Top hip-hop acts, including DMX [ tickets ], Eve [ tickets ], Lil' Wayne, and Juvenile [ tickets ], will be among those performing on The Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Tour. Named for two of the rap labels with acts on the roster, the tour is scheduled to get underway in mid-February and will visit about 40 cities. The bill will also include Swizz Beatz, the Lox, Hot Boys, Drag-On, Big Tymers, Turk, and B.G. Though a tentative tour itinerary has surfaced, changes are likely. No onsale dates for tickets have been announced.

MTV, which is expected to give the tour heavy coverage, reported that the outing will be sponsored by rap magazine The Source. According to Billboard Online, a tour album will be recorded.

The tour is expected to share the high production values of this year's successful ''Hard Knock Life'' tour, which featured Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man and Redman. The ''Hard Knock Life'' tour was one of early 1999's top arena tours, and caused many to re-think the common assumption that hip-hop acts sell records, but not concert tickets.

According to Amusement Business, the ''Hard Knock Life'' tour also went a long way toward dispelling the myth that hardcore rap shows can't be done safely at arena-sized venues. The magazine reported that the tour averaged attendance of better than 10,000 per city, and that none of the 50 shows resulted in major security problems.

In 1998, DMX became the first artist to debut two albums at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart during the same year. The hardcore rapper is a good bet to debut at the top of that chart again with the Dec. 23 release of his new CD ''...And Then There Was X'' (Def Jam) looming.

Though DMX had a good attendance record on the ''Hard Knock Life'' tour, he backed out of a planned stint on the Family Values Tour just days before it launched. The rapper offered no explanation for his decision. In July, the Associated Press reported that DMX was arrested on an obscenity charge during a concert in Trinidad, where it is illegal to use offensive language in public. He spent part of a weekend in a Caribbean lock-up.