DMX, Jay Z Battle Detailed by Ruff Ryders Co-Founder Joaquin "Waah" Dean

by VICTORIA HERNANDEZ

Waah Dean explains how before either rapper topped the charts, DMX and Jay Z gained mutual respect for each other at a pool hall in the Bronx.

Ruff Ryders co-founder Joquin “Waah” Dean spoke with The Combat Jack Show and described his journey through Hip Hop. In the interview posted yesterday (November 11), he remembers a battlebetween DMX and Jay Z before either of them were famous.

“They reached out,” Waah says, “and told us, ‘Yo the Original Flavor cats wanna come and wanna battle and they wanna bring Jay Z to the table.’”

Waah was mentoring DMX and says he wasn’t familiar with Jay Z at the time, but his group the Harlem Knights was always ready for a challenge.

“We wasn’t really focusing on nobody really like that,” he says. “We battled everybody. It didn’t make no difference who was at the table, we just was gonna show up.”

DMX drove four hours from Baltimore to join the Harlem Knights for the battle. 

“We gonna have to do it in neutral grounds,” Waah remembers. “Let’s do it in the territory, the birth of Hip Hop. Let’s go in the Bronx. So we did it there.”

It was in “a creepy block” at a pool hall and the rappers stood on a single pool table. Dame Dash and Waah’s brother and Ruff Ryders co-founder Darrin “Dee” Dean were in attendance. Nobody was allowed to film, but Waah describes a scene that Combat Jack says would have been World Star worthy.

“My guys they was waving guns,” Waah says. “It was crazy up in that joint. It was all part of the element.” 

There was no clear winner of the battle and it is often considered a lost treasure of Hip Hop history.

“It was just that a lot of niggas is just talking and we wanted to know who was the best,” Waah says, “so we just wanted to put it to rest.”

He continues by explaining that even though the two rappers were unknown at the time, this was probably a point where they gained mutual respect for each other. 

“That’s where it set the tone,” he says. “Because true talent know true talent when they see it. It’s raw. It’s real, nothing fake about it.”

Waah also describes how Heavy D introduced him to the music industry and how he came up with the Ruff Ryders name. Listen to the whole interview below.