Did Jay-Z and Beyoncé buy DMX’s masters?
A lot of people are asking that did Jay-Z and Beyonce buy DMX’s masters? In this article, we shall find answers to this question. Just take your time and read on. Following the death of American rapper DMX real name Earl Simmons on 9th April, 2021, questions have been raised on his legacy. Undoubtedly, he’s…
A lot of people are asking that did Jay-Z and Beyonce buy DMX’s masters?
In this article, we shall find answers to this question. Just take your time and read on.
Following the death of American rapper DMX real name Earl Simmons on 9th April, 2021, questions have been raised on his legacy.
Undoubtedly, he’s one of the big names in the history of music. Hence, a lot of people are concerned about his heritage — and how revenues generated thereof would be shared among his 15 children and baby mamas.
At the back of all these questions, rumours have popped up that Jay-Z and Beyonce has teamed up and bought DMX’s masters for a whooping sum of $10million.
The grapevines also added that the the power couple did this so that the music rights can be given to the late rapper’s 17 kids.
How the rumours begun
It all started when a Twitter handle @phenoreporters made a tweet thanking Jay-Z for a legendary act for the culture of hip hop.
“Jay Z and Beyonce are buying back DMX’s masters for $10,000,000.00 and will give it to his 17 kids for free”, part of the tweet reads.
They added no source to their tweet.
Now the question still is, Did Jay-Z and Beyoncé buy DMX’s masters?
Let’s dig into this.
So far, the rumours are unconfirmed. Because neither Jay-Z, Beyoncé nor the record label of DMX has come out to confirm or deny it.
People are still circulating it on social media saying that it could be true given Jay-Z history of kindness to his fellow rappers over the years.
For now, we’ll take this as one of those internet rumours until we hear something officially from the Carter family.
Nonetheless, social media users are already excited that it’ll be nice if Jay-Z actually did this.
One Twitter user wrote: “I seen something about Jay-Z and Beyoncé buying back DMX’s masters and giving it to his kids. If that’s true, they legit the Fairly Odd Parents of hip hop.”
Another wrote: “If this Beyoncé/Jay-Z Buying DMX masters news is real…this would be AMAZING”
DMX doesn’t have 17 kids
Another thing which is not true about the number of children mentioned in the rumours is the total number of kids that DMX left behind.
True is he has 15 kids and not 17.
According to Distractify, before DMX and Tashera got divorced in 2012, they welcomed four children together. However, DMX was a father to more than those kids. He had an additional 11 children from several different women, taking the total amount of kids DMX had to 15.
Facts gathered by Snopes
Heading further, a fact-checking website Snopes.com has lay out some facts about these rumours.
According to the above mentioned portal, a “master” is a term typically used to describe the original sound recording and copyright of a song.
When an artist or label records a song, they are also creating an original sound that is protected under U.S. copyright law, leaving the owner with the right to do what they want with the work, such as grant third-party licenses, according to the U.S. Copyright Office.
A look through the copyright public records showed that as of April 11, DMX’s most well-known records were not registered to either Jay-Z or Beyonce.
DMX’s first released 1998 album, “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot,” was registered on May 5, 1998, to Rush Associated Labels Records and published by the record label Def Jam Music Group (314 558 227-2), which is owned by Universal Music Group. (Jay-Z took over as the CEO and president of Def Jam in 2004 but did not renew his contract for the role in 2007.)
Copyright registrations for some of DMX’s other most well-known albums revealed the following:
- “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood” was registered on Dec. 22, 1998, to Rush Associated Labels Recordings and published by Def Jam Music Group (314 538 639-2).
- “… And Then There Was X” was registered on April 12, 2000, to Island Def Jam Music Group and published by Def Jam (314 546 933-2).
- “The Great Depression” was registered on Nov. 23, 2001, to Island Def Jam Music Group and published by Def Jam (314 586 450-2).
- “Grand Champ” was registered on Dec. 16, 2003, to Island Def Jam Music Group and published by Def Jam (440 063 369-2).
- Two tracks and some sampled sounds were registered from “Year of the Dog… Again” on Sept. 29, 2006, by Sony BMG Music Entertainment. A video track was also registered on July 26, 2006, by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
- A song on the album “Undisputed” was registered on July 25, 2013, by Earl Simmons and five other listed individuals — none of whom were Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter) or Beyonce (Beyonce Giselle Knowles).
Furthermore, DMX is the father to 15 children by nine different women — not 17 as the post in question claimed.
Because this claim was not corroborated by any credible reports, and a look through the most current copyright filings did not reveal any links to Jay-Z or Beyonce, we rate this claim “False.”
