The DMX [ tickets ]- and Juvenile [ tickets ]-led Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Tour is scheduled be on the road by the end of February, a few weeks later than originally planned. Named for two hip-hop labels that are contributing acts, the tour will make stops in more than 30 arenas over two months.

Initial plans for the tour called for the outing to get underway in early February. The tentative schedule didn't hold, however, and the itinerary was reworked. Though the new itinerary is still considered tentative, the plans are solid in some markets: ticket sales are underway for shows in Rochester and Uniondale, N.Y., and in Auburn Hills, Mich. Other onsale dates will be announced.

The bill for the tour includes two camps of performers: Ruff Ryders, which include DMX, Eve [ tickets ], Lox, and Drag-On; and Cash Money Millionaires, which feature Juvenile, The Hot Boys [ tickets ], 'Lil Wayne, B.G. and The Big Tymers.

The tour is expected to have the high production values of last 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.

In the last two years, three DMX albums--two of them released in 1999--have topped the album charts during their first week of release. The most recent to accomplish this feat was "...And Then There Was X," which hit the stores just before Christmas. DMX sold more albums last year than any other artist in Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop category.

Juvenile's "400 Degreez'' (Cash Money) was 1999's top-selling R&B/Hip-Hop album, according to Billboard.