Dame Dash claims his falling out with Jay-Z stemmed from the 25-time Grammy winner wanting to create professional distance between them.
Dame, who co-founded former music label Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, recounted his last meeting with the rapper in the Sept. 29 episode of Quiet Part Out Loud.
Around the 55-minute mark of the video below, the music executive explained that former Arista Records CEO L.A. Reid wanted to approach him for a deal instead of Hov directly.
“He wanted a businessman to be there,” Dame said, adding that Reid notified him via phone call that Jay’s business partner, John Meneilly, said the rapper didn’t want Dame present for the meeting.
“And yeah, he was like, ‘I want to be known as a businessman.’ Like, flat-out said, ‘I want to be known as a businessman and I can't be known as a businessman with you next to me,’” Dame alleges Jay-Z said during their eventual meeting. “And I was like, ‘I don't even want to be next to you, n***a. You're not a businessman.’”
Dame also claimed that the 4:44 artist is used as a “figurehead” while business decisions are made behind the scenes by people like record executive Steve Stoute.
“If you notice in his interviews, he's a box of rocks,” Dame said.
The music mogul also explained that Jay-Z requested that he part with the rights to his debut album Reasonable Doubt.
“Jay ain't shit. We all know that. And I'll say it. And y'all could tell me [I’m a] chatty patty when he fucks up $40 million of my own money,” Dame said.
After claiming that Jay-Z refused to walk The Woodsman red carpet with him, Dame shared his disbelief that his former friend “had such a conglomerate of people that would conspire” against him.
“He's over there with them, I think, because he needs the crew. … He can't do nothing on his own,” Dame continued about the Roc Nation founder.
While Dame has shown opposition to Hov during the anniversaries of Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint throughout the year, the rapper publicly addressed Dame once in a freestyle during Roots Picnic in May.
