Swizz Beatz produced the song, which remains one of DMX's signature tracks, and he talked about how even years later, X's death still doesn't feel real sometimes.
"It don't even feel like he's gone,"he said in an interview earlier this year. of his longtime friend/collaborator who died at age 50 in 20201. "It feels like he's just away somewhere chillin'. The anniversary [of his death] comes around and I'm like, 'whoa.' Or I speak to his fiancé or son, and I'm like, 'whoa.'"
Swizz explains that reality kicks in when he scrolls through his phone and sees pictures or videos. "The thing that makes me feel easy about it is that he came to me. I seen him in my dreams, and it was like super quick, and he let me know he was good."
"Ruffy Ryders' Anthem" is featured on DMX's 1998 four-times platinum debut, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, which turned 25 this year.
