DMX's Lawyer Wants to Play His Music at Sentencing

DMX is hoping that his music will help him get through another legal ordeal. The New York rapper’s lawyer Murray Richman claims he wants to play a few tracks during his tax evasion sentencing on Thursday (March 29), according to legal documents.

Richman’s goal is to help U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff better understand DMX, born Earl Simmons, through his voice. He says the grizzled veteran may be too emotional to speak at the sentencing, so perhaps his music can do it for him. He submitted lyrics to “Slippin'” and “The Convo.”

“It is raw Earl,” he explained (per Billboard). “We are not here or desirous of molding him into what some may want to see; Earl is uniquely him, and that is both his beauty of mind and his genius.”

“Slippin'” appeared on 1998’s Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. “The Convo” was part of that same year’s It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot.

X pled guilty to tax evasion in November. By January, Rakoff jailed the Ruff Ryders star and revoked his bail. At the time, he also lectured the rapper for being unable to follow bail restrictions. Now, Richman is hoping for a “unique resolution” to the case in place of prison time while prosecutors are seeking a five-year sentence.

Richman hopes that X can soon return to performing. After all, he has debts to pay, including $1.7 million in back taxes. He also has 15 children to support, according to the lawyer.