The estate of late rap legend DMX is facing another legal dispute—this time involving longtime friend and collaborator DJ Superior and a collection of unreleased recordings made during the rapper’s earliest years.
According to Billboard, the estate and Superior are at odds over who has the rights to songs contained on decades-old tapes featuring DMX, whose real name was Earl Simmons. The recordings reportedly date back to the period before DMX became a global hip-hop superstar.
DJ Superior, who worked closely with DMX as his DJ, engineer, producer and longtime friend, has maintained a large archive of early material. Their relationship dates back to DMX’s Yonkers days, when the two worked together on music and developed material that would help shape the rapper’s early career.
The dispute centers on the ownership and release of recordings that Superior says he possesses. The material includes early songs and performances that have never received an official commercial release. Superior has previously showcased portions of the archive, including unreleased music, handwritten lyrics, photographs and other memorabilia connected to DMX’s early career.
The disagreement has become particularly significant because fans could potentially hear some of DMX’s earliest recordings officially for the first time. Superior and his collaborators have been working to prepare material from the late 1980s and 1990s for release, but the project has encountered resistance from the estate.
In recent online discussions, people involved with the project said the recordings were being held up because of the estate and that negotiations were underway regarding how the music could be released. Those claims have not been independently established by court findings, so the ownership dispute remains contested.
Superior has previously expressed a desire to preserve DMX’s legacy while making sure the rapper’s children and estate benefit from the music. In 2021, he worked with Melanated NFT Gallery to present previously unreleased DMX material, including early songs and other archival items. At the time, Superior said he wanted any future arrangement to be structured in a way that benefited DMX’s estate and children.
The latest dispute adds another chapter to the complicated legal history surrounding DMX’s music and intellectual property following his death in April 2021.
In 2025, a New York judge ruled that DMX’s estate was the sole owner of the intellectual-property rights at issue in a separate lawsuit brought by his former wife, Tashera Simmons, who had sought a 50% interest in portions of his music-related intellectual property.
For fans, the current fight could ultimately determine whether a piece of DMX’s musical history remains locked away or becomes available to the public.
DMX’s earliest recordings offer a rare glimpse into the development of the artist who would go on to become one of hip-hop’s most influential voices. Now, the question is not simply whether those recordings exist—but who has the legal right to decide what happens to them.
