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"Yo, I'm sayin', these Ruff Ryder niggas-I heard these niggas is for real."
"Dog, that's my mans and them."
"I heard these niggas supposed to be like, lockin' down the industry on some shit, on some power shit."
"Dog, that's my mans and them."

Those immortal words opened DMX's classic LP, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot. Ruff Ryders? Who?

DROP...

It's Dark and Hell Is Hot quickly sold over 2 million copies ( and counting).

Oh, Ruff Ryders-that's DMX's mans and them.

SHUT 'EM DOWN...

Seven months after It's Dark, the Dark Man's X's sophomore LP, Flesh of My Flesh Blood of My Blood debuts at number one, making him the first artist in history to have two records debut at the top spot on Billboard's Pop Chart within the same year.

OPEN UP SHOP...

"We want to establish credibility and respect for Ruff Ryders through the industry and the street, as a real record company," says Chivon Dean, one-third of the Ruff Ryders triumvirate, which is sure to make all power lists for the millennium's last year. "This is just to stamp and finalize and prove that we are a record company. We are not just DMX, we're not just the Lox."

No, though they manage the gold-selling Lox through their Ruff Ryders Management and, under the wings of their Ruff Ryders Records, ushered DMX's rise to stardom, Ruff Ryders are brothers and sister Waah, Dee and Chivon Dean. Ruff Ryders are producers Swizz Beatz, PK, and Shok. Ruff Ryders are emcees Eve and Drag-On, R&B trio Parlé. Ruff Ryders is Powerhouse Recording Studio in Yonkers. And, to make it clear, Ruff Ryders is the Interscope-distributed Ruff Ryder Records which debuts this spring with the Ryde Or Dye compilation album. As Dean notes, "Instead of saying DMX, Ruff Ryders, you'll say Ruff Ryders/DMX, Ruff Ryders/Eve, Ruff Ryders/ Drag-On."

Ryde or Dye

In the lexicon of the street, "ride or die' is a call to arms, a battle cry, an affirmation of loyalty. Ryde Or Dye is all that and more. This is seen no better than in the title track. Produced by DJ Clue? And Duro, "Ryde or Die" is a rousing remake of EPMD's classic "Headbanger" where the LOX, DMX, Eve and Drag-On trade verses like shots from a carbine.

Results are just as exhilarating when 20 year-old production whiz Swizz Beats mans the boards. "Down Bottom" is a NorthEast rendition of bounce music, complete with the liveliest horns this side of the French Quarter, a chorus seeped in impropriety and thugosily, an a shining appearance by New Awlins' rising sun, Juvenile.

Philly rhyme sensation Eve, who's appeared on the platinum selling Bulworth soundtrack with "Eve of Destruction" added a splash to fellow Illadpeth heroes The Roots' "You Got Me" from their latest LP, Things Fall Apart, scores big on the bouncy "What You Want" which also features Dru Hill's Nokio. On "Do That Shit," she assaults with teflon-coated quotables like "Ask around partner/Got this whole shit sewed up/ Got you crying all day like 'Man, I wanna blow up'/ Cowards make me sick / I swear to God I wanna throw up/ Entering a session with me?/ You better flow tough."

"Jigga My Nigga" pairs the cockiness and high-life one-upmanship of Brooklyn's Finest, Jay-Z with school-girl melodies and a bottom-swinging horn arrangement. Jigga, who's "been dope since Slick Rick's first chain," boils over with lyrics like "See, I scramble with priests/ Hustle with nuns/ I got the mind capacity of a young Butch Cassdiy."

DMX shows up with an adrenaline-laced number replete with personality changes, dogs barks, grunts and growls that can only be classified as "Some X Shit" and "Bug Out," a freaky interpolation of funk-classic "Funky Worm."

Keepers of all things gritty, the LOX destroy competition with witty brags and boasts on the P.K.-produced "Dope $," while Jadakiss boasts Kiss the "got the labels telling niggas not to drop" on his solo-outing, "Kiss of Death" and Sheeks teams up with Latin Heavyweight Big Pun to trade spit on "Pina Colada."

Then there's molasses-thick R&B of North Carolina R&B trio Parlé's "I'm a Ruff Ryder" and the flossing episode of "Platinum Plus" featuring Jermaine Dupri and Ma$e.

Ruff Ryders-they're not just DMX's mans and them.