Ruff Ryders Entertainment is a New York-based record label and management company, specializing in hip hop music. It was founded in 1988 by Chivon Dean and her brothers Dee and Waah, uncles of producer Swizz Beatz. The misspelling is deliberate, and a take off of Theodore Roosevelt's band of Rough Riders, the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Spanish-American War.
Ruff Ryders' founders were initially famous for managing rapper DMX, who became a multi-platinum star for Def Jam Records in the late-1990s. After DMX's success, the management company started its own label imprint through Interscope Records, and had success with releases from female rapper Eve, former Bad Boy Records group The L.O.X. and its main rapper Jadakiss, Drag-On, and newcomer Jin, winner of BET's 106 & Park freestyle MC battle competition. The Deans' nephew Swizz Beatz is the main producer for most of the acts on the roster. In 2006 Cassidy was signed to the label through Swizz Beatz along with Full Surface labelmate Yung Wun.
