Kanye West and his Sunday Service Choir gave DMX a glorious sendoff this weekend, and now the College Dropout rapper has a gift for the late Earl Simmons’ family as well. The Good Music boss commissioned a custom DMX T-Shirt designed by Balenciaga, which sold out in 24 hours. The shirts retailed for $200 and went on sale Saturday, April 24, 2021, the same day as DMX’s memorial. Sales already have grossed $1 million, and all proceeds will be given to X’s family.
Kanye and the Sunday Service Choir flipped Soul II Soul’s classic “Keep On Moving” for the tribute and his team reportedly helped design the stage where DMX’s Sunday service choir performed and where guests spoke in honor of him. TMZ also reported that Kanye asked renowned visual artist Akeem Smith to help design the layout, which was an elaborate set-piece of an inverted pyramid.
DMX’s memorial services continued on Sunday, April 25, with his “homecoming celebration,” and during the event, it was announced that Dec. 18 will be Earl “DMX” Simmons Day. Dec. 18 was the rapper’s birth date. Priscilla Echi, a community activist in Westchester County, New York, and Erica Ford, the co-founder of Life Camp Inc., an organization established to prevent gun violence, presented the news during the homegoing celebration.
“Our New York State Senate has called Dec. 18 Earl ‘DMX’ Simmons Day. His lyrics were rapped on the Senate floor by Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who introduced a resolution in his honor,” Echi told the audience. She also noted the many proclamations in DMX’s honor from New York political leaders, including Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard.
Senate Resolution 631 was introduced on the New York State Senate floor on Tuesday, April 20, by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and co-sponsored by Bailey, who represents the state’s 36th Senate District, mourning the star’s death. DMX received a few more proclamations from government officials, and his family was given the state flag, which was flown on April 9, the day he died, as well.
Bailey also remembered DMX last week when he co-sponsored the honor for the Ruff Ryder MC.
“In New York, we have our own hip-hop royalty. He’s the Earl of Westchester County, he is DMX, he is one of the greatest hip-hop artists that we will ever know. Phenomenal actor, phenomenal for the culture,” Bailey said. “Someone who gave us so much in the hip-hop generation. As a kid who’s been raised by hip-hop, I am grateful not just for the accomplishments that DMX has given, but I’m more happy about the impact that Earl Simmons left on the world. May he rest in peace, and may his memory be a blessing.”
Check out the video of Baily honoring DMX on the following page as well as Kanye and the choir giving DMX his sendoff.
