iHipHop Admin
Here is the skinny:
Combat Jack wrote what seemed to be a pretty honest blog post about his experiences with Damon Dash.
Check that out HERE.
Russell Simmons wrote a piece in defense of Damon Dash on his site Global Grind. Simmons piece seemed to take some subliminal shots at Combat Jack, but its not certain that his remarks were directed squarely at Combat Jack.
Check that out HERE.
Combat Jack took the remarks as a direct attack and to put it lightly, told Simmons to fall back.
Check that out HERE.
Now I have my own feelings about Damon Dash, some positive and some negative. Clearly he is a complicated man and an even more complicated businessman. Clearly he has a lot of enemies because NEVER in hip-hop history have we seen the media follow a fall from grace with such vigilance…and I want to make clear for the record that while he is clearly falling right now, dude is a home run hitter and I NEVER bet against a home run hitter–Damon Dash might just bounce back and if he does it will be in a really big way. I think its also productive to ask if this guy didn’t matter why would the media be all over him like white on rice?
I think what’s interesting about the exchange between Combat Jack and Russell Simmons is that both of these men are his peers and both are accomplished hip-hop insiders. Here are some random facts/questions to chew on as you read the exchange:
*Love him or hate him, Damon Dash undoubtedly played an instrumental role in breaking Jay-Z, Kanye West and Cam’rom/The Diplomats.
*How could Jay-Z be the godfather to one of Dash’s kids and these dudes not speak any more? What the hell happened? Was it all about money?
*The music business is a jungle and its well documented that no one wanted to sign Jay-Z. Did Dash play the role of the bully needed to push Jay-Z to the top?
*What the hell happened to all of Damon Dash’s money? I mean dude must have burning some SERIOUS cash to lose everything.
*Any way you cut it, there is A LOT to be learned from Damon Dash and we are all human.
*This Vid:
Hit me back with some feedback.
1
Dame built something from nothing. Created brands that have had to amassed a billion worth of revenue at this point. You have to respect that. Dude got rich and became an asshole. Whatever, can’t say I wouldn’t to the same thing.
My opinion is that Dame Dash was one of ‘the’ best business men of the 90’s and early 00’s. He took Jay to unprecedented heights undoubtedly, but personally I think Jay outgrew him and Dame took things too much to heart which is why in a strange turn of events Jay became the better business man. It is the age old myth when you learn from the best you can only become better and I don’t think Dame saw that split between himself, Jigga and Biggs coming meaning he had failed to prepare both financially and emotionally.
We all like to think ‘if its not broke don’t fix it’ but Jay did and in a sense ousting Dame pushed that dude back years. There were all the rumors about Aliyah being the cause of the split, never felt that two men who were worth millions would let a woman (RIP) come between them. I do think there was more to it which we might never find out and which might even be why Jigga put a hold on the book dream hampton was writing for him as he did say he wasn’t happy ‘putting his life out there more than it already was.’
Do I see Dame making a come back? Not with Jim Jones no and that is nothing personal about Jim, but he just doesn’t have that global star appeal that Dame needs to re-engage with the people that have lost faith. Let’s just hope he can salvage something to prove that he genuinely is the mogul he once was and in a way I think that is why we as journalists/bloggers/general public follow the dude because secretly we want to see him succeed and come back to prove that the Roc-a-fella years were all him.
Of course Dame Dash is a fucking legend. It kind of seems like writers on ihiphop hate this nigga but he had hard years that were highly publicised. But at the end of the day it’s all hip hop (so they say). Hopefully the nigga gets money in 2010 to help out the fucking economy dammit.
We don’t hate Damon Dash.
Dame Biggs and Jay built something nice. Jay took a majority of it. Biggs got his money and left quietly while Dame made it bigger than what it was. Jay is not a gangster to me at all.He is a nerd with a good business sense.To bad Jay had to fuck his friends in the process and sellhis soul to the devil to stay winning. I like Dame but he got tricked by the only person he really trusted. OH SO SAD