Did Jay-Z and Beyonce buy DMX's masters? No, that's not true: The family of DMX, born Earl Simmons, released a statement about the late rapper saying the speculations were false.
The claim originated from a now deleted post (archived here) from a Facebook page titled "All We Need Is Hip Hop" on April 11, 2021. It opened:
Jay Z and Beyonce are buying back DMX's masters for $10 Million & will give to his 17 kids for free
This is what the post looked like on Facebook as of April 13, 2021:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Apr 13 19:10:20 2021 UTC)
Lead Stories interviewed Murray Richman, Simmons' attorney, by phone on April 14, 2021. Asked about the ownership of DMX's masters, Richman said, "Jay-Z and Beyonce did not buy DMX's masters."
The Facebook post also claims that DMX had 17 children. Richman said, "I have known Earl for 25 years, he was a very popular man, but to the best of my ability, I believe the number was 15."
Simmons died on April 9, 2021.
