Ruff Ryders' Anthem

When DMX died in April 2021, "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" climbed to a new peak of number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, far outstripping its original run. The single had first peaked at number 93 upon release in May 1998, when it arrived as the third single from his debut album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot. A decade earlier, in 2008, VH1 had placed it at number 79 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.

The track was produced by Kasseem Dean, then an up-and-coming musician better known as Swizz Beatz, who had been introduced to DMX by his uncles Darrin and Joaquin Dean, co-founders of the Ruff Ryders. DMX initially rejected the beat outright, telling Swizz Beatz it sounded like a rock 'n' roll track and was not hood enough. Swizz Beatz had built the production in Atlanta, blending his New York and Atlanta influences into something he admitted nobody had heard before. It took Darrin and Joaquin Dean to convince DMX to give the track a chance before he finally recorded it.

The background vocals and beat follow the rhythm of a military cadence, matching a hook about being a cohesive unit. The famous "What!" ad-libs came about in the middle of the studio crew hyping DMX up, and Swizz Beatz decided to leave them in the track to add energy. The music video, directed by J. Jesses Smith, featured cameo appearances from Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz, The LOX, Eve, and Swizz Beatz himself, and had gathered more than 245 million views on YouTube by July 2025.