How Ruffhouse Documents founder Chris Schwartz overcame poverty, abuse, and addiction to start perhaps one of the most pivotal brands in hip-hop background and launch the careers of a few of music’s biggest stars

‘All respect to Chris Schwartz. He’s a great visionary.’―Nas

Being a struggling musician aiming to catch a break in 1980s Philadelphia, Chris Schwartz navigated the crime-infested, morally bankrupt music industry to found and build perhaps one of the most successful hip-hop record labels in the globe. That about Ruffhouse: Through the Roads of Philly to the very best of the ’90s Hip-Hop Charts label was Ruffhouse, which launched the careers of Nas, The Fugees, Cypress Hill, among others, dominating the graphs and generating global revenues of over one billion dollars.

Schwartz and his partner, Joe Nicolo, built Ruffhouse from one desk and a telephone to 1 of hip-hop’s most revered record businesses while simultaneously fighting drug addiction and alcoholism. A story of money, greed, envy, betrayal, assault, addiction, reduction, and redemption, not forgetting a lot of music, Ruffhouse uncovers the inside story of the record companies, documenting studios, tour buses, private jets, mansions, r / c, and concert halls at the height of hip-hop’s 1990s heyday, while also uncovering the darker part of the business enterprise, from police stations to rehab clinics, courtrooms to prisons. Narrated in Schwartz’s own candid, searing prose, Ruffhouse is definitely a gripping portrayal of hip-hop tradition at its tipping stage, as it transitioned from metropolitan curiosity to a worldwide commercial platform.