Even though there’s no video recording of it, Jay-Z and DMX’s infamous ’90s rap battle is the stuff of legends in Hip Hop. Now, in a recent interview with VladTV via Nah Right, producer Swizz Beatz speaks on the mythical battle between two of his most frequent collaborators.
Although Swizz explained that he missed the actual battle itself, he remembers seeing peoples’ excitement immediately after the battle took place. The Bronx-born super-producer also explained that it was these early connections with the Ruff Ryders that helped introduce him to Hova in the early part of both artists’ career.
“Nah, [I wasn’t there for Jay-Z and DMX’s battle]. I just missed it,” he recalled. “I don’t know [who won]. My uncles [Waah and Dee Dean, Ruff Ryder CEOs] made everybody turn their cameras off; that’s like the worst shit. You’ve just seen the end of it when the cameras come on and the dude’s rapping some shit…it was real. You could’ve made a movie around that moment. I just remember the energy from everybody coming from that to see [DMX] and to see Hov; [it was] like Meek [Mill] and Cassidy at that time. I’m just happy to be able to witness these moments because I was super young, so I was able to get all that from [a] young [age], and still be young and do what I’m doing.”
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“I was just speaking to Jay yesterday…and it was like, ‘We’ve working [together] for 14 years, dog; that shit is crazy.’ I remember walking into his office with a cassette with 40 beats and he bought the whole joint right off the spot. That’s how we met…this was like, ’96-97 ‘cus the shit started coming out in ’98…I think it was right after Reasonable Doubt, because he definitely had that Reasonable Doubt swag in that office.”
Check out the full interview below.
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