Video: N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN – Drink Champs w/ Ruff Ryders Darrin “Dee” Dean

August 9, 2026

N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN sit down with Ruff Ryders Darrin “Dee” Dean and he tells it all. Dee breaks down the night DMX rapped for Lyor Cohen with his jaw wired shut and how that one moment got him the deal. He talks about buying Irv Gotti his first drum machine, Suge Knight flying them out to Cali to try and sign X, and how the Ruff Ryders and Cash Money tour never had one fight. He also gets into paying Puff $3 million to free The LOX, Jay-Z wiping out X’s whole debt at Def Jam, and how he paid X $100 a rhyme years before any deal. Plus the story of squashing the Jadakiss and Beanie Sigel beef in a Harlem park, raising Swizz Beatz, and why the labels froze out New York. This one is a real piece of hip hop history.