DMX Passes At 50: We Owe DMX So Much More
By: Alexis Oatman
We owe DMX so much more.
Today, the Hip Hop icon passed away at the age of 50. Fans and fellow entertainers paid their respects to the legend through social media.
RIP DMX. I pray for the comfort of your children and loved ones. 🙏🏿💛 pic.twitter.com/WC5LsaL9j8
— Viola Davis (@violadavis) April 9, 2021
Sending 🙏🏿 to @dmx’s family. Lord, help us stop these substances from taking the lives of our brothers & sisters. Say it w me- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference. R.I.P. DMX 🕊 pic.twitter.com/mRR8yAKUA9
— Charlie Wilson (@CharlieWilson) April 9, 2021
As DMX fought for his life in a New York hospital, huge media outlets continuously provided misinformation and lacked sensitivity with his battle with addiction.
As fans around the world held vigils and pray for the survival of a hip-hop legend, The New York Post decided it would be a good idea to devote an entire story to homes the 50-year-old rapper has lost throughout his lifetime in an article released on Tuesday.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, allegedly was at his home in White Plains when he overdosed on drugs, triggering a heart attack that has left him in a "vegetative state" on life support at White Plains Hospital.
Considering how Britney Spears, and now even Jessica Simpson, have received apologies and reassessed their legacies in public, DMX deserves the same respect.
Simmons has had a long and public battle with addiction, with many stints in and out of rehab.
Simmons, 50, a survivor of early childhood abuse, has also battled against mental illness, receiving a bipolar diagnosis early on in his life.
In an interview last year, he disclosed his trouble with addiction began at the ripe age of 14 when a "mentor" had laced a blunt with crack without his knowledge.
Sarah Paynter, a real estate reporter for The Post, is responsible for the article.
Paytner's tone throughout the article screams of privilege and lack of tact when it comes to those suffering from addiction. According to the article, the rapper has lost several properties in New York, New Jersey, and Arizona due to various financial reasons.
"Debts followed him as he moved all over the country, and since the '90s, he has undergone repeated foreclosures, forced sales, and investment losses in his real estate portfolio despite his lucrative, multimillion-dollar career, financial documents show," Paytner wrote.
She even included DMX's "demolished" child home, which was actually a public housing development.
Hundreds of people have already called the article out on social media for not taking Simmon's battle with addiction seriously and mocking his struggle with addiction.
DMX wasn't just careless.
He wasn't just bad at finances.
He was not trying to get over.
He was an addict.
Along with all the harmful things drugs can do to your body, many don't think about addiction's economic burden.
The cost of addiction is more than twice that of any other neurological disease, according to drug abuse.com, an online platform created to offer alcohol and drug abuse education and resources and a subsidiary of American Addiction Centers.
Addiction can lead to multiple factors affecting financial stability, including loss of income, healthcare, legal fees, and more.
Not only was the article distasteful, but it was also outright unnecessary. When a man is fighting for his life, why would the world need to know how many homes he has lost?
More importantly, why does it matter?
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