Who is Joe Barker? DMX's father did not want custody and cut off all contact with him and Arnett Simmons
Rapper DMX is no more, after losing his life to a drug overdose and subsequent heart attack, which took place on April 2. The artist was 50 years old at the time of his death. He is survived by his fiancée, Desiree Landstrom and his children, and his mother.
The rapper was open about his relationship with his estranged parents, seeing that while growing up, he suffered abuse at the hands of his mother, which led him to move in and out of children's homes, eventually leading to his drug abuse which began at the young age of 14. He has also spoken about how his father was completely out of the picture.
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DMX's troubled childhood was no secret, but, unfortunately, it was truly a dark one. While details are known about the rapper mother, Arnett Simmons, not much is known about his father, Joe Barker.
Who is DMX's father, Joe Barker?
Joe Barker, is DMX's father and as mentioned in the artist's 2002 autobiography, 'E.A.R.L.', he was an artist of sorts, seeing that rapper mentions his father only came to New York City when he had paintings to sell. Arnett and Barker were teen parents, seeing that Arnett was 19/20 years old when she was pregnant with the rapper while his father was 18 years old at the time. Arnett already had two daughters before having her son -- her oldest being Bonita at two years old and Shayla, who was born shortly after.
The birth of Simmons made her a mother of three. Barker reportedly made it evident that he did not want to be involved in his son's life. In his autobiography, he also mentioned that his father 'never called me on my birthday or helped raise me at all,' leaving him to suffer entirely at the hands of his mother.
In an interview with GQ, the artist spoke about how his mother knocked out his teeth when he was all of 6 years old. However, over the years, the musician went on to forgive his mother for what transpired over the years. In the same interview, he mentioned that he 'loves his mamma'.
"That doesn't mean I don't love her. That doesn't mean she's the same person. Children don't come with a f**king instruction manual. She was 20 when she had me. Four sisters; I'm the only boy. Maybe she didn't know what to do with me," the artist said when asked about the abuse he endured while growing up.
"I found out I just knew things that she didn't know when I was only six years old. I would get up at night sometimes to drink water because I was so hungry. And I saw something in her notebook that was open on the kitchen table. And it was wrong, so I erased it. I thought I was helping. I don't know what she thought I was doing, but… I don't know if she thought I was trying to sabotage her or whatever. I don't know what she thought. But she beat two teeth out of my fucking mouth with a broom, " he added, detailing one particularly harrowing incident of abuse.
Inspite of all this, the rapper found the strength to not only forgive his abusive mother, but his absent father as well.
"I think a lot of people struggle with forgiving their parents. In fact, I personally struggle with forgiving my parents," he explained. "But until you learn how to forgive others, you can't forgive yourself. You can't forgive yourself if you don't know how to forgive," he added.