October 17, 2025
DMX’s uncle, Uncle Ray mentioned, ‘All people put out statements, hashtags, and tributes. However when it got here time to truly do one thing… silence.’
Particulars have not too long ago emerged revealing that the rapper’s associates didn’t cowl the funeral prices for Yonkers recording artist DMX however had been as a substitute paid by way of the efforts of DMX’s longtime supervisor and uncle, Ray Copeland, identified within the trade as Uncle Ray.
In an unique interview with AllHipHop, Uncle Ray said that when it got here time to pay funeral prices, not one of the larger artists who claimed to be pals, nor the labels (Def Jam, Ruff Ryders), reached into their pockets to contribute. He mentioned he needed to get it from pals who had been capable of put up $150,000 to prepare the rapper’s service in 2021.
“When it was time to bury X, I used to be on the telephone with everyone, Ruff Ryders, Swizz Beatz, Steve Rifkind, Def Jam,” Uncle Ray informed the media outlet. “I informed them what it was going to value. All people mentioned, ‘I ain’t bought it.’ So I hung up the telephone and mentioned, ‘Neglect it. I’ll put this collectively myself.’”
The service was held on the Barclays Heart in downtown Brooklyn. He credited enterprise affiliate Germaine Miller and legal professional Ron Sweeney for the cash to pay for the beloved rapper’s homegoing celebration.
“If it weren’t for Germaine Miller, I might have by no means buried my nephew financially. She put all the cash up for the funeral –- all $150,000,” Copeland said in a textual content message.
He did admit that Def Jam later got here by way of and gave him $35,000, however they knowledgeable the media that they paid for the funeral. He then said that Ye (previously often called Kanye West) “took care of every thing on the Barclays Heart.”
Uncle Ray mentioned he initially was going to have a personal funeral in Bronxville, New York, earlier than members of the family satisfied him that the general public wanted to say goodbye to the It’s Darkish and Hell Is Sizzling lyricist.
“I virtually did it proper there in Bronxville,” Uncle Ray mentioned. “I had all of the household collectively. However they informed me, ‘Ray, you’ll be able to’t do this. The general public must say goodbye.’ So I completed it out.”
He expressed disappointment in so-called pals and enterprise associates for not coming by way of when the household wanted them.
“All people put out statements, hashtags, and tributes,” he mentioned. “However when it got here time to truly do one thing… silence.”
The 50-year-old DMX died April 9, 2021, at White Plains Hospital in New York, every week after struggling a coronary heart assault.
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