***FILE PHOTOS*** DMX DEAD AT 50 Rap legend DMX has passed away, a week after he was hospitalised following a heart attack. The hip-hop veteran had been under doctors' care in White Plains, New York since 2 April (21), and was placed on life support, with his manager revealing he was in a "vegetative state with lung and brain failure". DMX's family members confirmed his death to The Associated Press on Friday (09Apr21). A statement reads: "We are deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50-years-old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days." The tragic news emerges a day after reports suggested the results of brain function tests performed on the star, who had a long history of substance abuse, were "not good". The New York native began rapping in the early 1990s and burst onto the hip-hop scene in 1998 with his classic debut album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, the first of eight studio releases throughout his career. It catapulted him to fame with singles like Ruff Ryders' Anthem and Slippin', which famously chronicled his troubled teenage years. He followed it up with the 1999 release ... And Then There Was X, which featured his hit song Party Up (Up In Here), both of which earned DMX his first two Grammy Award nominations. His other hit songs included We Right Here, X Gon' Give It to Ya, Where the Hood At?, and Get It on the Floor. He also established himself as an actor, making his movie debut in 1998's Belly, and going on to star in Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, and Cradle 2 the Grave. He additionally made a guest appearance in Chris Rock's 2014 comedy Top Five. DMX's latter years were dogged by legal troubles, often linked to drug addiction, and in 2016, he suffered a near-fatal overdose in a Westchester County hotel parking lot. He subsequently checked himself into a rehab facility in 2017 and again in 2019. (MT/AP/MT) DMX