Kanye West had a rather surprising role in this weekend’s home-going celebrations for DMX. Ahead of the memorial held at Barclays Center, Yeezy Brand and Balenciaga unveiled a tribute t-shirt that was commissioned by ‘Ye. It was released on Saturday while the memorial service began and quickly racked up nearly $1M in profit, sources close to ‘Ye told TMZ. At $200 a shirt, the DMX t-shirt sold out in 24 hours and Balenciaga already said that the proceeds from the sales will go towards X’s family.
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‘Ye’s involvement in the memorial service was deeper than the tribute t-shirt and Sunday Service Choir’s performance. As Swizz suggested on Saturday, Kanye West and the Yeezy tea designed the stage. Kanye enlisted Akeem Smith to help with the design which included an upside-down pyramid-like set. Images of X were displayed on screens surrounding both above and below the stage during the performances from Sunday Service.
X’s casket was driven to the Barclays Center on a Monster Truck with the Ruff Ryders appropriately riding behind. The funeral procession shut down traffic in New York City. NYPD said that road closures would begin at 12. Along with Kanye’s touch on the memorial service, Nas, Ruff Ryders including The LOX and Swizz Beatz, and X’s children all delivered speeches.
In related news, New York State has officially declared Dec. 18th Earl “DMX” Simmons Day. Read more about that here.