Dame Dash is reflecting on young Jay-Z and Kanye West getting dismissed by record labels before striking it big as music icons.
Dame, the co-founder of now-defunct hip-hop label, Roc-A-Fella Records, was on a recent episode of Culture Builders. He discussed music executives passing on Jay-Z in the 1990s, including Kevin Liles and Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin.
“I shopped Jay-Z and every single person said no,” Dame said around the 15-minute mark below, later claiming that retired music executive Sylvia Rhone argued with him over Jay-Z.
“The only thing I could get from him traditional, which was a single deal with Patrick Moxey,” Dame continued. “So it was like, ‘Yo, these dudes are dumb.’”
“This is how you know corporate’s dumb. They did not sign Jay-Z,” Dame added while the camera hilariously panned out to show his Frenchie staring at the wall.
Along with Kareem “Biggs” Burke, Dame and Jay-Z would co-found Roc-A-Fella in the mid-’90s, with Hov’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt marking the label’s first album.
Years later, Ye, formerly Kanye West, would sign to the label as a solo act after being a in-demand producer for Roc-A-Fella artists like Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, and Freeway. His studio debut was The College Dropout in 2004.
“No one would sign Kanye,” Dame continued. “Think about that. So that tells you never to listen to corporate. Both of them. No one would sign them. Back-to-back stupidity.”
Dame went on to explain that Hov and Ye getting passed on was a sign for him to start a record label, which dissolved in 2013. Jay-Z went on to establish Roc Nation, and while Ye spent years on Def Jam, he signed to independent music company Gamma earlier this year.
Jay-Z and Ye have only released one joint album, Watch the Throne, but it’s doubtful that the artists will collaborate again.
In a recent interview with The Art of Dialogue, Dame went as far as saying that Ye “destroys” Hov as a rap artist.
