Swizz Beatz Remembers Getting Rich Off Ruff Ryders Royalties

Source: Courtesy BET / BET Networks

A new episode of BET’s “Ruff Ryders Chronicles” airs tonight! The five-part series tells the definitive story of Ruff Ryders Entertainment, the iconic hip hop label founded by the Dean brothers Joaquin (Waah), Darin (Dee) and sister, Chivon Dean, and features interviews of Swizz Beatz, Eve, DMX, The LOX and more. Tonight BET will air Episodes 2 and 3, and we’ve got some sneak peek clips for your viewing pleasure — our favorite features Swizzy talking about buying his first Benz with his debit card! As the Ruff Ryders successes got bigger and bigger, Swizz Beatz didn’t even realize at first that his tax bracket changed — the hip hop producer had been keeping his ASCAP publishing checks in a shoebox because he thought they were like Publisher’s Clearinghouse checks! By the time he figured out the truth he’d collected over $700,000.

Check out the clip below

Wild right? Can you imagine having almost a million dollars in your house in a SHOEBOX and not even knowing it? If you found out you had $700K overnight what would you spend it on? We love hearing these old stories — especially from the more behind the scenes folks like Wah and Dean and Chivon Dean. Ruff Ryders Entertainment really brought a lot to the culture.

Hit the flip for some special clips of DMX and don’t forget to tune in at 10pm for new episodes of “Ruff Ryders Chronicles”.

Did y’all know Puff passed on making DMX a Bad Boy artist? He felt he was too gritty. X definitely didn’t fit the same party music mold as most of the artists on Bad Boy and it makes sense when you know more about his life, even right up until he became successful. Shoot, even after that!

DMX hasn’t had an easy life at all. He’s had to overcome his battles with addiction and the loss of loved ones. In this clip the rapper’s friends, family and colleagues talk about his grandmother’s passing.

We love that Eve is getting recognition for her role in Ruff Ryders and that she pays homage to the pioneering female rappers who came before her. Who are some of your favorite female rappers from the 80’s and 90’s? What’s your favorite Eve song? That archival footage is amazing.

Eve also shed some light on what happened with her deal at Aftermath. Sounds like Dr. Dre pretty much ghosted her once he signed Eminem. It was pretty bold of her to show up to other folks sessions looking for answers, but you gotta give her some credit for putting her all in. It seems like ultimately she ended up better off without Aftermath. She got a TV show, acting roles and is now a host on one of the biggest daytime talk shows on television, CBS’ “The Talk.”