DAMON DASH would be the first person to readily admit to you that he has a problem. He is addicted to making money. DASH has even called himself a cake-a-holic as a way of introducing an urban colloquial for his desire to earn money. DASH briefly used a reality television program to bring to view the values to which he considered esteemable. Black Entertainment Television’s ‘The Ultimate Hustler’ was an achievement in low-brow stereotypical minority run business plans and it probably paved the way for television programs like ‘Flavoe of Love’ and ‘I Love New York’. The cooning and shuffling was disguised in the program’s ‘Apprentice’-like knock off format.
DAMON DASH has already become a caricature of himself at this point. He no longer shepherds the stable of artists under the Rocafella Records imprint. He has also been removed from his partnership role at Rocawear clothing. Jay-Z, the persona that DASH created based on a Harlem drug dealer named A-Zee, has become a corporate darling and he is consulted and consorted by major corporations that covet the urban money spending demographic. Don’t let the irony of this reversal of fortune be lost on you. DAMON DASH has never given any care or forethought to the images that he has helped shaped through Hip-Hop and rap music.
These images have been of characters that trafficked drugs for the sport and lust of wealth, nary shedding a tear for the destruction of communities that these drugs will have wrought. Because their world of trafficking narcotics was metaphorically based on the music they delivered they might have imagined that no one was ever damaged by their deeds. Instead, I see a generation plus of young people that can recite several rap songs to me verbatim but don’t know that they reside within Kings County. It is not enough to say “Broooooooooklyyyyyn!”
The other shoe dropped this week when one of my friends from the woeful record industry sent a facsimile to my desk of some papers that were circulating through the halls of DAMON DASH’s old workplace. It always seemed to me that the life of a hustler should include making sure that the true hustlers were paid off first.
That amount seems somewhat piddling to the following amount which is admittedly more money than I will ever see in my lifetime. If DAMON DASH owes the I.R.S. over two million in back taxes then I can only imagine how much money he made overall, bearing in mind that rich people don’t submit the portion of their incomes to the taxman that us regular poor people have to.
Now don’t shed a tear for DAMON DASH. He’s been through tougher spots than this one and the apartment he owns in TriBeCa would probably sell for 10x the amount of that tax warrant. The one thing above all other things that DAMON DASH has proven is that he knows how to sell shit to Black people. That alone makes him invaluable to the Tall Israelis. DASH has got to have a rabbi left on his team that can help him return to prominence.
Otherwise DASH will be like so many other folks who eschewed the lavish life and ultimately ran out of bread. In the famous last words of Marie Antionette when the Parisians had run out of bread… “Let them eat cake.” I guess that won’t be too bad after all for this admitted cake-a-holic.
Dash in all his ways seemed to be loyal to his artist or at least to his interpretation of the hustlers code. unfortunatley for Dame those are the dudes that usually get left behind holding on to there codes. I can relate.
From the outside looking in Jay Z sort of reminds me of the symbiote. He attaches himself to a host drains them of there resources and moves on to a more viable host. Leaving its victims shells of there former selves.
One of the problems with business is that you swim with sharks. Sometimes you get to kill and others, you lose a limb. Dame is a business man. So when it’s time to ante up, you gotta write that check. And we all know the gov’t won’t wait long for their funds….hey, we have a war to pay for.
“Jay-Z, the persona that DASH created based on a Harlem drug dealer named A-Zee”
CB4 – Nuff said.
Dayum
Amadeo Says:
May 9th, 2007 at 8:54 am
“Jay-Z, the persona that DASH created based on a Harlem drug dealer named A-Zee”
CB4 – Nuff said.
…..Game…
..Blouses…
Which is true? CJack do you know? Other NYCers do yall know?
a Jay-Z “drug dealing” record he rapped about is purely fiction
b Jay was an actual small time drug dealer with some success (eg made a few 100Ks or so without getting a felony record), but rapped instead about the actual big dealer, this guy A-Zee
c Jay actually rapped about what he did, including killing dudes in “Friend or Foe”
It would seem to me that b) may be true
Amadeo Says:
May 9th, 2007 at 8:54 am
“Jay-Z, the persona that DASH created based on a Harlem drug dealer named A-Zee”
CB4 – Nuff said.
For real tho, that movie is a classic, i’d put it right up there with BNTH. straight outta locash…
Who read this long ass article in NY Magazine about Dame:
http://nymag.com/news/profiles/17268/
??
@Eloheem – COSIGN.
@NoMames – I’m gonna go with “B”, less the success.
