Rapper DMX has been hospitalized in “grave condition” following a heart attack, reportedly triggered by a drug overdose.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was rushed to a hospital near his home at about 11 p.m. Friday, Murray Richman, his longtime attorney, told NBC New York.
Richman said he didn’t know what precipitated the heart attack, but TMZ quoted sources close to the 50-year-old rapper saying it was a drug overdose and that doctors warned he may not make it.
DMX has battled substance abuse for some time, last spending time in rehab in 2019 after a 12-month prison sentence for tax evasion.
Richman said he was in a critical care unit in White Plains.
In an interview last year on Talib Kweli’s “People’s Party Show,” DMX revealed that his drug troubles began when he was 14, when his then mentor gave him a blunt laced with crack, NBC reported.
“He passed the blunt around and … I hit the blunt. I never felt like this before, it f—– me up. I later found out that he laced the blunt with crack,” he said. “Why would you do that to a child? He was like 30 and he knew I looked up to him. Why would you do that to someone who looks up to you?”
DMX said it was the first time he’d smoked anything.
“I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy,” he said.
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[Featured image: DMX/Mika Väisänen/Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported]