The song Swizz Beatz can no longer listen to: “It’s been really hard to play this”
Swizz Beatz has produced some legendary records in his career. After making a name for himself through Ruff Ryders and his work with the late DMX, the Bronx producer is behind songs from Drake, Lil Wayne, T.I., and Busta Rhymes, to name a few. However, he created one song that he can no longer listen to.
DMX passed away in April 2021, aged 50, after losing functionality in his liver, kidneys, and lungs, resulting in a heart attack. Swizz is responsible for some of his biggest songs across It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood and …And Then There Was X, including the iconic ‘Ruff Ryders’ Anthem’.
Following his death, Swizz has admitted he finds it difficult to hear the record, which was once a reason to celebrate. The track reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is one of DMX’s most-streamed songs on Spotify with over 271million streams. The video also boasts 242 million YouTube views.
“It’s been really hard to play this record since DMX passed,” Swizz told NME. “It’s the song that started both of our lives musically – at a real level. We had so many great moments with this song, and so whenever I hear it now, it makes me reflect a little too hard. I thought I was ready to start listening to it again but I wasn’t.
“The times I have heard it I’ve been like, ‘Oooh, I can’t play this yet.’ But I can play all of the other songs for some reason, just not this one. If someone plays it out or I hear it on the radio, it just gets me. I’m not there yet.”
DMX wrote ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem‘ in 15 minutes, and it became a hit, but he once revealed he didn’t like the record and didn’t want to do it. Following its success, he didn’t regret a thing. Swizz opened up about making the song during an interview with Complex.
“I made the ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ beat in Atlanta,” he said. “It was me just bugging out, having my New York influence and having my Atlanta influence. That track was the perfect blend which was awkward and different at the time because nobody had ever heard anything like that—including my clique.
“DMX didn’t want to do it. He was like, ‘Man, that sounds like some rock ‘n’ roll track, I need some hip-hop shit. I’m not doing that. It’s not hood enough.’ I told him, ‘Yo, we can make it hood!’ And then my uncles said, ‘Yo, we should step out the box a little bit.’ We bugged him and bugged him to do this shit.”
He added, “Then he came in and did it and we were just hyping him up. The ‘What!’ ad-lib and all of that came about in the middle of us hyping him up. We left it in the track to add energy. Collectively, we came up with that vibe. It was his best shit at that time. Since then, X has trusted my judgment.”