DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, filed suit April 26 claiming Rich Kid Entertainment 1 and other companies were really good at collecting royalties on his behalf, but not so keen on paying him. The lawsuit also says the company granted labels permission to reproduce his work without his knowledge.
The rapper apparently didn’t know about the alleged missing royalties until recently. But you can’t blame him for being late to the balance sheet. He’s spent a considerable amount of time sitting in a Phoenix jail, or trying to stay out of one.
He’s currently serving a six-month sentence for violating probation by failing a drug test. Before that he was jailed for three months on theft, animal cruelty and drug possession charges resulting from a 2007 arrest when law enforcement officials discovered drug paraphernalia, guns, ammunition and three dead dogs at his Phoenix-area home.
But that’s just the tip of the legal iceberg that is DMX, who has spent a good portion of the last 10 years in various legal systems. In 2008 he pleaded guilty in Miami to attempted cocaine and marijuana possession. In 2006 he was arrested and released in London after an episode on a commercial flight where he became abusive after refusing to put on a seat belt.
Then there was that time in 2004 when he pleaded guilty to claiming he was a federal agent and crashed his SUV through a security gate at JFK International Airport. So he’s had plenty of experience with the law, lawyers and looking at the world from behind bars.
“From 2000 through 2008, [DMX] was in and out of jail and changed representatives numerous times,” the lawsuit states. “These were some of the factors contributing to any delay.”
But filing the lawsuit is one thing. Finding the company might be a tad difficult. Associated Press reports it couldn’t find a phone number for New Jersey-based Rich Kid Entertainment 1, saying it faxed a message to a number believed to belong to the company, but received no reply.
Click here to read the Associated Press account.