Rapper DMX has today, October 13, reportedly checked himself into a rehab facility and cancelled all his scheduled shows.
The rapper, real name Earl Simmons, from New York, was scheduled to perform last night, Saturday October 12, at the reunion concert for Three 6 Mafia in Memphis, as well as the second day of Rolling Loud in New York today. However, both gigs were cancelled.
Releasing a statement on DMX’s social media pages, his team said he is continuing to work on his sobriety, and is putting it and and his family first.
Posted on the rapper’s Instagram page, the statement read:
In his ongoing commitment to putting family and sobriety first, DMX has checked himself into a rehab facility. He apologizes for his cancelled shows and thanks his fans for their continued support.
DMX has been known to struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, as TMZ reports. He has been in jail a number of times in the past few years due to drug-related offences, as well as spending time in rehab.
Earlier this year, in January, DMX was released from prison after serving a sentence for tax evasion. Before his release, he expressed his desire to see his three-year-old son who had been suffering health problems at the time. DMX has 15 children.
He also announced at the time he was getting offers from movies producers for a biopic about his life.
Less than two weeks after leaving prison, DMX announced a 32-city tour across America over a three-month period.
The rapper pleaded guilty to tax fraud in 2017, after admitting to hiding millions of dollars in revenue to avoid paying $1.7 million in taxes, Associated Press reports.
On March 29 2018, Simmons was sentenced to a year in prison. Before the sentencing, US District Judge Jed Rakoff allowed the rapper to hear his autobiographical hit Slippin. In addition to jail time, the court also ordered Simmons to pay $2.29 million in restitution to the government. The judge called the rapper’s crime ‘brazen and blatant’, adding that it could not go unpunished.
This isn’t the first time DMX has checked himself into rehab, as before his prison sentence he checked into a California facility. In addition, while on house arrest for tax evasion later that year, he attended another substance abuse facility in New England, NME reports.
If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 for advice and support.
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.