Corridor Buzz - The Premier Source of Arts & Entertainment News and Information for the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor

Rapper DMX performs at Coralville Marriott Friday

By Loren Keller

Best-selling hardcore rapper DMX will perform an all-ages show at the Marriott Convention Center in Coralville Friday and part of the proceeds will benefit cancer research.

Opening the 7 p.m. show will be Iowa City’s Backdrop and Mike Page. Doors open at 5. Tickets, $30 in advance or $35 at the door, may be purchased online or at either InBox Fashions locations at 114 S. Clinton St. in Iowa City or the Coral Ridge Mall.

The concert is presented by AmazaShow.com and will be hosted by University of Iowa alumni and former KRUI radio personality Sid Mali, a.k.a. “Sid The Kid.”

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center and Children’s Hospital for research on children’s cancer. Mali’s company hosted a flood benefit at The Industry in downtown Iowa City in October 2008, featuring the Texas rock band Thee Armada.

"I wanted to turn the page and go in a different direction with my company by giving back,” Mali says. “I thought DMX would be a great fit based on the fact that he has played a great impact on the rap business — being the fifth best-selling rapper of all time — and his decision to change his life himself. It’s perfect for the situation as we help the cancer research unit, which is obviously an avenue that tries to help kids change their lives.”

DMX, born Earl Rose in 1970, takes his stage name from the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an instrument he used to make his own rap beats in the 1980s. DMX rose to fame in the late 1990s with his 1999 album ...And Then There Was X, which sold five million copies and featured the hit single “Party Up (Up in Here)”.

DMX has also appeared as an actor in the films “Belly,” “Exit Wounds,” “Cradle 2 The Grave,” Romeo Must Die” and “Last Hour,” and has starred in his own reality television series “Soul of A Man” on the BET cable channel.

The rapper has also been the subject of some controversy. In February he was sentenced to 90 days in jail and at least 18 months of supervised probation after his conviction on charges of theft, drug possession and animal cruelty, the Associated Press reported.

And last month, ESPN reports, DMX was hit with a $1 million lawsuit by promoters alleging the rapper and his manager scammed them using a fake management company and breached their contract with Thunder Promotions when DMX backed out of the “Alabama Pride” boxing match taking place in Birmingham this month.  The rapper had been scheduled to fight actor/MMA fighter Eric Martinez on Dec. 12.

Harrison Wheeler, co-founder of AmazaShow.com, says a rapper like DMX performing in Iowa is rare.

“This is something that Iowa doesn’t get to see a lot,” he says. “DMX is an icon when you look at him, not even just in terms of hip-hop, but pop culture.”