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DMX Arrested On Probation Violation

'When you don't follow the rules, there's consequences,' X's manager tells MTV News.

[artist id="1325"]DMX[/artist] was back in a familiar place Thursday after being arrested on a felony charge of violating his probation. The troubled MC (born Earl Simmons) was picked up and jailed for not following the terms of his probation, which included checking in with his probation officer, according to his manager.

"He just didn't check in with his probation officer, and it's just a matter of him not following the rules," manager Nakia Walker told MTV News on Friday (November 19) while confirming that the rapper is being held without bail until a probation-revocation hearing slated for next Wednesday. At press time, Walker said she hadn't spoken to her client, who she claimed was going through a rough patch in his life.

Asked how the oft-arrested MC ended up in jail again, she said, "Because he's not perfect. This is a difficult time in his life. He's going through some things. ... Sh-- happens. I can't tell you why he makes the decisions to do the things that he does. Other than that, there's no real excuse for it. When you don't follow the rules, there's consequences."

X has been out on parole on an assault conviction and was arrested in Phoenix. It marked his sixth arrest in Maricopa County, where he has made his home for nearly a decade. In that time, he has racked up arrests and jail stints for crimes including theft, drug possession and animal cruelty.

A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Sheriff's office could not be reached for comment at press time, but Walker denied the details of a Radar Online report that said X was also cited for cocaine possession, as well as for using Oxycontin without a prescription, failing to submit to drug tests, failing to participate in counseling programs and driving on a suspended license. "Those are old charges they're talking about," she said.

According to the gossip site, the complaint against DMX, 39, read, "Mr. Simmons has several felony convictions, and has been given multiple opportunities to succeed on probation. He has been directed to treatment, as well as chose his own treatment program and continues to use illegal drugs following their opportunities."

Fox 10 spoke to X last week in an interview in which he said he wanted to stay out of headlines and focus on his music. "I was in Tent City for a while," he said of his six-plus months in the county's notorious 2,000-inmate outdoor prison camp. "I don't take orders well or direction. [Sheriff Joe Arpaio] said, 'You had an attitude problem.' They talk to you any kind of way. At the end of the day, I am still a man."

Arpaio, a notoriously hard-nosed lawman, has spoken about his disappointment with the lenient sentences DMX has gotten from Arizona judges, but X said he's not mad at the sheriff. "No, hate would ruin my life. I wish him the best -- good health, long life -- leave me alone," DMX said.

While Walker did not specify what difficulties DMX is facing in his life at this moment, the arrest came just as the once-platinum rapper was beginning to mount a comeback. Earlier this week, he released a new single produced by Swizz Beatz as part of his Monster Mondays series. The song, called "Ya'll Don't Really Know," features Busta Rhymes and finds the gravelly voiced X back at his hard-hitting, grimy best, chanting and barking defiantly over a ominous Swizz track, one of several collaborations Walker said were in the can.

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