Isidore Cologne By Dmx

The son of a broken home who lived on the streets for much of his youth, DMX spent so much time in jails and courtrooms, because of innumerable arrests for drugs, firearms, robberies, tax evasion and more, that it is remarkable he was able to find the time to make records and appear in films and TV.

Though Ready Ron gave him a leg up into music, he also introduced him to hard drugs when he gave him a blunt (a joint made with tobacco leaves) laced with crack cocaine. “Why would you do that to a child?” asked DMX, who claimed he had never touched any drug before that.

Grammy recognition never came DMX’s way, probably because he embodied the edgy and lawless life depicted in his work, even if he did protest that he was a Bible-reading Christian.

DMX had 15 children, including two with the model Yadira Borrego, four from his marriage to Tashera Simmons, from whom he was divorced in 2014 (they appeared together in the TV series Couples Therapy in 2012), and one with his fiancee, Desiree Lindstrom. “I got a few in New York; I got a few in Cali,” DMX remarked of his other offspring.