After the gangsta rap era came and went, and before the rise of Eminem and 50 Cent, there was no rapper more popular with a more indelible impression on hip-hop than DMX. With his distinctively guttural, throaty, and weighty voice that sold the material and conveyed a troubled and conflicted past, the man born Earl Simmons dominated late '90s and early 2000s rap.
DMX was versatile, too, energetically barking his way through anthems ("Party Up" and "X Gon' Give It To Ya" ) to challenges on wax ("Get At Me Dog") to self-assured explorations of culture and identity ("What's My Name" and "Money, Power & Respect"). His albums sold extremely well at his peak, with five DMX records in a row topping the Billboard 200 between 1998 and 2003.
According to sources who spoke to TMZ, on the evening of April 2, 2021, DMX overdosed on drugs and suffered a heart attack. Paramedics were called to the rapper's home, and it took around 30 minutes to resuscitate, meaning DMX's brain didn't get any oxygen for that entire time, which can often lead to severe brain damage and brain death. DMX was on life support for nearly a week, at which point no brain function had returned. On April 9, 2021, DMX died at the age of 50.
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