A thug life and Christianity are two parallel worlds in the eyes of the world. Yet, DMX proved that it’s possible to be a thug and believe in God at the same time. And throughout his career, he professed his love and faith in God like no other rapper has ever done by preaching.

As a born-again Christian, he revealed that he read the Bible every day. Even while he was in prison, he believed that he was there for a divine purpose. That, God, has sent him to an unknown person and that Jesus loves him. So he preached to people in prison.

“I came here to meet somebody…I don’t know who it was, but I’ll know when I see him. And I came here to give him a message. And that message is Jesus loves them.”

In almost all his songs, DMX never forgot to remember his creator. One night while performing, he paused and started praying. Among the audience was Tiny Lister, the actor and character Deebo in the Friday movie. The prayer moved him so much that he ran onto the stage to hug the rap superstar as they sobbed for minutes.

He didn’t live a sinless life, but he was never shy of his faith and belief. DMX showed this by preaching the word of God. The world knew him to be a drug addict and thug but he spoke of God as a rapper than his colleagues have ever done.

Dark Man X had a dysfunctional family.

A viral reference was his encounter with Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Xavier Simmons, his eldest son cut communication with him. To reunite with his father, Xavier went to Iyanla: Fix My Life, an OWN channel.

On the show, the superstar gave his son endless hugs and kisses with the profession that “you always gonna be my baby.” Yeah, they teared up.

However, during the hearing sessions, DMX was found rattling and struggling with himself. He unnecessarily, intermittently, interrupted the process. According to him, the mediator wasn’t allowing him the freedom to interact with his son. When he felt that he had had enough, he walked out of them.

That was in 2013. Xavier accused his dad of kissing and flirting with other women right in front of him while still married to his mother. In fact, there were times his father told him about his countless side-chics. Xavier revealed on the show that his father was hostile at home.

All these and more compelled him to break the relationship he had with him. A year later, thus, in 2014, the I Need A Sign rapper and his wife whom he had married since 1999 divorced.

Also known as Ruff Ryder, the preaching DMX had a tough life.

He grew up with no parental care, and as a result, as a thug, he had a hard time catching up with parenting. He got addicted to crack cocaine at the age of 14. His mother and her numerous boyfriends beat him up on countless occasions. Apparently, that had an effect on his personality. In fact, he revealed that he suffered from bipolar disorder too.

Meanwhile, through all the struggles, and the fame, he professed his belief in God. Through the Xavier – OWN experience, people offered prayers that God should heal his heart and purge him from the drugs.

According to them, he genuinely loved his son and the family, but the thug life and drugs were the blocks.

In 2016, born Earl Simmons, DMX shared that he believes there was a pastoral calling on his life. As a result, he often prayed to make a positive impact whenever he performs. Perhaps, that explains the prayers and preaching he does amid performances.

“That’s definitely the final destination or a destination,” the rapper said. “You never know how far God is going to allow me to get or how many people He is going to allow me to reach,” he said to the famous New York City radio show The Breakfast Club.

He went on to say that he always prays before mounting stages. That. God should let him touch just one person. According to him, doing so will make him feel so accomplished.

About his personal life and struggles, he affirmed that he doesn’t care about what people say. After all, they are all in the past.

“It was a battle,” DMX said of his past struggles. “I still might have some bumps to go over, but at the end of the day,” he said, “know who’s going to get the victory.”

“I really don’t focus on what people think about me or people say about me, and the reason why is, if you accept the praises that means that you’ve got to accept the [bull] too,” he said. He stated that “I stand on what I believe about myself,” he added.

In April 2020, DMX went viral for preaching in a live video. That wasn’t his first, though. He had mounted pulpits earlier on. It seemed that he was at the genesis of his pastoral call when the unfortunate happened.

Sadly, on the morning of April 9, 2021, three essential organs of DMX stopped functioning.

His lever, lungs and kidneys stopped and he was pronounced dead a few minutes later. Prior to the incident, he had revealed that he had asthma too following an attack where he went unconscious for 4 mins.

DMX left outstanding legacies. As of now, a few have been able to reach the heights he climaxed. That is, he’s the only rapper to have his first five studio albums debut at no. 1. Moreover, he was the first living hip-hop artist to have two projects go platinum in the same year.