DMX, the rapper also known as Earl Simmons, leaves Manhattan federal court in August 2017 after an appearance in his tax fraud case. Photo: AP/Larry Neumeister.
Playing the music video for one of his own hit songs for a federal judge at a sentencing Wednesday did not spare rapper Earl Simmons, better known as DMX, from receiving a one-year prison term for tax evasion.
But Simmons’ defense team said playing the video for DMX’s 1998 song “Slippin’,” in which the rapper describes his struggles early in life and his desire to improve himself, may have been a factor in swaying U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York from taking the government’s recommendation of up to five years in prison.
