Continuing with the ‘True Blood’ inspired drop titles is my meme all week. I’ve been meaning to have this discussion with you all ever since Jackpot put the idea in my head. Does Jay-Z need another Dame Dash? Maybe not the actual Dame Dash himself but someone like Dame Dash who is opinionated and outspoken and dedicated to his artists being the freshest.
Without Dame Dash we would never have been given the character of Jay-Z. Most OG New Yorkers that still fux with this rap shit know that AZ (not the Firm rapper – NaS weedcarrier) from Harlem was one of the original streetpusher rap stars. AZ didn’t have anywhere near the talent that Jay-Z had but he was living the lifestyle for real, for real. Word to Rich Porter and Alpo.
Dame also built that Roc-A-Fella brand by putting in a stable of hard spitters like Beans and Freeway. Dame brought in KanYe West and Just Blaze. Dame was smart enough to leave out Saigon. Jay-Z was certainly the engine that made the car go fast, but Dame was the engineer that masde sure the machine ran correct. Who was more important? It should be obvious that you need them both.
The debate surrounding Jay-Z’s latest single “We Run This Town’ is focused squarely on the fact that KanYe West with half the verses of Jay-Z put in twice the amount of work. He clearly pwned that track. KanYe deserves another verse on that song. Hopefully there is a Roc-A-Fella Def Jam remix (Jadakiss, Fab, KanYe and Jay-Z) and Jay-Z redeems himself for not blacking out the first time.
I believe that Dame Dash would not have allowed Jay-Z to leave the studio the first time with that song as it was. Dame, who is the master of motivational slick talk would have asked Jay-Z is that was all he had. Dame would have told him from the gate that KanYe just ethered him on his own shit. Dame would have asked Jay-Z if that was how he was going out from now on, as a second stringer? Whatever it would have taken to get the best out of Jay-Z is what Dame would have done.
This is why Jay-Z had to get away from Dame Dash, but he still needs someone like him in his life. The yes men will not push Jay-Z to find out if he has a next level. They are only concerned with making him feel relaxed and comfortable. Dame Dash does not relax. He doesn’t sit still. He doesn’t shut up. And Dame Dash would be the only one man enough to tell Jay-Z to his face that if he didn’t have any more good music in his mind then he should really retire.
The Jay-Z Dame Dash track record of music they created together is undeniable. The shit these dudes have done separately is wholly forgettable. Blood may be thicker than Cristal, but champagne tastes so much better.
I agree with you. There has been a serious difference in the music he’s been making since he left Dame Dash’s side and I don’t know…
I had hope after “D.O.A.” but “Run This Town” just killed it for me, and it’s been like that for me with him for the last few years.
Nas and Jayz are old….i like their music but they were making records before the jordan 6 was out (jayz before the Jordan 5). Michael aint playin no more and im sure he likes basketball still. Creativity wanes a lil pun intended in older age..theres nothing u can do about it. however if u can make money by making a lesser product in ur old age y stop? look at north face.
LOL mercilesz, North Face fell the fux off, B!
People talk a lotta shit about Dame, myself included, but his job required him to be an asshole, jerk, tool (ll)(ll)(ll). Dame stayed losing the popularity contest just so Jay could win. Execs hated the fact they had to go through his arrogant ass to see Hov. He wore Jay’s track record on his chest like a badge of honor and let the world know, and brought the best out of Jay simply because demanded it. Who knows, Jay mighta felt a type of way after years of feeling like he was working for Dame. He mighta wanted to grow that crazy looking afro 7 years ago. He might wanted to wear them Larry Bud Melman glasses 7 years ago. I’m willing to bet they stopped talking because of something so much smaller than we could imagine. Typically thats the case when men stop speaking to each other and go into bitch mode. Now Dame’s writing a book on it? On some Karrine Steffans?
Maybe Jay would’ve regressed into this “been there, done that” archetype regardless. Age changes a man, & coupled with doe, comfortability, & contentment, somethings gotta give.
It could very well be that, no matter how we feel, Jay-Z is getting old(er). Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s a natural thing [||]. Mid-life crisis, anyone?
Personally I didn’t hear anything special on “We Run This Town” from either emcee. I’ll say he definitely doesn’t need yes men. With that said, who else better than Puff to pull out a serious album from Jay-Z?
Uhmm, I don’t know what half of ya’ll talking about but Jay-Z did his thing lyrically on a number of American Gangster tracks. Success was home-run in my opinion. The beat, the organ and both emcees delivered from decent lyrics. I definitely didn’t buy the whole “concept” album b.s. but the CD was on point.
@mercilesz,
Excuse me if I misread your statement. Creativity doesn’t fade away with age, creativity flows and some times flourishes . .. all depends on who you are. Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones, U2, Prince, PE, Isaac Hayes well past the twilight of their respectives career still handled their business.
“N****s said Hova was ova, such dummies
Even If I fell I’ll land on a bunch of money”
-Jay Z (Success)
Vee I dont know anything about u2 nor do i care to. Rolling stones didnt have any hits in the eighties that im aware of,Prince rocked about a decade cuz after sign of the times i really wasnt interested,sorry im gonna dissapoint alot of folks on this site but Im not that big of a Prince fan and never thought he made that much music good enough for me to buy.Melissa Morgan and Chaka Khan sung his songs better than he did in all honesty. Vee maybe you should replace Prince with Chaka in your statement about longevity. Isaac did his thing on Stax but his last good record was the one Redman sampled and that was right before the eighties decade and Stevie wonders last good record was probably these three words which was in the mid eighties. All Im saying is these guys had their run….but they knew when it was time to hang it up because they were old and no longer making a relevant good sounding product. It was like they didnt want to do a diservice to their fans by making bad music. These rappers dont even care about how their music sounds cuz it all about the money. I know one thing, This stuff Nas and Jay are putting out now wouldn’t have flown in their mutual debut year of 93/94.There was too much talent out there to halfstep and make a half ass record. If they had sounded like this back then…we wouldn’t even be talking about them now. peace
oh and PE? 87 to 92…if anyonenotices those are the only songs they perform….KRS had more longevity than them.LL had more longevity than them.The beastie boys had more longevity than them. anyway u get the point…wait one more RUNDMC had more longevity than them…
I don’t get your point regarding P.E. since thay are a group and not a singular artist. You might be typing just to read your writing at this point.
na Dallas…I know ur a huge PE fanatic so Im gonna get flack for that. I love the group. But they didnt have real longevity in hip hop. After 92 they were gone. No new music worth listening to. their last good song was shut em down remix. And even though they were a group one must realize a group is just that…a single entity.What came out of that group/entity after shut em down REMIX(has to be capitalized for how dope that record was thanks to pete rock and not the bombsquad which are part of the PE entity) was not worth listening to or buying. I would love for anyone including you Dallas to point out a record after shut em down remix that was hot by PE. Someone please help Dallas with this challenge because his fanatical self is gonna need it. please prove me wrong about PE’s longevity.