Damon Dash made a fortune in the music business turning Jay-Z and Kanye West into household names. In the second part of his SOHH exclusive, Dash reveals his thoughts on Kanye West, the legacy of Roc-A-Fella, and why he left the music business.
With his latest film project, the Nicky Barnes documentary, Mr. Untouchable, in theatres this week, it seems as if Dash has left the music industry behind, for good.
"I'm retired really from music," Dash told SOHH. "I set up Dame Dash Music Group for all the artists I knew were going to get dropped when the sale happened." After a year Dash dissolved the company. "To be honest, if I can't make history again, I don't want to do it."
And what a rich history Dash has had.
"People told me don't mess with Jay-Z at all, then I did. The same exact people told me 'Nah Kanye's not the one,' including Jay-Z," Dash explained. "Then when he came out, everybody's up under him. It's hard to keep arguing about things you know are right."
Despite the fact that Kanye stayed with Jay-Z after the Roc-A-Fella fallout, Dash said he's happy to see Ye win.
"More power to him," Dash told SOHH. "I think it's a good thing that someone that was probably kicked around his whole life is now empowered, it's just what he does with it. The only thing that bothers me about Kanye's situation is that everyone's still eating off it except me. I would have poly'd that deal a little different. Everyone that's still eating off him is everyone that said he couldn't make it, but other than that I'm happy to see what he does."
Asked about his relationship with other Roc-A-Fella artists, Dash responded with his own line of questions.
"Are there any other [artists]," Dash asked? "Does Roc-A-Fella still exist? I haven't seen the chain around lately, so I don't know. When I left it was different. And not to be arrogant or be happy but it's the truth. What do you think about the other Roc-A Fella- artists? Are they gonna come out? It's been about 5 years."
Dash's dedication to the legacy of Roc-A-Fella hasn't completely diminished. Just recently BlockSavvy.com, the social networking site set up by Dash and partner Kareem "Biggs" Burke, offered listeners a chance to hear Beyond Reasonable Doubt, a tribute mixtape put together by Dash before his rift with Jay-Z. The mixtape includes Kanye West, Beanie Siegel, Freeway and other Roc artists laying down their renditions of Jay-Z classics in honor of the 10th Anniversary of Reasonable Doubt.
"You know we gotta get that traffic," Dash said of the BlockSavvy move before adding, "Reasonable Doubt was really the only thing we 100% owned and it was very reflective of us, not Jay - me, Jay, Biggs and the movement. That's why Reasonable Doubt was a classic. I listen to that @#!* and every single thing said, I remember to a tee what he was talking about, because a lot of that @#!* was us. I A&R'd that project, so I know what music I bought, when we did it, who produced it, how we paid them, the changes that we made and I always thought it should be celebrated on a lot of levels because it was reflective of us and we owned it. We can make money from it forever, so I wanted to do something that paid homage to it."
[Read Part 1 of SOHH's exclusive Dame Dash Interview Here]
[Watch an Exclusive Clip From Dash's Nicky Barne's Doc, Mr. Untouchable, Here]
SOHH Exclusive: Dame Dash's Roc-A-Fella Regrets, "Everyone's Still Eating Off Kanye West Except Me" | Daily Hip-Hop News | SOHH.com /
