DMX lawyers to play DMX songs in court in effort to convince judge rapper should not go to jail

Lawyer says 'Ruff Ryders' Anthem' rapper may be too overwhelmed with emotion to speak and that the music will help US District Judge Jed Rakoff 'understand him genuinely in his voice'

DMX was one of the biggest rap stars from the 1990s to the 2000s (Mike Lawrie/Getty)

DMX's legal team will play the rapper’s songs in court in an attempt encourage a judge to show him leniency.

The musician’s lawyer Murray Richman said in a court document released on Monday that he wants to play a number of DMX tunes at the rapper's sentencing on Thursday in Manhattan.

The lawyer said the rapper, also known as Earl Simmons, may be too overwhelmed with emotion to speak and that the music will help US District Judge Jed Rakoff "understand him genuinely in his voice”.

The lawyer sent the judge lyrics to "Slippin"' and "The Convo” alongside other compositions.

The 47-year-old, whose is known for hit singles "X Gon' Give it to Ya” and "Party Up (Up in Here)", has been imprisoned since his bail was rescinded in January by Judge Rakoff, who reproached him for failing to adhere to bail conditions.

According to Mr Richman, the hip hop star has been grateful for the his time spent at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He said he was "sober now and invigorated”.

"It was a salvation of sort to shut out the noise," Mr Richman wrote.

The lawyer said: ”It is raw Earl. We are not here or desirous of moulding him into what some may want to see; Earl is uniquely him and that is both his beauty of mind and his genius.”

Mr Richman proposed "a unique resolution” which included an up to 60-day study of his client by qualified consultants rather than prison. He suggested it might help Simmons to be deemed rehabilitated and thus allow him to return to the stage where he is able to earn money to pay back $1.7 million in taxes and support his 15 children.

The rapper, who is also a record producer and actor, had a busy concert schedule booked through July when his bail was revoked.

Born in Mount Vernon in New York, he pleaded guilty to a tax evasion charge in November. It was the culmination of a federal investigation that resolved he had failed to pay taxes on millions of dollars in income accumulated from 2002 through to 2005 as his hip hop records sold millions.

In papers filed last week, prosecutors pursued a five-year prison sentence and branded DMX's crime brazen.

They called on Mr Rakoff to use the sentencing "to send the message to this defendant and others that star power does not entitle someone to a free pass.”

The government said DMX was attempting to transfer blame for his tax payment failure on to managers and lawyers.

It claimed he took home more than $2.3 million between 2010 and 2015 but failed to pay anything towards tax liabilities. Prosecutors said he organised for hundreds of thousands of dollars of music royalties to be put into the bank accounts of managers and then portions disbursed to him in cash or used to pay his expenses.

They said he also demanded that his $125,000 payment in 2011 and 2012 for taking part in a reality TV show called Couples Therapy be reissued without withholding taxes.

DMX, who published a book of his memoirs titled E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX in 2003, was born Earl Simmons in Mount Vernon but was raised in Yonkers, New York. He was brought up in the Jehovah's Witness faith.

DMX was one of the biggest rap stars from the 1990s to the 2000s. The musician's first five albums debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Additional reporting by Associated Press