VIDEO: Hip Hop Organized Crime 4 Ruff Ryders.mov

REWRITTEN: 2026-05-12 17:53:47

SCRIPT 515 OF 686

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Yo what's good evil streets family, you already know we back with another one. Much love to all my viewers and subscribers and special shout out to every member of the channel. If y'all feeling the content make sure to smash that like and subscribe. It helps the channel grow which allows me to keep bringing you all these videos. Every beat you hear in these videos and shorts is produced by yours truly. So anyone interested in any of the production you hear on this channel email us at evil streets media at gmail.com. That goes for anyone looking to promote their music or business as well. Hit me up and we can cook something up. We started uploading these episodes to Spotify's podcasts as well. So anyone can just listen on any device while you're driving or trapping. Link is in the description. I'm starting a Patreon as well where I will be dropping extended videos with more thorough deep dives so be on the lookout for that. Also anyone looking to just support the channel in general you can send a dollar or a million dollars to our cash app evil streets tv. Every cent donated is invested right back into the channel. Make sure to comment if you do so I can shout you out on the next video. Alright I've kept y'all long enough let's get to this gangster ish. Enjoy the show. From block hustlers to rap kingpins, Rough Riders Entertainment and the Dean brothers. Yonkers New York, 15 20 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx where it all went down. That's the building where DJ Kool Herc threw that first legendary party that birthed hip hop. Right upstairs from Herc lived a black Muslim family known as the Deans. The Dean brothers, Joaquin, aka Waw and Darren aka Dee used to literally climb down from the third floor to Herc's crib below just to absorb the vibes. Being that close to the godfather of hip hop ignited something in them. Fast forward 25 years and they linked up with their sister Chivon to create the Rough Riders movement. Rough Riders started as a multi-state bike crew and lifestyle brand but it didn't stop there. They evolved into music, film, clothes, you name it. The label dropped monsters like DMX, the LOX, Eve and Drag-On and they helped launch their young nephew Kasseem Swiss Beatz Dean who went on to run it all up with beats and business acumen. But before all the platinum plaques, Waw and Dee were deep in the trenches pushing weight out in Harlem, the Bronx and Mount Vernon. Back when they lived above Kool Herc they used to carry his crates, front row seats to the birth of hip hop. They watched the culture evolve, DJing, emceeing, breaking and tagging. But when their parents split they moved with their pops to Mount Vernon just across the line from the Bronx. Bouncing between different neighborhoods they met a lot of kids already in the game. Even though they were raised in the Nation of Islam with discipline, the streets started to call them. We was just living life, Dee said. We knew a little something about the religion but we was kids. We ain't really know the difference. Then things took a turn. Dee ended up locked up after robbing a KFC and Waw wasn't far behind getting caught for a juxtaposed zone. Once they got out they jumped headfirst into the crack game stacking about three bands a day moving product hand to hand. Back in the streets had a chokehold back then and it turned hustlers into millionaires overnight but most never made it out. It was a trap and the hood was the front line. Waw found that out the hard way when somebody ran down on him with a burner. The gun jammed, Waw took off but not before catching one. The bullet stayed in him as a daily reminder this street life ain't sweet. While he was laid up recovering he started thinking different. The fast money came with too much heat. He needed a new lane. He had homies who flipped the script, left the game and got in the music biz. Same money, same lifestyle, just legal. No funerals or court dates, at least that's what they thought. Hustling cats like Waw started seeing how the money in hip hop was stacking up. While folks in the streets was dying over crumbs DMX wrote in his book Earl. It didn't make sense. So one day Waw said, fuck it, I'm moving on music. It was a hustle that didn't come with a casket or a cell. There were spitters out there with bars but no direction. Waw saw that gap and slid right in. He already had a taste of the music world from Herc and he was starving for more. His grind started young. His pops ran a fish business and taught him hustle basics. One day Waw asked for some bread and his pops told him, go sell some of that fish and shrimp. He came back with $300 and his pops told him to keep it, that lesson stuck. Hustle smart and stay hungry. So Waw treated the music game just like the block. The product changes, fish, crack, music but the grind stays the same. And this time he was going to go even harder. Back in Mount Vernon he was watching cats like CL Smooth, Pete Rock and Heavy D rise up from the hood to the limelight. One minute they were pushing BMX bikes next they was whipping foreign. Heavy D was the OG from around the way and one day Waw was out moving weight. Heavy slid up in the Benz and dropped a jewel. Find an artist you really believe in and go all in. It'll pay off. That advice stuck. Waw was going to need every gem he could get. Music isn't like drugs, no quick flips. You gotta invest, grind and pray it all works out. It was a slower hustle. But if you played it right, the reward was worth it. Still, like anything in the game, nothing was promised. As far as setting up the movement, Waw wanted to roll with his brother Dee, but homie was knee deep in the game, slinging heavy. So Waw brought sis Chivon into the mix and together they started sharpening their business chops, building something real out of the fam. Waw always believed in keeping the paper and power in the bloodline, but finding that new wave of talent wasn't overnight. Waw was a street cat, so he needed a rapper who was cut from that same cloth. Someone who had the streets vouching for him. He stayed grounded, always moving like it was just a matter of time. Even though the team didn't have a name yet, Waw was already out there in them trenches, putting together a roster of spitters and groups, brick by brick. By 88, Dee finally jumped on board to help build the brand. The name Rough Ryders came one day, when