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The music label was founded in 2014 by rappers and brothers Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine. Newer generations of music executives have woken up to the value of running a family business. In my family, we don’t pray for money, we pray for wisdom.” “We come from generations of poor people and the only way to break that generational curse is with a firm hand of education. “Family is everything to me,” Master P told For(bes) The Culture founder Rashaad Lambert, echoing Waah’s sentiment. Both are part of BET’s ode to spotlight “family, hustle and legacy.” His five-part No Limit Chronicles docuseries, also produced by BET, concludes right ahead of the premiere of the Ruff Ryders series. No Limit Records founder Percy “Master P” Miller, who rose to fame around the same time as the Dean trio, founded his company on the same familial basis as Ruff Ryders. Working with family was a source of solace. As a result, leaders in the nascent business were often ostracized.
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You have to embrace family to work with us or you’ll be too left out to be successful.”Īs ubiquitous as the music genre may be now, in the late ’80s-when Ruff Ryders first emerged-hip-hop was associated with poverty, crime and, most notably, the crack epidemic. “They may be the experts but we want our people to be the new experts and the best way you become that is by watching and learning. But even the most established professionals need to learn the Ruff Ryder ropes: “Anytime would send someone to us, we would put one of our family members with them so they could learn what they’re doing,” says Waah. The goal was always for this to be something for the three of us because this has always been about family.”Ī three-person team can’t sustain a multifaceted business on its own, so they’ve recruited other members. “So I went to Atlanta with Chivon to build the foundation. “Dee was a little reluctant at first as the allure of the streets had him focused elsewhere,” Waah says.
The trio was separated during their adolescent years, and Waah was determined to get to know them again. In 1988, he formed Ruff Ryders and recruited his siblings, Dee and Chivon, as founding partners.
After a stint in prison for armed robbery in the early ’80s, Waah Dean was determined to pull his family off the streets. There’s certainly a rich history to be told. The Dean Family circa 1970 Courtesy of Ruff Ryders Entertainment