DMX Suing Company for Unpaid Album Royalties

Former platinum-selling emcee DMX (Earl Simmons) has filed a lawsuit against an agency he hired for failing to retrieve his song royalties.   The case was filed yesterday (April 26) against Rich Kid Entertainment 1, who the Yonkers rapper accuses of paying him nothing from his popular multi-platinum albums while collecting the royalties themselves. In addition, X claims the company and its subsidiaries made their own side deals with his record labels to use his music.   According to representatives for DMX, the lawsuit has been in the works for the past year, but was plagued by numerous delays due to the rapper’s separate legal problems.   Currently, Simmons is serving a 6 month sentence in Phoenix for parole violation after failing a drug test. Last year, he served time in the same jurisdiction for drug possession, theft, and animal cruelty. In 2008, DMX pleaded guilty in Miami to attempted cocaine and marijuana possession.   Rich Kid Entertainment, which is based out of Englewood, New Jersey, had been employed by DMX for nearly 10 years.   From 1998-2003, X made music history by becoming the first artist to release 5 consecutive #1 albums. Of those 5, the first 3 albums were multi-platinum: It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot (4X), Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood (3X), …And There Was X (5X), The Great Depression (1X), and Grand Champ (1X). His last album, 2006’s Year of the Dog…Again, is his only album to debut #2, missing the #1 spot by roughly 100 copies.   At press time, representatives for Rich Kid Entertainment have not answered the complaint, nor has a court date been set.