Cash Money and Ruff Ryders Form a Touring Family

Thanks to such stars as DMX, Drag-On, Eve and LOX, the Ruff Ryders are easily hip-hop’s most visible musical family.

Ruff Ryder artists--who either record for Ruff Ryders Records or are represented by the Ruff Ryders management wing--have sold more than 12 million albums collectively. DMX, who has sold more than 8 million albums alone in the last two years, recently became one of the few rappers to make the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

But the Cash Money Records collective, whose members are teaming with the Ruff Ryders crew on a national arena tour that stops Saturday and next Sunday at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, is only beginning to get attention outside hard-core hip-hop circles.

Despite being overlooked to a large degree by the same mainstream outlets that have supported the Ruff Ryders, the artists on Cash Money Records are among the most popular and innovative in the genre. They are anchored by Juvenile, whose last two albums, 1998’s “400 Degreez” and 1999’s “Tha G-Code,” have sold more than 5 million copies total.

But Cash Money is far from a one-rapper show.

Three other Cash Money artists also delivered platinum albums last year: B.G., Lil’ Wayne and the Hot Boy$.

The success helps explain why Universal Records thought enough of the New Orleans-based label two years ago to sign a $30-million deal with it.

Although many rap fans and industry insiders were shocked that these “unknowns” got such a large contract, it made sense in the South, where many of Cash Money’s earlier releases sold 100,000 units without the benefit of major distribution, radio or video play. The label’s ability to duplicate its regional success nationally is similar to the move Louisiana rival No Limit Records (owned by Master P) made a few years ago.

Cash Money’s biggest asset may be producer Mannie Fresh, who produces every recording the label releases. His bouncy, up-tempo tracks contain a rare combination of grit and grace, and work well with the street-themed rhymes of Juvenile, B.G., Lil’ Wayne and the Big Tymers.

“We’re trying to bring rap back to the streets and the ghettos,” Juvenile says. “For a minute there, everybody was getting away from that, getting commercial. Some people didn’t want to take the chance and the risk to do a gangster album or be a gangster group. The last one that was successful and stayed to the streets was N.W.A. But they broke up. We’re trying to go a little further than that by staying together and still be solo artists going platinum.”

Brothers Ronald and Bryan Williams founded Cash Money Records in 1992. Releases from U.N.L.V. and B.G. established the label on a regional level and allowed fledgling producer Fresh to develop his studio skills.

Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” and B.G.’s “Bling Bling” proved to be the company’s breakthrough singles last year. Both enjoyed substantial radio, video and club play. The former outlined the crew’s appreciation of attractive women, while the latter drew attention to the omnipresent jewelry the Cash Money artists dangle in every video and magazine spread.

“If you go out in a club, you don’t want to hear any slow music,” Juvenile says. “If you go in a club and one of our songs comes on, people are going to move. Our producer has a real understanding of what we’re focused on. Our music is beautiful. Mannie Fresh drops the finest beats in the nation. We enjoy ourselves and we have fun with what we’re doing. We understand that it’s a job that we’re doing.

“People accept us because we’re always out, where they can see us. For a person to touch your hand, to see you and talk to you, that’s all they want.”

Expect to hear much more of Cash Money Records in the coming months. While on the road with the Ruff Ryders, the various rappers are heading into studios in their downtime to record songs for their next slew of albums.

The Big Tymers’ “I Got That Work” is scheduled for a May 16 release, while Cash Money will release its debut movie, “Baller Blockin’,” a portrayal of life on the streets of New Orleans, direct-to-video through Universal Pictures by the end of the summer, along with a soundtrack album. (Cash Money’s albums are manufactured and distributed by Universal Music.) Juvenile also expects to release his next album, “Project English,” by the end of the year.

Even in the midst of a mammoth tour and under the auspices of the biggest music company in the world, the Cash Money artists say they maintain the same drive that made them regional stars in the mid-1990s. “Cash Money still runs everything in-house,” Juvenile says. “What we were doing three years ago, we’re still doing it. It’s just on a larger scale.”

That larger scale includes the Ruff Ryders/Cash Money tour. The trek of arena-size venues kicked off Feb. 24 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y. The first 16 stops of the tour grossed an average of $447,966. While that figure is enough to put it into Pollstar magazine’s current list of the 10 top-grossing tours, sales have been sluggish in several markets, Pollstar reports.

Although each act on the tour has sold more than 700,000 copies of one of his or her albums (other than Drag-On, whose debut album was released March 28, and the Big Tymers), the recent ticket sale slump is consistent with rap’s less-than-stellar concert box-office history.

“In general, rap and hip-hop tours have never sold on a comparable level as a rock act that would sell the same number of records,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar. “On paper, just based on the number of records that these acts are selling, you’d expect the arenas to be turning people away.”

Even so, Juvenile looks at the positive aspects of being on the road. The 24-year-old New Orleans native says the chief benefits of the tour are promoting his albums and giving fans a firsthand look at the bond he and label-mates B.G., Lil’ Wayne and the Big Tymers share.

“All of their questions get answered,” Juvenile says of performing in front of fans. “Do they hang out together? There were rumors that B.G. was dead. By them seeing us together, they’re like, ‘They’re really a family.’ After we prove that to them, they love us even more.”

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DMX, Eve, LOX, Drag-On, Juvenile, Lil’ Wayne, Hot Boy$, B.G. and the Big Tymers play Saturday at 6 p.m. and next Sunday at 4 p.m. at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. $32-$52. (949) 855-2863.