DMX plays one of his songs during tax evasion sentencing, gets a year in prison

DMX’s music couldn’t save him from getting a year in prison.

The Grammy-nominated rapper was in federal court Wednesday for sentencing in his tax evasion case. But before DMX (whose real name is Earl Simmons) learned his fate, he had a request: to play one of his songs.

According to the Associated Press, Judge Jed Rakoff obliged, prompting some DMX supporters in the courtroom to nod their heads along to “Slippin,'” the rapper’s 1998 track in which he vows to be strong and “find my way.” When it came time to speak, DMX admitted his wrongdoing, saying he “wasn’t following the rules” and had been “in a cloud.”

While prosectors had been seeking five years imprisonment, citing DMX’s lengthy rap sheet, the judge handed down a one-year sentence, calling him “a good man.” The judge added, “In many ways, he’s his own worst enemy.”