Late Rapper DMX to Receive Posthumous Ordination in New York

DMX, born Earl Simmons, was known for blending raw street realism with unfiltered prayer throughout his music and public life. The late rapper’s spiritual legacy will be formally recognized this week with a posthumous ordination as a minister in New York. (Photo courtesy of UMusic)

For most of his career, DMX never asked for permission to pray.

He did it on platinum albums. On festival stages. In interviews that veered from chaos to confession without warning. Long before faith became a branding lane in hip-hop, Earl Simmons made his belief unavoidable — raw, imperfect and public.

That lifelong tension between devotion and struggle will be formally acknowledged this week, when Simmons is posthumously ordained to the office of minister nearly five years after his death.

The Gospel Cultural Center announced this week that Earl Simmons, the Yonkers rapper known globally as DMX, will be posthumously ordained as a minister during a ceremony scheduled for Saturday at Foster Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Tarrytown, New York. Simmons died in April 2021 at age 50.

Founded in 1860, Foster Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is recognized as a historic Underground Railroad “Safe House,” a designation organizers say mirrors the themes of refuge, struggle and deliverance that ran through Simmons’ music and public life. The ordination is being framed as a symbolic acknowledgment of what the Center calls Simmons’ lifelong ministry — one carried out not from a pulpit, but through microphones, stages and records consumed by millions.

“Earl Simmons wrestled with God in the public square, turning his pain into a ministry of raw truth,” said Bishop Dr. Osiris Imhotep, founder of the Gospel Cultural Center, in a statement announcing the service. “This ordination recognizes the divine calling he fulfilled every time he spoke a prayer into a microphone.”

The Gospel Cultural Center is a faith-based cultural organization that focuses on the intersection of Black history, spirituality and contemporary art. While it is not a traditional denominational authority, the Center has previously organized public ceremonies and educational programming intended to reinterpret cultural figures through a spiritual lens. Organizers emphasized that the ordination is not meant to retroactively position Simmons as a conventional clergy member, but rather to formally recognize the spiritual leadership he exercised in public view.

That leadership was never subtle.

From his 1998 debut “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot” through the height of his commercial run and beyond, DMX made prayer inseparable from his artistic identity. Nearly every studio album included a spoken or sung prayer — moments of vulnerability that stood in stark contrast to the aggression and volatility surrounding them.

Those prayers weren’t ornamental. They were confessions.

On “Prayer (Skit)” from “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot,” “Ready to Meet Him” from “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood,” “Prayer III” on “And Then There Was X,” “Prayer IV” on “The Great Depression,” “Prayer V” on “Grand Champ,” and later “Lord Give Me a Sign” from “Year of the Dog… Again,” Simmons repeatedly returned to the same themes: fear, accountability, temptation, mercy.

He prayed on record the way others flexed — publicly, imperfectly and without reassurance that redemption was guaranteed.

That tension reached its most vivid expression in the “Damien” trilogy, a three-part narrative spread across albums in which Simmons dramatized conversations with the devil, temptation embodied, and the internal war between faith and self-destruction. Rather than resolve the conflict, the songs left it open — a refusal of tidy salvation arcs that made his spiritual struggle feel uncomfortably real.

Off record, the pattern continued. DMX frequently broke into prayer during concerts, award appearances and interviews, moments that disarmed audiences and confounded expectations of what a rap superstar was supposed to sound like. His faith was not performative piety; it was confrontation.

The ordination announcement has been met with reflection rather than spectacle — a response that mirrors Simmons’ complicated legacy. For many fans, the idea of DMX as a minister feels less like reinvention and more like acknowledgment of something already present.

In April 2021, following Simmons’ death, Black Westchester published a tribute issue examining his cultural and spiritual impact. In an essay titled “DMX Was a Modern-Day Paul the Apostle,” the argument wasn’t that Simmons was righteous, but that he was relentless — unwilling to separate belief from brokenness.

That refusal is what made his prayers resonate then — and why they still do.

The upcoming service does not resolve the contradictions that defined Earl Simmons’ life. It doesn’t erase addiction, violence or failure. It doesn’t pretend faith fixed what suffering didn’t.

What it does — carefully, symbolically — is place those contradictions inside a longer Black spiritual tradition: one that allows testimony without triumph, prayer without purity, and ministry without perfection.

For an artist who spent his career asking God for strength rather than forgiveness, that framing may be the most honest recognition of all.

Atlanta Rapper Lil Deco Recovering After Being Shot During Miami Robbery

Atlanta rapper Lil Deco appears in an undated social media photo. Police say he was shot during an alleged robbery in Miami, an incident investigators believe stemmed from an Atlanta dispute. He is expected to recover.

A dispute that began in Atlanta followed a rising rapper hundreds of miles south over the weekend — and nearly cost him his life.

Miami police say Atlanta rapper Lil Deco was shot Saturday afternoon during an attempted robbery inside the city’s Design District, an upscale shopping area known for luxury retailers and celebrity foot traffic. Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from an ongoing conflict involving individuals who all traveled from Atlanta, according to law enforcement officials briefed on the case.

Police say the rapper was inside the Supreme store when he encountered people he knew from Atlanta and an argument broke out. Investigators allege that one suspect, identified as 25-year-old Jamar McCay, approached Lil Deco from behind, ripped a gold chain valued at approximately $22,000 from his neck, and ran from the store.

