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DMX reveals how his crack addiction began at age 14

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Noam Galai/Getty ImagesDMX has opened up about how his hip-hop mentor introduced him to crack at the age of 14.

In an emotional interview on People’s Party with Talib Kweli, the “Party Up (Up In Here)” rapper revealed that the same man who ignited his hip-hop career also started his crack addiction when he was a teenager in Yonkers, New York.

X reminisced about how a local rapper, Ready Ron, encouraged him to write his own lyrics. He added that his mentor was a blessing and also a curse.

The legendary artist, born Earl Simmons, recalled how one day, Ron, who was 30 years old, passed him a blunt. X had never been involved in drugs and when he took a toke, he recalled he never felt that way before. He later learned it was laced with crack.

“Why would you do this to a child,” he recalled asking Ron. “He knew I looked up to him. Why would you do that to someone who looked up to you?”

X remembered that was the day his drug problems began. “The monster was born.”

“The person I loved was a snake,” he continued. “He acted like he loved me.”

DMX praised Kweli and thanked him for being the one person he could open up to about his drug history.

“I learned that I had to deal with the things that hurt me,” he shared. “I didn’t really have anybody to talk to… in the hood, nobody wants to hear that… Talking about your problems is viewed as a sign of weakness when actually it’s one of the bravest things you can do. One of the bravest things you can do is put it on the table, chop it up, and just let it out.”

By Ken Simmons
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