broke up and ceased all contact before he was born because Joe didn’t want Arnett to have the baby. Baker was a painter who sold his work at local fairs. He later moved to Philadelphia and was mostly absent from his son’s life.

DMX Early Life

Growing up, DMX had a very troubled childhood. In his autobiography EARL, the rapper revealed that his mother and her various boyfriends used to beat him severely. At one point, she even knocked out his front teeth with a broom and left permanent scarring on his face. He also had severe bronchial asthma as a kid and once had to be hospitalized because he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t breathe.

In the fifth grade, he was kicked out of school, and his mother sent him to live at home for abandoned children for 18 months. A few months after being sent away, he was arrested for arson for attempting to burn down the school.

At 14 years old, he left home to escape the abuse he suffered from his mother and was living on the streets. He befriended the stray dogs in the neighborhood, who would be his only companions at this time.

He was eventually sent to live at a group home, where he befriended some of the other kids. They introduced him to hip-hop music and encouraged him to continue making music after performing for them.

In 1984, he met a local rapper named Ready Ron, who heard DMX beatboxing. He was very impressed and asked DMX to be his music partner, which he accepted. That’s when he adopted the name DMX, inspired by the Oberheim DMX Drum Machine he had at the group home. He also claims it was an acronym for Dark Man X.

DMX Professional Career

DMX slowly built a name for himself in the underground NYC hip hop scene, and in 1991, he was featured in The Source Magazine’s Unsigned Hype section, which showcased independent artists. The following year, he signed a record deal with Ruffhouse Records, a subsidiary of Columbia, who released his first single, Born Loser.

He failed to gain much attention on Ruffhouse due to their overcrowded roster, and they later agreed to let him out of his contract. After that, he began rebuilding his buzz by appearing on DJ Clue’s famous underground mixtape series.

He also made appearances on several popular songs, including Mase’s 24 Hour’s to Live, the LOX’s Money, Power and Respect, and LL Cool J’s 4,3,2,1. Around that time, he also signed a new record deal with Def Jam and began working on his debut album.

In February 1998, he released his first single on Def Jam, Get at Me Dog. A few months later, he released his debut album, Its Dark and Hell is Hot, which debuted at number one on Billboard and featured three other singles, Ruff Ryder’s Anthem, Stop Bein’ Greedy, and How’s It Goin Down. The album immediately catapulted DMX to the top of the rap game and sold over $5 million copies.

Not long after, he also makes his acting debut alongside Nas in the film Belly, directed by Hype Williams. The film is considered a cult classic in hip hop and showed that DMX was more than just a rapper but a talented actor as well.

Later the same year, in December 1998, he released his second album, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, which also went multiplatinum and debuted at number one on Billboard. That made him the second rapper ever to have two number one records released in the same year, after 2pac with All Eyez on Me and the Don Killuminati.

In 1999, DMX embarked on the Hard Knock Life tour alongside Jay-Z, Method Man, and Redman. He was also featured prominently on Ryde or Die Vol 1, a compilation by the Ruff Ryders, a group DMX founded.

Later that year, he released his third album, …And Then There Was X. It debuted at number one and featured the hit single, Party Up, which earned him Grammys nominations for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance.

DMX also continued to hone his acting chops, appearing in Romeo Must Die and Exit Wounds, which earned him a multi-picture deal with Warner Bros.

He returned to music in 2001 with the album The Great Depression, which was his fourth consecutive album to go number one. He also released his autobiography E.A.R.L. the following year, giving fans a closer look into his life and childhood.

In 2003, he starred alongside Jet Li in the film Cradle 2 the Grave and released the track Here I Come for the soundtrack.

He released his fifth album, the Grand Champ, in 2003, which also debuted at number one. This made DMX the only artist in history at the time to have five consecutive albums debut at number one. The album also included some of his most successful singles, including Where the Hood At? And Get it On the Floor.

Despite telling fans that the Grand Champ would be his last album, he returned to music again in 2006 after signing a deal with Columbia Records. He released his sixth album, Year of the Dog… Again in 2006, while in the middle of switching labels, which cause several delays. The album debuted at number two, missing the number one spot by just a few hundred copies.

Burdened by legal problems and substance abuse issues, DMX took a long hiatus from music after his sixth album. Instead, he told MTV that he was planning to retire to study the Bible and become a preacher.

He announced his return to music in 2011 with a performance at the BET Hip Hop Awards. His seventh studio album Undisputed was later released in September 2012 and debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 200.

In 2013, he announced that he was working on his next album, Redemption of the Beast. However, his label Seven Arts Music released it without his permission in January 2015, leading DMX to take legal action and remove himself from their roster.

DMX Later Years and Death

Later in his life, DMX struggled with frequent legal and financial problems. In November 2017, the rapper pled guilty to tax fraud and was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay $2.9 million in restitution to the government.

He was released in 2019 and signed a new deal with Def Jam later that year. He began work on his eighth album, but he never got to see the release. On April 9th, 2021, DMX tragically passed away after suffering a heart attack brought on by a drug overdose.

