Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
Dame Dash has revisited the dispute that fractured his and JAY-Z‘s once-successful business relationship.
In an interview with The Art of Dialogue, the Harlem rap mogul explained how he walked away from Roc-A-Fella Records after Hov began working closely with R. Kelly, who infamously married Dash’s ex-girlfriend Aaliyah when she was just 15.
“The fact that Jay was fucking with him is what used to blow my mind more than anything. I don’t know why he wanted to fuck with this guy so much. Like why? I’ve never understood it,” he said.
Dame then revealed that he confronted JAY-Z about his grievance: “Everybody knew R. Kelly married Aaliyah at 15. Everybody knew that. So was the conversation had like, ‘Yo, how you gonna go and do something with this dude?’ Hell yeah that conversation was had!
“You think I’m soft? Pause. I was like, ‘Yo, how you gonna do a project with a n-gga that raped my muthafucking girl?’ We had the conversation. Would you still fuck with a n-gga that fucked with someone that raped your girl? So why would anyone expect me to?”
He added: “There’s a lot of other shit but that alone was the nail in the coffin for me. I was outta there, I was gone. I knew that shit was gonna blow up. I wanted no parts of that shit. So I was done with him for that.”
Asked how Jay responded, Dame said: “You know how he is. He was like, ‘Yo, I ain’t have nothing to do with that.’ What I would love is for someone to ask him, ‘Why would you still do a project with that man knowing that he raped Aaliyah?’
“That right there was bridge burned […] I left Roc-A-Fella. It wasn’t that I got kicked out of Roc-A-Fella; I left Roc-A-Fella. I was done. I said, ‘Fuck all the money, fuck all this shit, I’m out.’ I was left no choice.”
The 53-year-old also claimed that JAY-Z himself was “in love” with Aaliyah and said he found it “even more disrespectful” that the rapper began working with R. Kelly on The Best of Both Worlds shortly after her death in 2001.
Dame Dash and JAY-Z’s tumultuous relationship has been back in the spotlight of late thanks to the sale of the former’s shares in Roc-A-Fella, Inc.
After a much-publicized back-and-forth, Dash’s one-third ownership stake in the company (which owns the rights to Jay’s Reasonable Doubt and is separate to Roc-A-Fella, LLC, which houses the rest of the label’s catalog) was ultimately sold for just $1 million at auction.
The auction was held to help satisfy the record executive’s extensive debts, which include $8.7 million in back taxes, an $800,000 lawsuit settlement to filmmaker Josh Webber and $145,000 in unpaid child support.
The shares were purchased by the state of New York, who are expected to flip them for a higher sum to pay off Dash’s sizeable tax debt.
Following the auction, Dame wasted little time in swiping his former business partner, saying on his America Nu Network platform: “What this really taught me was that, in the world, homie isn’t as big as he portrays.
“I thought more people would be interested in buying it […] I thought people would at least show up. No one even showed up! […] Jay didn’t even make a bid. He didn’t think it was worth $3 million. A billionaire, supposedly.”
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SZA and Kendrick Lamar have all the support from the DeBarge family after sampling Bobby DeBarge on their new collab, “30 For 30.”
The song samples “I Call Your Name” from the band Switch, whose lead singer was Bobby.
In a video posted to Instagram shortly after the song arrived on SZA’s new Lana album, El DeBarge’s daughter Bobbie gleefully played the song for her dad and gushed about how beautiful it is as they danced to it.
“So SZA and Kendrick just did a sample of uncle Bobby’s song,” she tells her dad. “You’re gonna love it. They paid homage. It’s beautiful.”
El then shared the video to his page, captioning it: “When your daughter is Lo-key proud to be.”
SZA caught wind of the post and put it on her story as well, writing, ‘Aww hiiii and THANK YOU” – which made Bobbie’s day, who reposted and added, “sza reposted I can rest now. [tear emoji].”
Following the slightly delayed release for SZA’s Lana album late last week, a rumor was started that Frank Ocean was also supposed to be on the project and that he’d even recorded his part, but was removed at the last minute.
An X account going by the handle of @blondedhomer wrote: “Frank Ocean’s verse on SZA’s new album Lana (SOS deluxe) was removed at the last minute.”
The post caught the attention of the TDE songstress, who angrily replied: “Lmao now why would you even make this up?? Ur insane… it never existed… and don’t ever play on Frank’s name like that EVAAAA.”
SZA has previously acknowledged the influence that Frank Ocean has had on her music.
In a recent Harper’s Bazaar interview with Kendrick Lamar, she admitted that she pretends to be the elusive R&B singer in the studio.
“When I’m in the studio, it hurts too much sometimes. Maybe that’s why I tap in and pretend to be other people,” she said. “That’s why I’m pretending to be you [Kendrick] or pretending to be Frank [Ocean] or pretending to be Future because it’s easy.
“It’s easier to be me through their eyes than it is to sit with some of the really harsh things that I say about myself to myself.”
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