At the money owed: ROTFL. He should have hired the same firm to do his taxes as the LLC’s taxes.
But, yeah, I’m sure the $3 million check has already been written, branded with a stamp of his signature, mailed and debited from some account.
And passing that fax around seems an awful lot like some teenage girl shit. Men are so petty.
“made a few 100ks without getting a felony record”
^^ That is some Disney World Fanrtasia shit right there. Do you know what 100k means in the drugdealing world? Especially ten years ago? Shawn Carter would have a docket in F.B.I. headquarters with his name on it. The Feds would have sat his ass down a long time ago.
Shawn Carter is a rapper. Jay-Z is a character that the rapper uses for his art. You all don’t believe Tony Montana was a real person do you???
Oh, my bad, you do…
did anyone see when bill o’reilly interviewed both dame and cam? it was a triumvirate of stupid. when o’reilly asked why they were pushing gangsta music, dame and cam blamed other media outlets. “didn’t Arnold Schwartzanegger push all those violent movies and isn’t he a governor right now?” it was pretty classic.
Yo watch Cocaine Cowboys its a documentary of the Coca lifestyle in the 70’s-80’s its on Google video for free. Those whiteboys were raking in hundreds of millions, i.e. crack lost(and all who affialiated themselves with crack). Yo Dallas because of your posts and radio podcasts I decided to check out The Clash and woopity doo (keep in mind my rock love is minimal to a Rage or POD or a radiohead here and there) I heard this song called Police & Thieves that song is Congas, I havent been able to stop listening to it. Big Up to you D, No Levitra
By the way I would DVR “ultimate hustler” on GP, that Dame Dash is truly hilarious in (I think) a non-intentional kind of way
BTW my black superheros kick ass…thanks big D.
If you’re into Hood DVD Documentaries check out “Brooklyn Don: The Calvin “Klein” Bacote Story” the story of Jay’s mentor who I’m sure most of his kingpin tales are based on. For good comedy on the “Original 50 Cent” DVD there’s a “Brooklyn Hardrocks” picture down at Virginia Beach and you can see a young Jiggerman playing the back…
I actually feel “sorry” for Dame. He’s like the Dana Carvey to Jay’s Mike Myers. They both started out in “Wayne’s World” and now one’s a major player in Hollywood, and the other his worth a mere fraction of his one time partner (although still way richer than you or I). Its always been said that Dame wouldn’t kowtow to the “real” label execs and his battles with Lyor were supposedly stuff of legend. I guess he’s paying to cost for that now…
@I FUX – glad you’re diggin on the CLASH. dudes were hip hop.
check out the original POLICE and THIEVES, by reggae artist JUNIOR MURVIN. i’ll look for my copy and try to post it…
PEACE
dude, how’d you get DASH’s ish?
Billy Sunday got connects
Ayo BX Sunday, no need to ad-hominem attack me.
I stated that I DON’T KNOW, made my guess, & asked those of yall, esp NYCers that MIGHT ACTUALLY KNOW. WTF
^ git outta line, niggaz will pull yer file! Ask Sickamore!
For real though, I just checked my “sources” and those warrants against Dame are valid AND outstanding. That means nigga aint pay ’em yet and he might just get arrested. Usually, NY State taxes are a FRACTION of whats owed to the Feds, so it seems like Damon might be in trouble. Word on the street is that theres a question as to whether dude can even pay off the warrant in the amount of 2 milly. People, dont get caught up in the “money hype”!
@NOMAMESBUEY- i’mma go with (a) joe camel ain’t never been in the streets. which is perfectly fine and actually the preferable way to live life, imho.
@EVNON- “i got dirt on you doggy………YOU MAAAAAAAAAAD, YOU MAAAAAAAAD!” funniest shit i’ve ever seen. i’m laughing right now thinking about it.
@JEN- i read that isht last night. stayed at work til 6.30 finishing it up. i’m so diligent. (grins)
CJack, WTF did I do out of line?
Eff some of yalls ad-hominem attacks. I would expect that from Little Wang & his Wayne Staynes.
I would expect more from yall, since you have the ability to engage in logical discussion.
I was responding to Vik and how Dallas copped Dash’s ish. Breathe easy NoMamesBuey.