Waw was watching that western flick Posse with his moms. She pointed out how the bandits on their way to hit a train were riding rough, and that was it. Waw felt it in his soul. That was them. Rough Ryders. The name hit different, symbolized their love for bikes for moving fast and taking risks. Same way they played the streets, flashy, fearless and raw. Waw and Dee felt like they were forged by the Bronx pavement. Rough, uncut, but solid, riders for real. Rough Ryders, Waw said, ride or die, moms echoed. That would end up being more than a slogan. It was their whole energy, and the artists would carry that torch. Waw already knew from chilling with DJ Kool Herc that the DJ was the backbone of hip hop, so he started linking with DJs all over the city. One of them was this hungry young kid out of Queens, DJ Irv. Waw saw the spark in him and laced him with his first drum machine to help level up. Meanwhile, whispers started floating through the underground about a savage on the mic from Yonkers, Dark Man X, aka DMX. DMX was out of School Street Projects, and the homie Tiny Jacob slid Waw and Dee a tape with X spitting. As soon as they heard it, they knew. That was him. The voice, the energy, the pain in his bars, all of it was real. Dude wasn't just rapping. He was preaching the gospel of the gutter. His name alone told you he wasn't playing. DMX had that presence, that bark, literally. Always had his pit with him, just in case anybody forgot what time it was. But catching up with X wasn't no easy task. He moved at night, stayed out of sight, not because he was hiding, but because too many folks wanted him dead. The man had beef on beef. Street beefs, label beefs, rival crew beefs. X was a walking target with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Waw didn't let that stop him though. He chased that man down like he was chasing a connect. Finally linked up with DMX and put it on him straight. Rough Ryders is about family, loyalty and that street code. We about that ride or die. X heard him and felt that shit. No corporate suits, no fake smiles, just real ones about real business. X signed on and became the face of the whole movement. By the mid-90s, DMX was dropping Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood and it was a movement. The album was raw, unpolished, real. Nobody was doing it like that. While DMX was building his legacy, Waw kept feeding the machine. He signed the LOX, young hungry cats from Yonkers with something to prove. Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch came with bars that cut deep, street credentials that was irrefutable. Then came Eve, the First Lady of Rough Ryders. While the LOX was heavy hitters, Eve brought something different. She was sharp, intelligent, and could move through different lanes of hip hop seamlessly. Drag-On came through as well, another young spitter carrying the banner. Each artist on the Rough Ryders roster was street-certified but more importantly, they was family. Not just business partners, family. Waw made sure of that. He built an organization where the artists felt protected, supported, and understood. Swiss Beatz, Waw's young nephew, came up learning the business from the ground floor. That kid had vision and he started producing beats that was moving the culture. By the time the 2000s hit, Rough Ryders wasn't just a label anymore. It was a lifestyle, a movement that had infiltrated every corner of hip hop. The merchandise was flying, the music was chart-topping, and the brand was becoming a multi-million dollar enterprise. But success came with a cost. The same streets that built Rough Ryders started coming to collect. DMX battled demons that the music industry couldn't save him from. Dee, who finally got fully on board with the movement, saw it all happening in real time. The very blueprint that made them strong, that street mentality, that ride or die energy, started becoming a liability. Loyalty that was built in the trenches didn't always translate to loyalty in the boardroom. Some artists felt underpaid. Some felt like they built the brand only to be left behind when the money got big. Tensions started brewing behind closed doors. Management disputes, publishing disagreements, and egos that had gotten too big to manage started cracking the foundation. By the early 2000s, the crew was fracturing. DMX went through his legal troubles, addiction battles, and the industry vultures started circling. The LOX wanted out of their deals. Eve moved in different directions. The machine that Waw had built with such precision was starting to rust from the inside out. Raids from federal agencies targeting the organization's financial dealings added more heat. The question wasn't if the empire would fall, it was when. And despite all the platinum records, all the cultural impact, all the influence Rough Ryders had on hip hop and fashion, the law of the streets still applied. What goes up must come down. But here's the thing that separates Rough Ryders from just another label that went hard then faded. The movement left an imprint that can never be erased. Waw and Dee didn't just create a business, they created a culture. From a third-floor apartment above the godfather of hip hop to becoming the most feared and respected crew in the industry, they turned pain into power, street knowledge into commercial success, and loyalty into a brand that changed hip hop forever. Rough Ryders showed the world that you could come from nothing and build something monumental. That you could stay true to the streets while making millions. That you could create artists who was more than just rappers, they was warriors. The legacy of Rough Ryders lives in every artist who puts street credibility first, every crew that moves as a family, and every person who understands that where you come from don't determine where you going. DMX may have passed, the empire may have crumbled, but the blueprint they left is eternal. Rough Ryders represented the raw, unfiltered voice of hip hop when corporate suits were trying to sterilize it. They proved that real recognizes real and that authenticity will always outlive the fake. That's why Rough Ryders ain't never gonna die. The name, the energy, the loyalty code—that's forever in hip hop history. From the Bronx to the world, Waw and Dee showed us what it means to be true to the game. Rest in power to all the fallen soldiers of the Rough Ryders empire. Their story is a testament to the power of vision, family, and the unstoppable force of hip hop culture itself.