Rapper DMX arrested for swearing

The American rapper DMX has been arrested for swearing during a concert in St Kitts and Nevis.

DMX has had previous brushes with the law

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was released on bail of Eastern Caribbean $1,000 (US $376) until Monday, when he is due to appear in court in Basseterre.

The rapper was performing on Friday night before a crowd of about 3,000 in the former British Caribbean colony, the Associated Press reports.

Information Minister Jacinth Henry Martin said a contract signed long before the concert had "made very clear ... that there are laws in St Kitts that do not take kindly to the use of indecent language on stage".

But the rapper's road manager, Ali Samii, said DMX had never agreed to censor his language and his fans would expect nothing but his full performance.

The latest DMX album, The Great Depression, went top of the Billboard album chart last November.

The rapper co-starred with the late Aaliyah in the 2000 movie Romeo Must Die and appeared with Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds.

Last year a US court ordered DMX to make public service announcements for the Humane Society after he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The Superior Court in New Jersey also fined him $15,000.

In a raid on his New Jersey home in 1999 police allegedly found pipes for smoking crack cocaine, a pistol with hollow-nosed bullets and 13 pit bulls.