On December 18, 1970, Earl Simmons came into an unforgiving world that seemed intent on making quick work of him. The only logical conclusion one could draw is that the troubled Mount Vernon, New York-born, Yonkers-schooled kid had made a deal with God. If he could survive horrific physical abuse, come out on the other side of foster care, group homes, jail, and drug addiction, and lift himself out of a treacherous life as a homeless stickup kid who robbed would be marks armed with only a pit bull, he would become at one point, the biggest music act on the planet\u2014DMX…but, that was all easier said than done.<\/p>\n
DMX, the grimy, animated, multiplatinum rap legend who passed away Friday (April 9) at the age of 50 after suffering a heart attack on April 2 that left him fighting for his life in a coma, described his turbulent life succinctly on 1998\u2019s \u201cRuff Ryders\u2019 Anthem\u201d: \u201cAll I know is pain, all I feel is rain\u2026\u201d In a 2019 GQ interview, Dark Man X spoke candidly about his horrific childhood. \u201c[My mother] beat two teeth out of my fucking mouth with a broom,\u201d he recalled of one of several such violent incidents, which took place when he was just six years old. X\u2019s battles with alcoholism and crack cocaine were as much a part of his mythology as his obsessive love of dogs. His inner demons had inner demons. And yet, somehow, someway DMX became hip-hop\u2019s purest superstar.<\/p>\n
Following the tragic deaths of beloved icons Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., hip-hop was heavily in its conspicuous consumption period of the Shiny Suit era. Jay-Z was up next with his breakthrough 1998 release,\u00a0Vol. 2\u2026 Hard Knock Life<\/em>, which would go on to sell over five million copies. But even as Hov was now headlining his own “Hard Knock Life” arena tour, he routinely found himself being upstaged by DMX, an opening act who didn\u2019t fit easily in the aspirational balling lane of the times. He looked like he had just walked off the streets: shirtless, jeans, boots. X didn\u2019t so much perform. X left his heart and soul onstage each night. He tearfully said a prayer at the end of most of his gigs. This was different. Still, it was all set up for future billionaire mogul Shawn Carter, who battled a hungry X back in 1993 before the two became famous, to take the reins as the new king of New York.<\/p>\n