“Those are my dogs and will forever be my dogs.”
Before the Roc had everybody throwing their diamonds in the air and before the Diplomats were holding down the New York scene, the Ruff Ryders were it. A strong army built with DMX, Swizz Beatz, L.O.X., Eve and others, this was a team that dominated in all aspects during the late 90s.
Unexpectedly, the group disbanded as everyone went out to do their own thing and DMX found himself in Arizona riding ATVs around in the desert. Everything seemed to be over with the R.
With the reemergence of Jadakiss to the rap game with The Last Kiss, the rapper decided to bring the team back. Releasing the remix to “Who’s Real” the biggest pieces of the puzzle came back together giving fans a glimpse into the revival of the group.
During an interview with Eve at the Hip Hop Honors event, the rapper opened up about the possibility of the rebirth in the Double R.
“We’re hoping. There’s a lot of talk about it. We all want to do it. We all love and miss each other, but it’s hard. We’ve all gone off and done a million different things so it’s hard to bring up all together.”
While most groups break up do to tension and creative differences, the rapper stated that it was never the case for the Ruff Ryder camp. Above all else, it was time to leave the nest and see what everyone was capable of on their own.
“We are the family where the kids grew up and went to college and moved to other cities. It was never any internal.”
The first lady of the Ruff Ryders also took some time out to discuss the topic of female MCs and the utter lack of them in the world of Hip-Hop.
“I’m a lone soldier. They’re here somewhere. Hopefully there will be resurgence.”
Interestingly enough, Eve hasn’t been as much as a dominant force herself as her career has steered her off more into the television with her sitcom. There have continued to be talks about her upcoming album, Flirt, but delay after delay and issues with the label are keeping the lid closed and shredding hopes of her return to music ever happening.
Uncertainty only creates doubt and the reunion of the Ryders comes off to be very doubtful going by the music industry. With the flood of New York in 2009, however, anything is possible and something is always better than nothing.
