Dame Dash on ‘jeen-yuhs’ and How Kanye Became 'Our New Michael Jackson’

Elaborating on his MJ comment, Dame said that “every move" that Kanye West makes, "everybody’s paying attention to him” and that he now “triggers the world."

Kanye West and Damon Dash during State Property 2 New York City Premiere
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Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage for Lions Gate Films via Getty Images

Kanye West and Damon Dash during State Property 2 New York City Premiere

Dame Dash is opening up about his thoughts on Coodie and Chike’s jeen-yuhs.

The three-act Netflix documentary—a product of 20 years of footage of the artist formerly known as Kanye West—features some on-camera input from Dame himself during his Roc-A-Fella days in the early ’00s. But as he reflects now, he never expected Ye to become as big as he is today. 

“I think this is the right time for that,” Dame told the Jasmine Brand. “’Cause you get insight into who Kanye is, especially because he’s so public. He’s turned into our new Michael Jackson, you know, whether that’s negative or positive, but that just is what it is. I wasn’t expecting all that from Kanye.”

Elaborating on his MJ comment, Dame shared that “every move [Ye] makes, everybody’s paying attention to him” and that he “triggers the world” now. 

“He wasn’t that bold back then, but he always was very confident,” Dame shared. “It’s levels to it, so I thought he had a lot of confidence rapping among the fierce rappers that were around, and also being vocal. I give everybody the same exact opportunity [when] I see potential, I see the same potential in mostly everybody. He just really took the opportunity and he really listened. And what he did was he leveraged his celebrity very well.”

Dame—who called Ye a “free man” and said his ability to draw attention is “karma” for those who ignored him—also admitted that he himself had a “lot of the firsts” when it came to sneaker deals and streaming services. But because Dame didn’t have the “celebrity” to leverage it like Yeezy, “sometimes things don’t move as fast.”

“I love the fact that [Ye] was smart enough to take his celebrity, and that’s what I taught them—use your celebrity to leverage it for your own products. And that’s what he did and that’s what mostly everyone who has been successful has done.”

For those looking for more insight into Ye’s remarkable come-up, before he (hopefully) drops Donda 2 on his Stem Player product sometime today, the second act of jeen-yuhs premieres on Netflix on Wednesday. 

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