In Ruffneck, which has been described as an "ode to thug love",[12] MC Lyte explicitly talks about her sexual preference for men who have an "evil smile with a mouth full of gold teeth", "dude with a attitude" who'll "smack it, lick it, swallow it up style.

"[10][13] As Lyte told Vibe magazine in 2011, the song came about after then-Atlantic vice president Sylvia Rhone sent it to Virginia to work with Teddy Riley and his production team, who already had tracks ready for her.

"[15] In April 2020, on the 19th anniversary of the passing of TLC's Left Eye Lopes, Lyte has confessed that she originally had an appearance in the second verse "She flew down in the middle of her tour to Virginia to hit the studio with Aquil Davidson, Teddy Riley and ME", but that it could not be finalized because it was not approved by her label.

[12] It became Lyte's second song on the US Billboard Hot 100 after Poor Georgie and her first top 40 single, peaking at #35 in October 1993 and staying a total of 20 weeks on the chart.

[7] In his "Consumer Guide" column in The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau described the song as "magnificent" and that "will break her pop if anything does, and I'm pessimistic enough about America and the 'hood to suspect that it's too good to do the trick."

"[18][19] Simon Williams from NME said, "MC Lyte is making a healthy career out of rapping about shagging, with no come (sic) back.

"[21] During a note with Michel Marriott from New York Times, the playwright and screenwriter Richard Wesley reflected on the song that "the celebration of the ruffneck" represents "a paradox of identity, attitude and mannerisms of generations-long in black America.

[24] In 2001 Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters opined that with the release of the single Lyte "introduces a moment in hip-hop where female acts like Salt-N-Pepa would reinscribe the value of "authentic" black masculinity/sexuality on tracks like Whatta Man and Shoop.

"[25] In 2013 Complex's Lauren Nostro reviewed the song, which she deemed gave Lyte "her commercial peak five years after her Hall of Fame career", describing her beat as "syncopated head-nodding".

[10] In September 2020, Vulture's Dee Lockett commented that with this song Lyte "set the standard for what women were "allowed" to rap about, and generations of New York rappers as Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim followed her lead.

"[13] The music video for "Ruffneck" was directed by Pamela Birkhead, who also worked with Run-DMC and the progressive metal group Dream Theater, and was released in May 1993.

[27] Filmed on Long Island, it shows MC Lyte rapping with a group of men behind them cheering in the chorus and in a rooftop overlooking the Manhattan Bridge.

In July 2016, in her note Hip-Hop Music Videos From Women in the ‘90s That Still Give Us Life, VH1's Jasmine Grant commented: "(...) who could hate on her honesty when it came to the men of her preference?

The subject of sex was jarring coming from a female hip hop artist at the time, but the unforgettable element of this video was the delicious eye candy she served us.