DMX made his motion picture debut in Hype Williams’s controversial film Belly, portraying the leading role of a hustler from Queens out to get his – no matter what.

He followed this with the role of Silk, a hip-hop club owner determined to survive amidst gang wars in producer Silver and director Bartkowiak’s Romeo Must Die. DMX’s portrayal was so powerful that it immediately led to his starring turn opposite Steven Seagal in Silver and Bartkowiak’s next film, Exit Wounds. Cradle 2 the Grave marks DMX’s third collaboration with Silver and Bartkowiak and his second time working with Jet Li.

DMX is a top rap artist whose first three albums debuted at number one and sold well over fifteen million records in just two years. After stand-out performances on tracks like LL Cool J’s 4.3.2.1., The Lox’s Money, Power, Respect and Mase’s 24 Hours to Live, DMX got the world’s attention with his own bona fide street anthem, Get At Me Dog. His groundbreaking first album It’s Dark and Hell is Hot, released in May, 1998, debuted at number one and quickly went multi-Platinum. Six months later he released the classic horror-film-on-wax, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, which also held the top spot on the charts making DMX the first artist ever to have two number one debuts in the same year. His offering, And Then There Was X, was released in 1999 and, once again, entered the charts at number one.