Earl Simmons grew up between Mount Vernon and Yonkers, New York, and turned a raw, guttural, often prayer-laced delivery into one of the most distinctive voices in hip hop. It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998) and its single "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" made him a defining figure of late-'90s hardcore East Coast rap, and he remains the only artist whose first five studio albums all debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

the sound in question

1998

Ruff Ryders' AnthemDMX