Ruff Ryder CEO Waah-Story appeared on the GOB Radio Network where he spoke about almost signing with Death Row records and DMX meeting Tupac Shakur.
At the height of his career, some would say at his prime, yet only 25-years-old, Tupac Shakur would meet a young rapper from Yonkers New York. As told by Waah-Story, the face-to-face meeting between Tupac and DMX occurred at the hotel when Suge Knight had invited them to the West Coast.
“Pac was busy. He was in the room doing some meetings, so he couldn’t’ come and get his hands dirty,” Ruff Ryder CEO recalls. “I was the only one to get X and Pac together to actually get in the hallway to have a conversation.” Referring to the meeting as “epic”, Waah-Story confirms a collaboration between Tupac and DMX was the end goal.
Waah-Story recalls inviting Suge Knight to the studio in Yonkers where the former Death Row records CEO saw DMX’s potential. Knight would then invite Waah-Story and DMX over to California where Knight offered them a deal. “We didn’t like the deal, so we didn’t cross over,” Waah-Story explains. “Cause had I done that deal we wouldn’t have been Ruff Ryders. So, I told Suge, ‘I Know Dre is the man, but I got my own producers. I can’t do a deal with you and Dre is got full access to all the producers. My producers we work hard here. I can’t have them exclusive to your team’.”
No regrets for his decision Waah-Story says during his interview with GOB Radio Network, as Ruff Ryders became one of the hottest record labels in the late nineties lead by DMX.