That’s some snitch of the week shit right there.
i been gone for a minute but i’m back mufuckas!!!!!!!!!!!
anyway, dudes kill me swearing up and down that jay-z wasn’t in the streets or that his story is fiction. don’t get me wrong, i don’t know him and therefore can’t verify the veracity of what he raps about – but neither can any of y’all. allow me to promulgate a few points:
1. i think the real point of debate is not whether jay-z sold drugs, but how much and how “successful” he was at it. i’m pretty familiar with jay’s oeuvre (ok, i’ll admit, i’m somewhat of a stan – but that’s beside the point and doesn’t preclude the soundness of my reasoning) and i’ve never heard him refer to himself as a “kingpin”.
2. he does, however, allude many times to selling pies, bricks, kilos, etc. but why does everyone act as if that’s such a big deal? undoubtedly, most cats who sell crack are doing small hand-to-hands on a corner, but there are SOME cats who sling bricks (at least in the ATL there are). now, i’m light years away from being “in the streets” and even i’m aware of and have knowledge of a few cats who sell bricks. is it that much of a stretch, therefore, to think that jay-z could’ve been one of those dudes? especially, in the late 80s, early 90s?
3. i think most of y’all feel that because jay-z has had so much success as a rapper and business man, there is no way he could’ve been doing it big in the streets. i think that notion really bothers some of y’all. many of us know, or at least know of, a few guys who’ve gained a modicum of “success” in the streets. the only difference between them and jay-z is that they can’t or choose not to rap. if AZ, Alpo, Rich Porter, Supreme, or any other NY or DC street legend ended up rapping, i think y’all niggas would be saying they wasn’t in the streets either. what gives?
4. i find it improbable that any artist as big as jay-z could get away with pilfering someone else’s life story wholesale and not get called out on it by any of the parties who were actually there. shit, speaking of dame dash, i’m sure he can’t stand jay-z but he’s never outed him as being a fraud (neither has jaz-o, who probably has more reason to want to defame jay-z than Dash).
5. speaking of jaz-o, where was jay-z and what was he doing in the years between “Hawaiian Sophie” and “Reasonable Doubt”. hmmmm…. let y’all tell it, he was probably somewhere plotting on how he could take over the rap world and become one of the most successful rappers ever by lying about his life. yeah right…
6. let’s be clear: do i believe that jay-z sold every gram mentioned in every rhyme? no. i’m sure he embellishes his story for art’s sake (as most rappers do). do i believe “friend or foe” really happened? no. but i don’t think he’s lying about shooting his older brother (as told in “you must love me”).
7. how the fuck do y’all niggas think half of these independent rap labels in the south were started? with IRS tax refunds? WIC checks? but i don’t hear y’all doubting these guys. maybe it’s because most of these CEO’s don’t rap, but i bet if they did y’all would say they’re lying too!
8. if, as 40 says above, jay-z was playing the background in the Brooklyn Hardrocks photo, that proves that at a minimum he was affiliated with street cats. if that’s the case, why do so many of y’all find it hard to believe that he was ONE of them? it’s not like being a drug dealer is as rare as being in, say, skull and bones.
9. bite me (a preemptive challenge to all those who might try to get all pissy with me about this comment). “it’s just my thoughts people!”
NMB,
Don’t feel no kind of way. Comments get chopped like youngling trees. It’s the way of the internets walk.
Twerkolater,
You sound like you studied Jay-Z’s resume to graduate college. Prah’lee one of those jig community colleges that are sprinkled around Atlanta like strippers.
I can imagine that Shawn Carter did sell some drugs, be it hand to hand, or even the weightier amounts, because I did as well, but the only thing that you leave that industry with is… 1) empty pockets to buy your freedom, 2) jail time – when your money isn’t long enough, 3) dead, as in game over. Those are your only three options and if you wait too long option 1 evaporates.
My problem is that the character called Jay-Z used his artistic talent to weave a detailed and fraudulent reality where young people actually believed that there could be an escape clause from narco trafficking. He talked about the speedboats and the jetplanes and the endlessly flowing champagne. Jay-Z was a pied piper for the malaise that I witness with Black men from the ages of 28-18. Those of you that played ‘Reasonable Doubt’ until the CD was scratched to deaf have put your self behind the figurative eight ball so totally that you will need to work several jobs to maintain a semblance of an adult lifestyle.
Someone said that ‘Money aint a thing’, but money is a thing and how we generate it and disburse it describes our values as people.
Twerkolater, you may not be one of the many people I have encountered that has told me that schooling has no bearing on one’s success in life, but I say that it does. It describes your character, your committment and your ability to sacrifice in order to achieve a goal. None of those skillsets are developed standing on the corner, and certainly not in a soundproof booth.
Real snitch of the week ish, I’d say.
