DMX Sentenced To One Year In Prison For Dodging Taxes

DMX was sentenced to one year in prison in a New York court March 28 for evading $1.7 million in taxes. 

AP Photo – DMX

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff accommodated DMX’s desire to listen to his autobiographical song “Slippin” in court before he sentenced the rapper. The judge called DMX’s crimes “brazen and blatant,” but gave him a sentence below the five year maximum that prosecutors sought, calling him a “good man.” 

The Ruff Ryders rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, pled guilty to tax fraud in November 2017. He spent six years evading taxes.

The rapper has been behind bars since January, when opiates, cocaine and Oxycodone were found in his system, violating bail restrictions that allowed him to continue performing while receiving treatment for drug addiction. 

DMX played two shows during the time between when he pled guilty and was incarcerated. The first was a gig at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., which sold 1,874 tickets and grossed $111,900. The second was a show at B.B. King Blues Club in New York City, but data for that concert was not reported to Pollstar’s Box office.