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DMX’s autobiography is soaring on the Amazon bestsellers list, days after the rapper’s death triggered an outpouring of support from both fans and artists alike.
First released in 2003, E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX, is currently #7 on Amazon’s list of arts and literature biographies (as of this writing) and it’s broken into the Top 50 chart of biographies overall. The book was billed as DMX’s memoirs, with the title a play on both the rapper’s real name (Earl Simmons) and an acronym for “Ever Always Real Life.”
Written by DMX alongside Smokey D. Fontaine, a former music editor at The Source, the book follows “The dark journey of a boy who became a man, the man who became an artist, and the artist who became an icon,” according to the publisher’s notes. “A talent for rhyme saved his life, but the demons and sins of his past continue to haunt him.”
The book’s prologue opens with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, that now seems eerily foreboding: “To live is to suffer, but to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.”
The accompanying chapters chronicle the rapper’s rise to fame, from his early days growing up in Yonkers, New York, to his record deal with Def Jam and creation of his first major label album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot. The final chapter in this now almost two-decades-old memoir is titled “May 19, 1998″ – the day his debut album hit number one on the Billboard charts.
Alongside DMX’s most memorable stories, the book also includes transcriptions of his most famous song lyrics. DMX’s biography is available now on paperback at Amazon.
DMX died from complications stemming from an apparent heart attack brought on by an accidental drug overdose in White Plains, New York last week. He was 50.
