DMX, a rapper known as much for his troubles as his music, has died, his family announced in a statement. He was 50. "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 at his home in New York, according to his longtime attorney, Murray Richman. - CNN. I've kept my thoughts in a draft waiting to find the right words, but they never came... Fortunately, the homie Big Ghost once again put to words what I couldn't... "Fame is a funny thing... By not really knowing the people who we become fans of n start to admire n sometimes idolize...we start to form our own ideas, opinions, perceptions, n misconceptions about em. I mean...the people in our actual daily lives can be hard to figure out... You probably got friends n family members that you think you KNOW...but does that really always mean you know em LIKE THAT? You got superheroes in comics who got secret identities... We see em without the masks or costumes. We see both sides of the em. We see the shit they think about in the little speech bubble clouds n whatever. We even get origin stories. So now we can guess every move they make next? Nah.. people are complicated. Even fictional ones. But real people... thats real complexity. When you add celebrity n (super)stardom to the mix...you get fed a public persona, stories, tabloid rumors, sanitized PR spins, straight up lies etc etc. As far as DMX...he lived his life in the public eye. He was open about a lot of it. We saw the rawness...the flaws...the tragedies...the wins...the glory... But did we know him? Did anybody? I really wanted to shift the focus from his troubles to the triumphs...to the happier moments of his public life. To the acts of kindness he displayed. To the love he showed others. Countless times. But access to social media makes that kinda hard to do. For every word of praise you see for DMX you can find at least two words from mfs who want it to be known that he was NOT in fact a perfect saint... That he was a drug addict or always going to jail for some shit he didnt need to really be going to jail for...that he invested money unwisely...that he had mad children by different women...that you should save your prayers for somebody who more worthy of your concern. But damn. What is prayer for if it aint for sinners? Is that not the idea? If we only ever grieved for the faultless there would be nobody to mourn in this world. Get it right tho.. DMX wasnt perfect. He was great. One love Earl." It hurts to say... R.I.P., DMX. Photos: Jonathan Mannion.
