DMX’s homegoing celebration on Sunday was an amalgamation of Black love and preservation of hip-hop culture.
During the rapper’s funeral service, two sisters in the movement– Erica Ford, cofounder of Life Camp, and Priscilla Echi, a community activist from Westchester county, revealed that the state of New York declared December 18– Earl “DMX” Simmons Day.
“Our New York State Senate has called December 18 Earl “DMX” Simmons Day,” Echi announced. “His lyrics were rapped on the Senate floor by Senator Jamal Bailey, who introduced a resolution in his honor.
The celebratory acknowledgment falls on DMX’s birthday.
On April 20, the New York State Senate adopted Senate Resolution 631– “Mourning the untimely death of DMX.” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins introduced the bill.
Senator Bailey proudly delivered a moving eulogy honoring the deceased rapper while on the Senate floor.
“In New York, we have our own hip hop royalty,” Bailey said. “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. Someone who gave us so much in the hip-hop generation. As a kid whose 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.”
Indeed.