Swizz Beatz Says DMX Only Made “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem" After Losing A Bet

Swizz Beatz says that DMX only hopped on the “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem" beat because he lost a bet. The legendary producer discussed the making of DMX's hit song during an interview on SiriusXM’s Hip-Hop Nation, last week.

“So I was in Atlanta in school and then, um, they got the project to where it was at and then I came in last minute with ‘Stop Drop,'” Swizz told host Gray Rizzy. “X lost a bet or I wouldn’t even been on that album, you know what I’m saying? But he didn’t lose the bet because that song ended up changing all of our lives. So he technically won the bet for my Uncle D and you know that just changed all of our lives. So it was just enough to do what it needed to do.”

“Ruff Ryders’ Anthem" was released as the third single from DMX's debut studio album, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, in 1998. While it originally peaked at number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song went on to be one of the most iconic of DMX's career and made its way up to number 16 in the wake of his death.

Swizz Beatz continued: “You know, like that song commercially went bigger than everything at the time. And then we came immediately, uh, with our sound next after that and Dame Grease and PK was a part of that as well. I wanna get [them] they props cuz they, people they feel that they don’t get they props. I’m in a comfortable space to give people they props. At those particular times we was definitely bumping the little heads and things like that, but we all was a part of making history at the end of the day. It was all musical stuff. Wasn’t no street vibes like that, you know what I’m saying? And so I was young and hungry. They was young and hungry. They had to get it. I had to get it. So that’s like when you look at the whole thing, it was just really based on that, you know what I’m saying?”

[Via]