DMX Net Worth

DMX (real name Earl Simmons) is an actor and rapper whose net worth recently dropped to a negative $1 million. His career in the entertainment industry kicked off with a bang in the late 1990s – releasing his debut album in 1998. He has produced seven studio albums and featured in several films.

Unfortunately for the rapper, the recent years haven’t been favorable to him, as he has struggled with personal, financial, and legal challenges. In 2013, DMX declared bankruptcy with only $50,000 in assets and liabilities between $1 million and $10 million, according to a listing. In 2017, he was sentenced to 1 year in jail on 14 counts of tax fraud, with unpaid debt of $2.3 million.

Early life and education

Earl Simmons was born on Dec 18, 1970, in Baltimore, Maryland to 19-year-old Arnett Simmons and 18-year-old Joe Barker. His father rejected him as a baby, and his mother bore the responsibility of raising him and his siblings alone.

The family relocated to Yonkers, New York when Simmons was five years old. He was brought up in a Jehova witness community and faced different hardships as a child. He suffered from bronchial asthma and was abused by his mother and her boyfriends.

In the fifth grade, Simmons was kicked out of school and spent the next year in the Julia Dyckman Andrus Children’s Home. He was withdrawn and sent a boys’ home a year later as a teenager, where he met other teenage boys who enjoyed rap. He began writing and performing hip-hop music for his friends. Simmons later assumed the name DMX gotten from an instrument – the Oberheim DMX drum machine – he played at the boys’ home. He would later interpret the pseudonym to “Dark Man X”.

Rap and Acting Career

Simmon’s rap career officially began in the late 1990s, with the release of his debut album in 1998, ‘It’s Dark and Hell is Hot.’  The album saw both criticisms and commercial success – selling 251,000 copies in the first week. The album has sold over 5 million copies to date. A year later he released his best-selling album, ‘And Then There Was X’ on December 21, 1999. The album topped the Billboard 200 list and was certified six times Platinum.

In total Simmons has released seven studio albums, with sales of more than 70 million copies worldwide to date. In 2000 and 2001, the rapper won the American Music Awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist. He has also been nominated for 3 Grammy Awards and 5 MTV Music Video Awards.

In addition to his music career, Simmons has also starred in supporting roles in 19 films including ‘Belly’ (1998), ‘Romeo Must Die’ (2000), ‘Backstage’ (2000), ‘Exit Wounds’ (2001), ‘Angel: One More Road to Cross’ (2001), ‘Cradle 2 the Grave’ (2003), ‘Never Die Alone’ (2004), amongst others.