DMX

American actor and rapper Earl Simmons, born December 18, 1970, and passed away on April 9, 2021. The album that he debuted on, It's dark and hell is hot was released in 1998. He started rapping in the 90s. 251,000 copies of the album were sold during its first week. The most-sold album by DMX,... and Then There Was X came out in 1999. The album also featured the smash single "Party Up (Up In Here). His singles from 2003 "Where is the Hood At?" The 2003 singles, "Where the Hood at?" and "X Gon Making It To Ya" were commercially successful. He was the first artist to release an album that reached No.1 five times in one week on the Billboard 200 charts. [7] Overall, DMX sold over 74 million albums worldwide. [8] DMX was featured in films like Belly, Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave, as well as Last Hour. He starred in the 2006 reality television series DMX. Soul of a Man. It was primarily shown on the BET cable channel Never Die Alone. He released an autobiography of his personal memoirs, E.A.R.L. in 2003. : The Autobiography of DMX. [9] DMX was just 14 when he began beatboxing at Ready Ron. After being sentenced for the theft of an animal, he began to compose lyrics of his own. He also played at the local recreation centre for children who were younger than 14. In 1988, while being in prison for carjacking he started dedicating a large portion of his free time to writing lyrics and also performing with K-Solo. He was released in summer of 1988 and began to produce and sell mixtapes of his own. In these mixtapes he rapped over songs from other artists and sold them at street corners. This helped him build a local fanbase all across New York. DMX was a guest on The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show in 1991 along with Percee P, where they both freestyled. [15"Spellbound" DMX would later release a demo tape that featured "Spellbound" alongside "Critical Condition", "Three Little Pigs", "The Original Author of Spellbound" and "Unstoppable Force". It was extremely similar to Big Daddy Kane or Rakim, and it was not his later material. 3] In 1991, The Source magazine praised DMX for his Unsigned Hype column which highlighted hip hop artists who were not signed. 16] In the same year, Columbia Records signed DMX to its subsidiary label Ruffhouse Records, which released the debut single "Born Loser". 17 years later, he dropped his follow-up single "Make a Move" in the year 1994. Jay-Z, Ja Rule and Mic Geronimo performed a joint appearance on "Time to build" which is the most well-known underground hit. DMX died in 2021 after suffering a heart attack due to cocaine.