DMX Estate Battles Rapper's Longtime Friend Over Unreleased Recordings
The estate of DMX is locked in a dispute with the late rapper's longtime friend DJ Superior over unreleased recordings, handwritten lyric sheets, and a claim to co-writing credits on DMX's breakout material.
DJ Superior, whose legal name is Michael Murray, says he recorded "street tapes" with DMX in his Yonkers apartment in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The two sold them from the trunks of cars. Murray says he rapped verses on the tapes, produced tracks on equipment he owned, and helped write songs that later became hits. He also claims he was in the hospital room on the night DMX died in April 2021, following a heart attack.
Murray says he now owns VHS videos, handwritten lyric sheets, and cassette tapes of never-released tracks tied to DMX, and he tried to auction some of those items over the past year. That move prompted a response from the estate's legal team. Attorneys for the estate's executors sent a series of cease-and-desist letters obtained by Billboard, stating that the physical items belong to the estate and that any streaming release of the music would trigger a copyright lawsuit. In a June letter, the lawyers wrote that the estate "will seek all available relief" against Murray and anyone acting with him in connection with unauthorized releases of DMX's work. Billboard
Estate manager Ashley Austin, whose company Artist Legacy Group oversees rights licensing for late artists including Sam Cooke, said in a statement to Billboard that the estate had made "substantial good faith efforts" to reach a resolution but called Superior "unreasonable." Austin said any unreleased DMX material cannot be commercially distributed, published, released or licensed without the estate's consent, and warned that Murray or any party attempting to exploit such material risks legal action.
Murray's manager, Jonah Levine, told Billboard they remain eager to reach a deal with the estate to release the music, calling it "a piece of history" that fans deserve to hear.
DMX, born Earl Simmons, was one of the defining rap stars of the late 1990s. He placed 16 tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 — the US singles chart — with hits including "Ruff Ryders' Anthem," "Party Up (Up In Here)" and "What These Bitches Want." He was the first artist ever to have his first five albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200, the flagship US album chart.
Since his death, the estate has been run by his ex-fiancée Desiree Lindstrom and his daughter Sasha Simmons, with Artist Legacy Group managing day-to-day affairs. The estate's authority over DMX's intellectual property was affirmed in April 2025, when New York judge David F. Everett ruled that DMX's ex-wife Tashera Simmons was not entitled to a 50% share of his music catalog, copyrights, and likeness rights. Hot 97
For fans, the stakes are straightforward. Unreleased DMX recordings exist. Whether anyone hears them legally depends on who owns them — a question the estate says is settled, and that Murray's camp says is still open to negotiation.
