“Ruff Ryders' Anthem” by DMX

"Ruff Ryders' Anthem" was the third single off It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, DMX's 1998 debut album, and it almost got turned down. The beat came from Kasseem Dean, an up-and-comer who went by Swizz Beatz and who met DMX through his uncles Darrin and Joaquin Dean, co-founders of the Ruff Ryders. Swizz built it in Atlanta, blending his New York and Atlanta influences, and DMX balked at first: to his ears it sounded like a rock 'n' roll track, not hood enough.

He came around and wrote it with Swizz, Justice Johnson recorded it and Rich Keller mixed it. VH1 ranked it 79th among the greatest hip-hop songs in 2008, and after DMX died in April 2021 it climbed to a new high of 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.