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New York (AFP)
The American rapper DMX was hospitalized and on life support on Saturday after a heart attack, his lawyer Murray Richman told AFP.
“He was hospitalized at 11pm last night at the White Plains hospital,” the New York suburb where he lives, after suffering “a heart attack,” Richman, who has represented the rapper for 25 years, told AFP.
“As far as I know, he is still alive,” the lawyer added, saying he was “very concerned.”
Richman said he could not confirm a report from the entertainment website TMZ that the 50-year-old New Yorker, known for his previous battles with drug addiction, had overdosed.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, reigned in the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits like “X Gon ‘Give It To Ya” and “Party Up.”
He has released eight albums, his most recent in 2015, and is among hip-hop’s darkest stars, exposing his inner demons to the masses in hard-hitting anthems that earned him commercial and critical praise.
He released his major label debut single “Get At Me Dog” in 1998 with Def Jam, which came off his first studio album “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot.”
The album debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top Albums chart and boasted another hit single, “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” ushering in a commercial success that would last for years.
The artist endured a gloomy childhood, grew up in housing projects with his mother and five sisters where he suffered abuse, and had continuous confrontations with the penal system throughout his life, even after achieving fame.
In November 2017, he pleaded guilty to evading $ 1.7 million in tax payments between 2002 and 2005 and spent a year in prison.
DMX has suffered from drug addiction, including crack, which he claims started at age 14.
“I really had no one to talk to,” he said in late 2020 in an emotional interview on Talib Kweli’s weekly podcast.
“In the neighborhood, nobody wants to hear that … Talking about your problems is seen as a sign of weakness, when in reality it is one of the bravest things you can do. One of the bravest things you can do is put it the table, cut it off and let it out. “
© 2021 AFP
