SWIZZ BEATZ SAYS DMX IS THE REALEST!

You can never front on the legacy of DMX or the Ruff Ryders. We all know about the loudest Ruff Ryder's troubles the last few years, but Swizz Beatz says the Dog is clean and back in the studio.

"Me and X probably have the realest of realest talks," Swizz said of his close friend. "If a person don't wanna help themselves, then there's nothing you can do. The good thing is that X is willing to help himself. I know the X I can work with, I know the X I cannot work with. Right now [he] is the X I can work with. That's why he's on the ['Who's Real'] remix smashing it and we got about seven other records that, if we put out right now, it would mess everybody up.

"But I wanna have the proper setup where he's getting a fair chance and the most attention and most respect right now," Swizz added. "I'm not putting nothing out until we have the lineup together, which we're close to having, and the streets are going to witness that raw uncut street element. X was doing $16 million movies and sleeping outside, just because that's where he felt comfortable. He's the realest in the game. He never was on no jewelry, no cars. X, he's one artist that I truly know is a real artist. It don't get no more real than X."

As for the Ruff Ryders coming back together, Swizz said, "100 percent." While a compilation may be held back due to business reasons, he says everyone — the LOX, Eve, Drag-On as well as DMX — is working on their separate projects to drop soon.