Revisiting The Jay-Z and Damon Dash Separation...The Fall of the Roc-A-Fella Dynasty

I remember back when, at the height of the Jay-Z/Nas war, I went to see one of my old high school buddies, and I met this two brothers there. We started a general discussion on music, and it ended up being an all out argument on who was a better rapper between Jay-Z and Nas. I was for Nas, and they were Roc Boys. Due to the level of intelligence in our hour long discussion, we became friends.




They actually influenced me to start listening to Jay and vice versa. 10 years later, one of the brothers came to see me (2 days ago) at my home, and during the course of our discussion, he said he nolonger listened to Jay-Z as he used to back in the day. I hoped it wasn't based on all the Illuminati crap flying around, so I enquired on his reasons, and he said because of the idea out there that Jay-Z had back-stabbed his long time friend and business partner, Damon Dash. It kinda left a sore taste in my mouth, cos this was a time I was really getting to like some business moves Jay was making (as a budding entrepreneur myself). And so, I decided to look deeper into what really went down with the Rocafella Dynasty.



I will try and run through the story from the beginning, to around the time everything started crumbling. Jay-Z had been on his journey to be a successful rapper as far back as 1988. He was with Jaz-O (in the late 80s, he was on Jaz-O's Hawaiin Sophie track), then with Big Daddy Kane, before he met Damon Dash around 1993/1994. Dame had the connection, and he could do the music hustle, so they decided to partner; Jay could focus on his music, while Dame would shop his demo to various labels. That didn't turn out well cos no label wanted to sign Jay back then. In a documentary I watched, Damon Dash said it was so bad that he sometimes lied to Jay that they (the labels) said they would get back at them, instead of the direct blow of them saying flat out that they didn't want to sign him.



So, in 1995, Damon Dash and Jay-Z decided to form their own record label, Roc-A-Fella Records. They had a third partner, Kareem Biggs, who was more of a silent partner... I am guessing he was the financial muscle back then. With their own label, Jay was able to put out his first single, Dead Presidents, and also shoot a video. And the next year (1996), after getting a distribution deal for their new label through Priority Records, Jay put out his first album, Reasonable Doubt. Although not so commercially successful as his other albums would turn out, it is still considered his best album. From then on, it was a go for the label and partners, Jay-Z, and Dash.



Jay-Z was co-owner of a label, which he was also an artist of. Dame did most of the marketing/managing, getting the endorsement deals and all that. In 1997, they sold half the stakes of their new company for $1.5 million to Def Jam, and it helped them in becoming a bigger entity. The late 90s era saw Jay-Z rising to become a household name, and business at the Roc was doing great. The Jay-Z brand was big enough to milk something more out of it, so they decided to start their own clothing line, Rocawear in 1999. Inside sources said things started getting shaky with the two around the blueprint 2 era (2002). Damon Dash had always been an arrogant asshole (as most industry people refer him as), backing out orders like a slave master, and firing workers at will. Apart from burning bridges in the industry, his spending habit was out of control. And that was a big deal, because he was dipping his hand deeper down the joint pull of Roc-A-Fella Records earnings. This can be related to the line in Jay's song, Lost Ones (2006), where he said- "too much sam rothstein." Comparing Damon Dash's living habits to that of legendary mafia member and casino owner, Sam 'Ace' Rothstein.



Jay-Z had probably been silently looking for a way to cut ties with his long time friend and business partner, but was looking for the best way to do so. Damon Dash on the hand was oblivious of this, cos he thought since they built the label together from the scratch, that they were now like brothers, and Jay would always be partners with him. He got the shocker, when in 2003, a meeting concerning the release and marketing of the then to be Jay-Z's last album, The Black Album, had him left out. Their is a video of him on the internet, where he burst into the meeting, shouting at the Def Jam Execs, especially Jay's white manager, John Meneilly about not being informed of the meeting. None of them was bold enough to tell him that Jay had actually called for the meeting, and didn't call him there cos he didn't want him there, period!

In 2004, after Jay-Z had been in retirement for a full year, he beckoned on his former partners, Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs to sell their stakes in Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam, which they agreed to do. In total, they got $30,000,000. And shortly afterwards, Jay-Z was announced president of Def Jam, giving him some control over Roc-A-Fella as an entity. Jay also paid Dame off with $22,500,000 to become full owner of the clothing line they had started together in 1999, Rocawear. In 2007, Jay-Z went to sell the rights to Rocawear for $204,000,000 to Iconix Brand Group, but still keeps his stakes of the company, and he would still be in charge of product development, marketing, and licensing. What a sweet deal. Definitely sweet enough to get your former partner envious.



That was the end of the Roc-a-fella dynasty, and the long time relationship between Damon Dash and Jay-Z. A lot of artists (young gunz, beanie sigel, freeway, memphis bleek...) under the label were left in limbo, as the focus had always been on the "cash cow", Jay-Z all along. Kanye West, who was just a beat maker/producer for the label back then, went with Jay-Z, and kick started his rap career in 2004. I might like to add though that it has been said that Jay-Z had been skeptical about signing Kanye to the label back in 2000/2001, but for the insistent of Dash, we probably wont have heard of Mr West.



From then on, it has been a bitter war between the one time friends, Dame and Jay. Damon Dash used all his financial power and connections to propel Cam Ron and Jim Jone's careers, and made them take lyrical shots at Jay-Z constantly; any of which couldn't dent Jay's image. Dame felt his long time friend had stabbed him in the back by being greedy and manipulative enough to getting the majority of what they built together for himself. That's what Dame says in interviews. But, as much as is documented, and dealing with facts, Dame willingly agreed to sell his stakes in those businesses. What I feel really hurt Dame is the fact that he thought they would always be friends and business partners. He put all his energy into building an empire, and to watch the brand he helped build slip from his hands is what hurt him the most. But, it seem to Jay-Z didn't see his moves as personal...just business.



So, this are the facts, I would love to get comments and contribution from everybody that took time to read this article to this point. Thank you.