The worst part of his death, as well as all those who have died in similar circumstance before him is that they were victims of their supposedly inner circle who helped them engage in their drug habit. These celebrities usually surround themselves with only the people who hopelessly cheer them on, who allow and encourage them to indulge in whatever they like including drugs. These hangers-on are fully aware of the eventual deathly destination of these druggie celebrities but being too compromised because of the lucre of their close association, they just egg them on. They see them as cash cows to be milked, without really loving them or caring about what becomes of them as a result of their drug habit. For them it is business and as long as they make money out of them, they could jump off the cliff for all they care.
We have lost enough of them already and all effort going forward should be to prevent further loss of these people. Such action demands tough love and everything possibly within human powers should always be deployed first, proactively, before the camping outside their hospital room windows and praying for the miracle of their recovery from drug overdose ever begins. Such is a solution based grieve and not the after the fact cry me a river superfluousness, as many are not indeed sincerely sad that he died but they have to join the bandwagon of the Jones of the grieving just to participate and be seen as mourning the loss of DMX.
If DMX had been shot like Tupac and Biggie Small, the world of his fans, including ICHEOKU, would have mourned uncontrollably. If DMX had died in a plane crash or a helicopter crash like Kobe Bryant, he would have received a Kobe like general outpouring of grief. Even if he had died in a car crash or in his sleep, it would have been far much better and easier to absorb. But to die from a voluntarily ingested drug overdose is neither understandable nor acceptable and should be condemned. It is sad. Now that his enablers have killed him, unto their next victim they will migrate with their fake praise singing and hollering and the cycle goes on.
Prince Phillip of England, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of the Queen Eliza of England just died at 99 years and 10 months old. That is almost 50 years of life more than DMX who died at 50; and you ask yourself what is wrong if DMX had lived for that long and was in a position to have seen his children's children and their children. What is wrong in being a great great grandfather. But no, they got him hooked up on drugs and he got addicted to it; and instead of fiercely intervening by whatever means possible, including shipping him off to some distance desolate land for rehabilitation, where he cannot have any access to his demon choice of drug, they treated them as a big boy who knew what he wanted and what he was doing and a fully grown up man who can make his own decision.
But these enablers forgot that even an old man can be mentally sick and in some case, too sick to even have the full command of their faculty. Britany Spear is one person ICHEOKU always gives an example of, who beat her own monkey and is still alive, well and enjoying the world. Luckily for her, people who truly love her were present to intervene at whatever cost and they are the only reason Brittany Spear is still alive today and not gone with the wind of drugs since. Whitney Houston told the world on Oprah Winfrey's show that crack is whack, DMX did not listen nor did he hearken to her admonition and crack whacked him. Such a willful suicide, whether accidental or not, does not deserve any sympathy, at least not ICHEOKU's. It is like playing with fire, aware that fire may burn you and then your body catches fire and you are burnt.
When you willingly start putting stuff right into your nostrils or injecting them intravenously or popping them as pills, fully aware of the associated risks including heart-attack triggering sudden death, who do you blame when you eventually succumbs to its induced death. Sympathy is good when there is no fault or responsibility on the part of the departed, but in this case it is not deserving because it was a self inflicted harm. For a man who populated this world with fifteen human beings, more was expected of him including not to go out of this world in such a disgraceful manner. He contributed so much to hiphop culture and there were many people he made happy with his music and in other ways but he diminished himself and tarnished his image by overdosing on drugs.
To some people, his drug addiction was a sickness and to them ICHEOKU says many sickness are curable including drug addiction. It was a habit which he willingly picked up and it is a habit which he could equally have willingly dropped in the same manner he willingly picked it. It was either he refused to part with it or it refused to part with him; but in any case, it was still a doable choice but he succumbed to it rather than kicking it off. His demon won over his spirit. Anyway, may his troubled soul now rest; and to those who loved him as well as the many children he left behind, may God comfort them in this period of their great loss. Nobody is proud that DMX died from drug overdose, especially his younger children who may be taunted in school as children of a drug addict who died from drug overdose. It is a shame.