Lil Deco chased after him, police said. Once outside, another individual — still unidentified — ran up and opened fire, striking the rapper in the stomach.

A witness video captured paramedics loading Lil Deco into an ambulance as Miami police flooded the area and deployed SWAT units. Authorities later arrested McCay along with Omarian Phillips, 20, and Cavon Smith, 21, at a nearby residence. All three face charges including accessory after the fact and possession of a firearm, weapon, or ammunition by a convicted felon. Police continue to search for the alleged shooter.

Lil Deco remains hospitalized but is expected to make a full recovery. He declined to comment on the incident, telling reporters via Instagram direct message that he is focused on healing.

While Lil Deco has not yet crossed into mainstream recognition, his name carries weight in Atlanta’s street-rap ecosystem — a space where visibility is often earned before safety follows.

He has built a following through local buzz, social media presence and an image rooted in the same aspirational language that has fueled Southern rap for decades: success made visible through fashion, jewelry and proximity to status.

That visibility, police say, may have made him a target far from home.

For national hip-hop audiences, the shooting lands as another chapter in a long, unresolved story. As rap has grown more decentralized — with artists moving quickly between cities, festivals, and fashion districts — personal conflicts no longer stay local. Old disputes travel. So do the consequences.

Jewelry, long a symbol of survival and self-made success in hip-hop, again sits at the center of a violent encounter. From pioneers to newcomers, artists at every level of fame have been forced to navigate the same reality: visibility can elevate, but it can also expose.

Lil Deco survived. Others have not.

The case stands as a stark reminder that in hip-hop, momentum often arrives before protection.

Violinist Alleges Sexual Harassment, Retaliation Tied To Will Smith Tour

Will Smith has been named in a civil lawsuit filed by a tour violinist alleging sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination connected to Smith’s 2025 “Based on a True Story” album and tour. Smith has denied the allegations through his attorney.

An electric violinist who worked with Will Smith during the entertainer’s recent return to music has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court accusing Smith and his company of sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination — allegations Smith has denied through his attorney.

The plaintiff, Brian King Joseph, is a classically trained violinist who gained national attention after finishing third on Season 13 of “America’s Got Talent.” In the complaint, filed this week, Joseph alleges he was hired to perform on Smith’s 2025 “Based on a True Story” tour and to contribute to the album of the same name, before being dismissed after reporting what he described as a serious safety incident during a March tour stop in Las Vegas.

Joseph did not publicly name Smith when he first discussed the situation on social media. In a Dec. 27 Instagram video posted days before the lawsuit was filed, Joseph said he had been hired for “a major, major tour with somebody who is huge in the industry,” but explained that he could not share details at the time because the matter had become legal.

“Some things happened that I can’t talk about yet,” Joseph said in the video. “But getting fired or blamed or shamed or threatened or anything like that simply for reporting sexual misconduct or safety threats at work is not OK.”

Joseph added, “I know that there are a lot of people out there who are afraid to say something. If that’s you, I see you.”

 

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Smith and Treyball Studios Management Inc. are named explicitly in the lawsuit. Legal filings, unlike social media posts, require plaintiffs to identify defendants and allege specific conduct under penalty of perjury.

According to the complaint, Joseph and Smith began a professional relationship in late 2024 after Joseph performed at two shows in San Diego. Joseph alleges he was later invited to perform violin parts on tracks for Smith’s album and asked to join the European and United Kingdom leg of the tour.

The lawsuit centers on an incident Joseph says occurred in March while the tour was in Las Vegas. According to the complaint, Joseph misplaced a bag containing his hotel room key and later returned to his room to find what he alleges was evidence of an unauthorized entry with a sexualized intent. The filing states that Joseph discovered a handwritten note addressed to him by name that read, “Brian, I’ll be back no later [sic] 5:30, just us,” followed by a hand-drawn heart.

The complaint further alleges that items left behind in the room included wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, an earring and a bottle of HIV medication bearing another individual’s name, as well as hospital discharge paperwork belonging to someone Joseph did not know. Joseph alleges the presence of the note and belongings led him to believe the room had been entered in anticipation of a sexual encounter without his consent.

Joseph claims he feared the unknown individual would return to his room and reported the incident to hotel security, representatives for Smith’s team and local authorities using a non-emergency police line, according to the lawsuit. Hotel security found no signs of forced entry, the complaint states. Joseph requested a new room and returned home the following day.

Several days later, Joseph alleges, he was informed by a representative for Smith’s company that his services were no longer needed and that the tour was “going in a different direction.” The complaint further alleges that Joseph was accused of fabricating the hotel incident and that his termination was retaliatory.

Joseph alleges the experience caused emotional distress, reputational harm and economic loss, and that the stress contributed to anxiety, post-traumatic stress and other health issues. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney fees, in an amount to be determined at trial.

Smith, through attorney Allen B. Grodsky, has denied the allegations. In a statement provided to media outlets, Grodsky said Joseph’s claims are “false, baseless and reckless,” adding that they are “categorically denied” and that Smith will “use all legal means available” to contest them and “ensure that the truth is brought to light.”

Smith has not commented personally on the lawsuit.