A public memorial for DMX to take place at Barclays Center

Due to the virus it is unclear how many people will be allowed at the event

Apr 16, 2021

Rap star DMX will have a public memorial, his former manager, Steve Rifkind announced today.

The Barclays Center will host the event slated to happen on Saturday, April 24. Capacity will be limited due to COVID-19, per TMZ.

The arena, home to the Brooklyn Nets, has a capacity of 19,000. There is no information yet on how ticketing will work.

DMX thegrio.com — DMX performs at Masters Of Ceremony 2019 at Barclays Center on June 28, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, will be celebrated by family and other loved ones who will attend a private church ceremony on Sunday, April 25 in New York City.

Yonkers, New York mayor Mike Spano is considering commissioning a statue or naming a street after the rapper as he was a native of the city which is almost an hour from Manhattan. Yonkers Raceway was floated as a place to hold a memorial, but its capacity of just 7500 likely made it impractical to host it there.

Though it has been just two weeks since the rapper’s untimely death on April 9, there is already interest in doing a biopic and one actor says he wants the role.

“So everybody talks about like, DMX is not the greatest rapper alive. I understand that. Everybody talks about Tupac. Everybody talks about Biggie. Everybody talks about Jay Z, Andre 3000, Eminem, Kendrick,” Supergirl actor Mechad Brooks told SiriusXM’s The Clay Cane Show.

In this 2015 photo, DMX performs on Day One of the 2015 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival at The Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. (Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images for Coachella)

“Got it. But DMX spoke to me in a way that no other rapper did, DMX was our heavy metal. He was our heavy metal. And I liked Metallica, I liked Mötley Crüe, I liked that kind of stuff. I grew up with a varied taste in music, and so when I heard DMX, I was like, this is our rockstar. This is our heavy metal rockstar. So I grew up just like this [shows fingers crossed] with DMX in my ears the whole time.”

When Cane asked if Brooks would take on the role, he said he’d love to play the iconic rapper.

“Listen, I would be blessed,” Brooks, 40, who plays James Olsen on Supergirl, said. “I would honor his memory in such a way, and I would be honored and humbled. From your lips to God’s ears… We’ll see.”

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DMX performed at the Barclays Center in 2019 as part of the Masters of Ceremony tour. It would be his last performance at the venue.

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