Rapper, Actor DMX, Five-Time Billboard Chart Topper, Dead at 50

Rapper, Actor DMX, Five-Time Billboard Chart Topper, Dead at 50
DMX arrives at the 2009 VH1 Hip Hop Honors at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in New York City on Sept. 23, 2009. Peter Kramer/AP Photo
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NEW YORK—American rapper and actor Earl Simmons, known by the stage name DMX or Dark Man X, died on Friday, People magazine said, after suffering a heart attack during what media reports said was a drug overdose. He was 50 years old.

“We are deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50 years old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days,” his family wrote in a statement quoted by the magazine.