On Saturday, April 24, thousands of fans gathered outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York at the public memorial for Earl Simmons, the rap legend better known as DMX.
Source: Arturo Holmes / Getty
Huge crowds accumulated around the city to celebrate the hip-hop icon as more fans tuned in at home to view a livestream of the service. Inside the Barclays Center–where capacity was limited to 10 percent due to the ongoing pandemic–close friends and family put on a show to honor the life of DMX, who had touched so many people.
Kanye West and his Sunday Service choir kicked off the memorial with a few songs before DMX’s family, including his fiancée Desiree Lindstrom and the late rapper’s children. Nas, a frequent collaborator of X, also spoke during the ceremony, calling the late artist a “longtime friend” and “hip-hop icon.”
“It’s an honor to be here tonight but at the same time, it’s a sad day,” he told the crowd. “It’s a glorious day. I just want to say I’m honored to be here.”
The First Lady of the Ruff Ryders, Eve, also took the stage as she stood next to Swizz Beatz and shared a few words.
“I am seriously the luckiest, luckiest woman in the world to have been adopted by the Ruff Ryders, but to have known DMX the way that I knew him as a man, a father, a friend,” she said. “This is so hard y’all. What I pray, what I hope, I pray to God, I pray to our angels, our ancestors, that his journey was smooth. I know that he will rest in power. Rest in love, but most of all he feel rest in peace.”
Prior to the memorial, Lindstrom paid tribute to her late fiancé with a photo she posted alongside their 4-year-old son, Exodus.
“Today is very hard for me and my family…but one thing that is keeping me going is knowing that my son and I just gained an amazing angel, my fiancé and Exodus father…Earl Simmons..!” she wrote under the picture on Instagram. “I will forever love you and you will always be in my heart!”
DMX’s celebration of life comes just two weeks after the rapper died at 50, which came following a heart attack and being placed on life support for several days.
If you missed it, you can watch the full stream down below:
Rest In Peace, X.
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