S. Samuel
New York rapper DMX's recently cancelled Arizona "gospel rap extravaganza" church concert scheduled for today was reportedly nixed over the sort of audience it would attract and not the actual emcee.
According to reports, the event’s cancellation was primarily influenced by celebrity status.
When district leaders at the school level learned that DMX would perform at the school, they canceled the event with only three days notice. The district says they were worried about the crowds a celebrity performance would bring to the school, the pastor is now going to move the event to a smaller venue. (Fox News)
The show was called off days after it was officially announced online.
Arizona’s Independence High School — who were to host the performance — backed out, after they realized X was involved. Morning Star Sanctified Church’s Pastor Barbara King says that they had everything set to go, even taking out a $1 million insurance policy, but the school just didn’t want to move foward after finding out who the performer was. Independence High School has already agreed to refund the church’s $500 deposit, and now the church will have to refund money to fans who already purchased tickets. However, King says they plan to reschedule the concert. (BallerStatus)
Details on the event began to spread earlier this week.
TMZ has learned the oft-incarcerated rapper, real name Earl Simmons, agreed to perform at the Morning Star Sanctified Church for a fundraiser this Saturday — and he’s doing it for free. According to Pastor Barbara King, DMX and his family have been members of the congregation for eight months now and he really wanted to help raise money for repairs. We’re told the school holding the event is amping up security because they’re unsure of what kind of crowd the convicted felon will draw. Tickets are going from $35-$40 a pop. FYI — We’re also told DMX doesn’t swear anymore … so we have absolutely no idea what he’s going to perform. (TMZ)
After his release from jail in May 2009, X spoke on being influenced by God to better his ways.
“I feel great man, I feel good man,” X said over the phone. “Doing a lot of praying, lot of people been praying for me. Wanna thank everybody praying for me, all the prayers worked. Yeah man, get back to this music thing. The movies, I got the industry waiting right now. But I gotta say it’s through the grace of God that I made it through this thing, because I’ve been to jail before, jail ain’t really nothing, but here in Arizona is a whole ‘nother situation man. They feed you two times a day, they got you wearing stripes in pink. It’s reckless man. I did some soul searching when I was in there, I actually read the whole Bible when I was in jail.” (“Strawberry In The Morning”)
Check out a past DMX interview below:
