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following a drug overdose on April 9, 2021.

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Earl Simmons aka DMX
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Earl Simmons aka DMXCredit: Getty

Who are DMX's parents?

DMX's parents are Arnett Simmons and Joe Barker.

Arnett gave birth to DMX when she was just 19-years-old. At the time he was born, she already had a two-year-old daughter Bonita and shortly after, another daughter called Shayla.

DMX's father Joe was just 18-years-old at the time of his birth, and reportedly did not want to be involved in his son's life.

In 2019, he told GQ how his mom "beat two teeth out of my f**king mouth with a broom" when he was just six in a bombshell interview.

DMX once revealed his mother and her boyfriends used to beat him
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DMX once revealed his mother and her boyfriends used to beat himCredit: Getty

In his 2002 autobiography, “E.A.R.L." the musician said his dad "or helped raise me at all" and only came around when he had to sell paintings in .

“Children don’t come with a f**king instruction manual,” he wrote, noting later that his mom was "incapable" of looking after him. "Four sisters; I’m the only boy. Maybe she didn’t know what to do with me.”

Things did not improve as he got older: he was expelled for fighting and hurling chairs at teachers at 10 and then booked for arson and assault.

At that point, DMX was sent to Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial children’s home in Yonkers for 18 months, just 20 minutes away from his mother and sisters.

After returning home to his mother's house, DMX would often run away to escape her alleged abuse and boyfriends to sleep in Salvation Army clothing bins.

He reportedly found comfort in befriending stray dogs during his turbulent teenage years but by 14, he was introduced to hard drugs.

Speaking to  in 2011, his then manager Nakia Walker noted that “Earl is a person who still holds onto a lot of things he suffered in the past, as a child."

DMX was raised with three sisters in his native New York
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DMX was raised with three sisters in his native New YorkCredit: Reuters

“He holds onto things, instead of talking about things and releasing. He expresses himself through his music," she said, years before he would battle for his life after a suspected overdose.

Why was DMX in a coma?

On April 3, TMZ reported that the “Where the Hood At” rapper was in a critical condition  at his home at around 11pm the previous evening.

The Harlem native " but sadly on April 9, 2021.

Along with the rapper's , the entire family was together at his home and friends' homes in the area, not that far from the White Plains Hospital where the rapper was battling for his life.

DMX was 50-years-old
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DMX was 50-years-oldCredit: Instagram/Desiree Lindstrom

It was reported that .

The rapper's attorney, Murray Richman, said "he has been taken off the life-support system and is breathing on his own. But we are concerned.

"It would be disingenuous of me to suggest that I'm not a worried man at this particular point."

How did DMX suffer a drug overdose?

It is not clear how DMX suffered the overdose or the types and quantities of drugs he had taken.

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DMX had previously spoken about his addiction to crack cocaine, which he said began when he was 14.

The Ruff Riderz Anthem rapper had been in and out of rehab over the years, the most recent time occurring in 2019.

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