DMX faces the music: serenaded by judge, gets year in prison

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Today

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge heard a DMX rap song before adding his own lyrics to a court proceeding on Wednesday, ordering the rapper imprisoned for a year in a tax fraud case.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff took requests, accommodating DMX’s desire to hear his autobiographical hit “Slippin’” before DMX faced the music over his admission of guilt. The judge called DMX’s fraud a “brazen and blatant” crime that could not go unpunished.

The 47-year-old rapper, known to law enforcement and the courts as Earl Simmons, has been incarcerated since his bail was revoked in January. He sobbed during the proceeding as his lawyer Murray Richman recalled his nightmarish childhood.

“I never went to the level of tax evasion where I’d sit down and plot ... like a criminal in a comic book,” DMX said when given an opportunity to address the court.

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