Less than one week after being sentenced to house arrest for failing four drug tests and allegedly leaving the court's jurisdiction without permission, DMX is trying to find his way out.

According to TMZ, the beleaguered rapper's lawyer, Murray Richman, sent the judge a letter asking for permission to get off his house arrest in order to perform a series of shows throughout the rest of August and then September. The shows are in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

The celebrity gossip site reports the judge ruled out the rapper's show in Atlanta this Thursday because X needs to ask for permission a week in advance. For their part, X's probation officers don't want his wishes to be granted because they feel disrupt his drug program. After all, X did fail a few drug tests.

Richman tells TMZ that X, who's been charged with 14 counts of tax evasion, needs to make these shows because he's got 15 kids to feed. On a side note, that $1.7 million he allegedly owes the IRs is something he'll probably have to pay for in the future. But maybe that's looking too far ahead. Maybe he beats the case.

Either way, it does seem pretty plausible that X needs every last penny he can spare as he prepares to fight for his freedom. If X is convicted of all of his tax evasion charges, he will face 44 years in a federal prison.

See 22 Hip-Hop-Related Police Raids

More From XXL