'Let Me Fly' exhibit celebrates life of Yonkers rap legend DMX
The nonprofit Yonkers Art set up what is essentially a giant timeline through DMX's life, starting with his birth.
The nonprofit Yonkers Arts is celebrating the life, music and impact of late rap legend and Yonkers native DMX with a new exhibit.
The nonprofit gave the community a glimpse of their new exhibit called "Let Me Fly" on Friday night. The show is set up like a giant timeline of DMX's life, starting with his birth in Mount Vernon.
"This show encapsulates almost 20 years of DMX's career," explained Ray Wilcox, executive director of Yonkers Arts, who curated the exhibit. "Most of the pictures are of him here in Yonkers. Here, we have him in Palisade Towers."
The show features Yonkers artists, including Sharief Ziyadat, a photographer from Yonkers with a close connection to DMX. He started taking photos of the legendary rapper in 1999 and spent years documenting some of the most significant moments in his life. Ziyadat calls him an inspiration.
"The first day I met X and asked, 'Can I take a picture?' The first thing he asked me was, 'Do you love what you do? You love what you do, you're going to be rich doing it.’ Like, his first words were inspiration for me to follow my passion, and that's what he did, and look what he accomplished in the world?" Ziyadat said.
DJ Superior, DMX's main DJ, is also a Yonkers native. He hopes the exhibit and DMX's life inspire other locals.
"For everybody to know that you can make it, you can make it because he went through a lot of stuff, but he still did what he had to do. We all did what we had to do, and he made it," DJ Superior said. "DMX, he's ours, he's Yonkers."
The exhibit will be at Yonkers Arts until the end of January and is completely free to visit. Look at the Yonkers Arts website for a full breakdown of when they are open.
