December 04, 2003
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Swizz Beatz has crafted Billboard hits and won countless awards, but there’s one song in particular he produced that he still considers his absolute best.
Swizzy joined Mike Tyson and DJ Whoo Kid’s Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson podcast earlier this month and revealed the booming “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” with his late close friend and collaborator DMX as his best.
“For me, I’ma always say [“Ruff Ryders’ Anthem”] because that was the beginning of knowing that I actually had something.
“I knew I was having fun with what I was doing. I never did the music for the highlights, I did it for them to play it on the block, play it in the club, play it in the skating rinks, play it on the radios, play it out your cars. I was good with that right there. I didn’t know that you can make real money from it.”
Swizz recalled the moment when he felt he really made it in the industry as cars passed him all bumping the DMX anthem shortly after the track arrived in May 1998.
“I remember [“Ruff Ryders’ Anthem”] coming out and I was sitting on 125th St. in front of the mart and every single car was playing the song and nobody knew I did the song at this time. And I was just sitting back for hours like, ‘Damn, this is different.'”
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