Public memorial for DMX to take place in Brooklyn next weekend

DMX will be honoured at a public memorial in Brooklyn next weekend, the late rapper’s manager has confirmed.

The hip-hop legend died last week (April 9) after suffering a heart attack on April 2 that was reportedly caused by an overdose.

Speaking to TMZ, DMX’s manager Steve Rifkind said fans would be able to pay their respects to the star at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center arena next Saturday (April 24). The event will take place one day before DMX’s funeral, which will take the form of a private service held at a church in the New York City area.

At present, further details have yet to be confirmed, including how ticketing will be organised and how many fans will be allowed to attend. Barclays Center is open, but can currently only have 10 percent of its usual capacity inside due to New York’s coronavirus restrictions.

Yonkers mayor Mike Spano offered DMX’s family the use of the outdoor Yonkers Raceway for a memorial event, but they chose to hold it at Barclays instead. The rapper grew up in the city which lies just north of Manhattan and The Bronx.

According to TMZ, Spano still plans to commemorate the rapper in some form, with possible plans including a permanent statue or naming a street after him.

A new song featuring DMX, French Montana and Swizz Beatz was released earlier today (April 16). ‘Been To War’ was written for the series Godfather Of Harlem and found DMX rapping on the chorus: “You tried to catch me motherfucker, I’ma burn this shit here.”

Following his death, streams of the star’s music rose by 928 percent in the US. On April 9 and 10, his songs racked up a total of 75.7million streams across audio and video, compared to 7.36million on April 7 and 8.