HISTORY
Joaquin, Darrin, & Chivon Dean, established Ruff Ryders Records in 1988. These three siblings decided to launch their own record label after managing several artist careers for a numbers of years. The success of their business is created around the family environment they provide for their stable of artist. Ruff Ryders commitment to its family value has created a new breed of Hip Hop artist who work, corporately to promote their music. This posture has made them an innovators in the growing trend of family based businesses in the music industry. Their philosophy of business is centered on cross marketing their artist with their brand in order to allow all components of their business to be successful.
Our stable of artist include gold and multi-platinum artists DMX, Eve, The LOX, Jadakiss, Styles and Drag On. Collectively they have sold over 20 million albums. We recently signed Jin, Fiend, and and R&B sensation Aja which are our new breed of artists that will be released in 2004. Our core consumers fall into the 13-24 year old demographic. However, artist such as Eve have been able to attract a cross section of customers 11-30 year olds. Our Designated Marketing Analysis reports reveal over 80% of our sales coming out of suburban and rural areas for artist such as Eve. However, artist such as DMX and The LOX reports are equally balanced across urban, suburban and rural communities. In these markets collectively we have been able to generate over $240 million is sales since our first release in 1998 with DMX. The growth of our record sales has been consistent and has allowed us to headline a national tour where we have broken house records on merchandise sales. We are presently slated for a 20 city national tour starting in June 2004 and a International for Fall 2004.
Ruff Ryders Film & Video division has released to major projects in 2002. They were Ruff Ryders Documentary Volume I & Wink 1100 motorcycle video. These movies were straight to video projects which are presently being distributed by Blockbusters chains. Jin, our first launch from our new breed of artists had a substantial role in the summer blockbuster action movie 2 Fast 2 Furious directed by John Singleton and starred Paul Walker. DMX has also starred alongside Steven Segal in Exit Wounds and Jet Li in Cradle To The Grave. We are currently producing our first feature film.
We also have a lifestyles division that has created satellite street teams, which are actively promoting our projects in over 20 every major cities across the country. We also recently closed a deal for Game Dog a line of dog food. The Deans have always bred and trained dogs and felt it a natural transition to produce a diet that optimizes their pets potential. The diversity of the niches created by the family and their artist in the urban space allow them to continually reinvent themselves.
Our apparel division launched a men's collection in Fall 2000. We generated over 7million in our first season. Unfortunately our partners were not capable of working out their differences in order to maintain the license. We therefore made an executive decision after 12 month to pull out in order to prevent further damage to the retailers and our fans. Despite this glitch in the launch of our apparel division we have maintained a strong apparel presence in the music industry through our artist support of wearing and writing songs promoting our soon to come apparel collection.
We are seeking to strategically align ourselves in a relationship with an organization that is capable of manufacturing, sourcing, distributing and selling our apparel products. The popularity of entertainment based apparel brands, successfully marketing their apparel products through their music business is a new trend in the apparel business today. Brands such as Sean John & Roca Wear who are our direct competitors have set the precedent for successful cross collaboration of music and apparel in the urban space.
There is a great demand for our merchandise because, we continuously place Ruff Ryders products in all press, media campaign, music, videos, movies, and the artwork of every cd manufactured. This has been a very successful strategy for us because, it allows us to maintain a presence with our consumer at all times. Cross collaborating our efforts with all components of our business allows us to maximize our relationship with our marketing and media vendors and continuously building the Ruff Ryders brand in all our projects.
Ruff Ryders is a family owned business and our mission is to promote the community inclusion of Rap/R&B music and to assist in attaining a more productive, self-sufficient role in the entertainment industry. Chivon Dean is a key player in the rap game traditionally dominated by men. She is one third of the triumvirate that composes Ruff Ryders Entertainment, a company which manages the platinum selling DMX and the Lox while maintaining it's own record label distributed by Interscope Records. Her lifelong dedication to helping her siblings and community, along with comprehensive experience in the field of health care has allowed her to create a new formula for success in the recording industry. This formula: Faith, Family, Fortitude; has made Ruff Ryders a driving force in Hip Hop.
As the black stallion and creative force in entertainment, Joaquin "Waah" Dean is making heads turn quickly in the industry. Once considered a long shot in entertainment, Dean has managed to speed by the fastest competition -- only to leave them in the dust looking on through their binoculars. Dean was born and raised in New York City. This Ruff Ryder started off in the music industry as an independent tape salesman for DJ Kid Capri (who now has his own multi-platinum album on the airwaves). While working the streets, Dean decided to manufacture and sell his own tapes. Have him tell it, the tapes were of his first artist, multi-platinum rapper DMX. Selling over 15,000 units locally, industry executives caught wind of what Dean was accomplishing and Columbia/Ruffhouse Records signed DMX for a single deal. After nine months on the Columbia label, Dean then set his sights on bigger deals and later had DMX signed to Russell Simmons' Def Jam Recordings and the rest is history. DMX has since moved on to become the #1 all time seller to have two albums on the charts simultaneously ranked among the top ten within a one-year time span.
Dean's secret to success: "Give it to people like it is." And giving it to them he is...Dean's multi-million dollar selling artist has led Dean to a huge joint venture deal with Interscope and the development of Ruff Ryder Entertainment.
Darrin "D" Dean, the other half of Ruff Ryder Entertainment is the glue to the company. As the herdsman and driving force of the posse, D manages to keep things at a smooth and steady winning pace. D understands, accurately envisions, and carries out the family's visions. His understanding and implementation of ideas makes him a critical part of the Ruff Ryder team.
Hard-working, staying true to the streets and quietly building an empire, Dean and company won't be satisfied until they control their own destiny. "In the future, we hope to become more independent and create and distribute our own product," Chivon reveals. "But no matter how much we grow, we know it's important to stay in close contact with your artists and producers. We are a family and that's how we function in business." Now you know, that's how the Ruff Ryder's roll.
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 Recordings 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 2001 Cassidy was signed to the label through Swizz Beatz along with Full Surface labelmate Yung Wun.
As the first Reunion Project since their 2005 Album The Redemption, Vol. 4 Jadakiss and Swizz Beatz invited Drag-On, Eve, Styles P, Sheek Louch and DMX, who just got out of Jail, for the Remix of "Who's Real". A Ruff Ryders Reunion Album was announced by Swizz Beatz and was originally set to release in 2008 but it got pushed back. The new Ruff Ryders Album titled "Ruff Ryders Evolution: Generation I" is now scheduled to be released in 2010.
