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“We are deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50-years-old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days,” family’s statement read in part.
“Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end,” the family continued. “He loved his family with all of his heart and we cherish the times we spent with him.”
The artist had been hospitalized since last week when he suffered a heart attack from a drug overdose at his home in New York, according to his longtime attorney, Murray Richman.
In 1991 The Source magazine praised DMX in its Unsigned Hype column that highlighted unsigned hip-hop artists. In
1992, Columbia Records signed DMX to their subsidiary label Ruffhouse, which released his debut single “Born Loser”
DMX broke through with his debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot in 1998, to both critical acclaim and commercial success, selling 251,000 copies within its first week of release. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S and sold over five million copies.[12]
Later that year in December, DMX released his second album, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and went multi-platinum.
DMX released his third and best-selling album … And Then There Was X, on December 21, 1999. It was his third album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Its most popular single, “Party Up”, became his first Top Ten hit on the R&B charts. The album was certified six-times Platinum.
His fifth album, Grand Champ, once again debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 charts
Year of the Dog… Again debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The other albums he released was Undisputed and Redemption of the Beast.
DMX had spoken openly about his addiction to crack cocaine, which began when he was 14 years old after he smoked a marijuana cigarette laced with the drug. He also said that he had bipolar disorder.