^Twerk, from what I’ve come across Jay was more or less Bacote’s “Weed Carrier” and for a 17 year old kid to get the scraps of a mulimillion dollar drug operation probably had him in the newest Nikes and fresh wears. However his “kingpin” status that he relishes about spending money from ’88 is more hyperbole than anything. (But what isn’t in rap?)
The OG AZ actually did rap his group was MOBSTYLE. MOBSTYLE’s biggest record was “Whats Happening Brother” an ode by Azie to his fallen comrade Rich Porter and his little brother Donnell who were subsequently killed with in weeks of each other. Where they never gained the recognition of other groups of the “Golden Age” they were highly respected because of who the group was made up of. MOBSTYLE was started after Mr. Faizon narrowly escaped with his life during a botched robbery attempt* on one of his stash houses while he was there.
(*The alleged triggermen on this job were the notorious Bolden Brothers who made their bones robbing drug dealers across the 5 boroughs. The Bolden Bros were allegedly put out of commission at the behest of Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols who allegedly hired out Supreme Team boss Gerald “Prince” Miller to do the job. One of the brothers were killed one survived and the murder was hung on the Supreme Team on their federal indictment. Miller is serving six life sentences with the Bolden murder as one of his charges.)
BTW – while spinning the further street stories here. The supposed “real” reason why Jay and Dame aren’t cool (according to Harlem barbershop grapevine talk) is that notorious kingpin & government informant Alpo has been released from Federal prison and Dame who idolized Martinez as a youth had a private dinner party to welcome him home. Supposedly this chapped the ass of street loyal Jiggerman and was the straw that broke the camel’s back…
I’m gonna lay low for a few days now.
@ billy sunday: i appreciate the response and i def. agree with you.
(btw, i didn’t study Jigga’s resume to graduate. i did, however, write a bangin’
analysis of Ice Cube’s “Death Certificate” for this one music class i took. i graduated from Emory – a decidedly non-jig university. i probably should have went to a jig community college though. that way i could’ve fucked more “nappy-headed hoes”. alas, i ended up with a nappy-headed pink-toed hoe).
@40: thanks for the info. i don’t know why those types of hood stories interest me so much, but they do.
^ Emory?!?!
Damn, you one of those African Americans…
^nah homie…i’m definitely of the “black folk” ilk. matter of fact, my gas is off right now. i had to take a cold shower this morning before i went to work. true story!
^ Respect due
you would think i would be in a better financial position having graduated from Emory, but i’ve sacrificed greener pastures over the past 13 years trying to get on as a music producer/manager (to no avail as of yet)…
it’s all good though, i’m on my plan b shit now – back to school for the kid, ya heard!
quiet as its kept, the guy with the real street money was biggs. “silent partner” if it wasn’t for him there wouldn’t be any rocafella !
Mr. Billy Sunday,
I read quite a bit of hip hop commentary blog stuff and I must say this blog and your response to twerkolater is the best hip hop writing I have seen. Pardon my dust, I dont wish to dig up the unnecesary Jay-Z skeleton shit, but oh well: Im from Chicago, a city of a lot of legendary drug dealers and such. I have seen them come and go–I did not really partake, I stayed in school and that good stuff–it was inevitable where im from–humboldt park. Thus, in my opinion, Jay Z probably did sell drugs as many kids do, he, however, was most certainly not a master criminal. People know who the fuck you are, especially the police.
That said, while I appreciate the artistry of Jay Z, he has never been oneo my favorites as his carciture is so fake. There is no upward mobility in the drug game. The idea that moving coke is going to allow black and brown youth to transcend their suroundings and live the lifestyle of rich white people is almost humorous–if it were not so cravenly negative. Has anyone been to the ghetto? Drug dealers, even the ones who floss vehicles in their moms name, end up locked, dead or lost in the mix of menial work. The latter route, often the last refuge for the lost generations of young poor folks, hardly offers any semblance of an opportunity for boats and big pimpin.
Again, I like Jay but the shit him and Dame pushed for so long has consequenses. The fictious tales of drug empires and endless consumersim hurts the very people they claim to represent.
^ chibangin,
respect due for your comment. that is how we flow here at DP Dot. each one, teach one.
yo dame dash we have to talk. i’m from brigdeport, ct. you think paid in full was a block buster. i got a true life gangster story for you that will make paid in full cats look like boy scouts. 78-83 bridgeport was the crime central of america and we need to get this movie out. i need a financer holla back i lived through that erra and those bridgeport gangsters story need to be told. holla back
Yo I gotta prop you up duke, you did have this way before my man over at MyHangOver