His final album Exodus was released posthumously on May 28th, 2021, and featured guest appearances from Nas, Jay-Z, Bono, Alicia Keys, Griselda, and many more.

DMX Video

DMX Family

DMX had two half-sisters, Bonita and Shayla Simmons, and a half-brother named Joseph Baker. He also had a brother named Montana, who served as his manager during the height of his career and the Director and President of the Ruff Ryders Entertainment imprint.

DMX also fathered 17 children with 11 different women, whose ages range from two to twenty-nine. When he died, DMX owed over $1 million in child support to the mothers of his many offspring.

DMX Dating and Relationship History

DMX has had several high-profile relationships. There were rumors that he was in a relationship with R&B singer Aaliyah and rapper Foxy Brown, although they denied any romantic involvement.

DMX was married to his childhood sweetheart, Tashera Simmons, from 1999 to 2014, and she is the mother of four of his children. They had been estranged for many years before they divorced and even went on VH1’s Couple’s Therapy to try to work it out. But, they eventually parted ways due to his drug addiction and frequent verbal abuse.

DMX also has two children with Yadira Borrego, a Cuban model who won the Miss Florida pageant in 2003 and the Miss Miami pageant in 2010.

At the time of his death, he was engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Desiree Lindstrom. The two have a son named Exodus, born in 2016.

DMX Controversies or Scandals

Despite his massive commercial success in the music industry, DMX struggled with legal problems, substance abuse issues, and financial difficulties throughout his career. He claims he became addicted to crack cocaine at age 14 and suffered from bipolar disorder, which fueled his often-erratic behavior.

Even though he earned $2.3 million between 2010 and 2015, he filed for bankruptcy three times and was later arrested for tax fraud for not paying taxes on any of that income. He also went to jail at least 30 times for offenses that include robbery, assault, animal cruelty, driving under the influence, drug possession, impersonating a federal agent, and failure to pay child support.

DMX Net Worth and Career Earnings

Unfortunately, DMX’s year of substance abuse harmed his finances. Despite selling more than 70 million albums worldwide, the rapper died with a net worth of – $1.2 million due to all the unpaid child support.

DMX Real Estate & Residence History

DMX owned several impressive homes throughout his life, although they were all sold or repossessed to pay off his various debts. He and his wife Tashera Simmons owned a four-bedroom home in Mount Kisco, where they raised their four children together.

Before going to prison for tax fraud, the rapper owned a modest three-bedroom home in Lyman, South Carolina, where he was living when he first started dating his fiancé Desiree. At one point, he also owned a five-bedroom pueblo-style home in Cave Creek, AZ but defaulted on payments in 2006 and sold it in a short sale in 2008.

He also owned an investment property in Harlem, New York, which he bought with his ex-wife in 2001. But issues with permitting and other delays kept the brownstone vacant it sold for a loss at a sheriff’s auction in 2008.

DMX Famous Quotes

“No matter how hard it rains, withstand the pain” – DMX

“I just find myself happy with the simple things. Appreciate the blessings God gave me.” – DMX

“Don’t believe everything you hear, don’t believe everything you read and only believe half of what you see” – DMX

DMX Discography

1998 – Its Dark and Hell is Hot
1998 – Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
1999 – …And Then There Was X
2001 – The Great Depression
2003 – Grand Champ
2006 – Year of the Dog…Again
2012- Undisputed
2021 – Exodus

DMX FAQs

Question: How Did DMX Pass Away?

Answer: DMX has a lifelong addiction to crack cocaine that began when he was 14, and his friend Ready Ron tricked him into smoking marijuana laced with crack. He went to rehab multiple times throughout his career but always relapsed. On April 2nd, 2021, DMX was rushed to White Plains Hospital after suffering a heart attack resulting in a possible drug overdose.

He was put on life support after suffering oxygen deprivation to his brain and was said to be in a vegetative state. On April 9th, his essential organs failed, and he was pronounced dead at 50 years old. The official cause of death was a cocaine-induced heart attack.

Question: What Religion was DMX?

Answer: DMX was raised Jehovah’s Witness but struggled with the faith due to the violence he experienced growing up. He later became a born-again Christian and claims to have read the Bible every day. He also became a transitional deacon in 2009 and left the music industry for a period to work as a preacher. Religious themes are frequent in his music, and he often talks about his conversations with God on his albums.

Question: Why Did DMX Have Problems with Jay-Z?

Answer: Coming up in the NYC rap scene in the early 90s, DMX became close to other up-and-coming rappers Ja Rule and Jay-Z. They even briefly formed a rap group called Murder Inc, but the group quickly disbanded due to tensions between DMX and Jay-Z. Their beef allegedly started over a Bronx rap battle, where DMX took offense over some of Jay-Z’s lines and started to hate his former friend.

In an interview with the Breakfast Club, DMX hinted that Jay-Z was jealous of his album sales and that when Jay took over Def Jam, the label stopped pushing his music. However, the problems started the two later squashed their beef. DMX said on Instagram that he wanted to do a Versus rap battle with Jay, and Jay even appeared on his final album, Exodus.

Sources:

DMX Bio: One of Hip Hop’s Most Singular Voices