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Damon Dash says Jay-Z feud could be over following Hall Of Fame shout out
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 3 November 2021
The feud between Jay-Z and Damon Dash has been long-running and bitter. Could it be that all that was required to end it was a short big-up from the stage at a significant music industry event? Turns out, maybe. Dash has confirmed he is now in a feud-ending mood after Jay-Z thanked him during his speech at this weekend’s Hall Of Fame induction show.
During that speech, Jay-Z thanked both his business partners from his original label venture Roc-A-Fella and its spin-off clothing brand Rocawear, they being Damon ‘Dame’ Dash and Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke.
He stated: “Shout out to Dame. I know we don’t see eye to eye, but I can never erase your accomplishments. And I appreciate you and I thank you for that. Shout out to Biggs. He was one of the most honourable people I’ve ever met and we created something that will probably never be duplicated. I appreciate you guys. Thank you for our journey. Thank you. Thank you for your contribution to this journey”.
The feud between Jay-Z and Dash dates back to the early 2000s, and disagreements over the future of Roc-A-Fella Records, which was ultimately fully bought out by its partner Def Jam in 2004, with Jay-Z becoming President of the Universal Music division. But we were reminded that the feud was still in force earlier this year when the two former business partners sued each other.
That legal battle began with Dash seeking to sell his stake in the old Roc-A-Fella company – which basically means his stake in Jay-Z’s debut album ‘Reasonable Doubt’ – via an NFT auction. Jay-Z’s lawsuit argued that Dash didn’t have the right to instigate any such auction.
Dash hit back insisting he could sell his stake in Roc-A-Fella if he wanted too, while also accusing Jay-Z of the “unauthorised theft of Roc-A-Fella Records’s streaming rights”, because – he alleged – his former business partner had transferred the streaming rights in ‘Reasonable Doubt’ to a separate company that he completely controlled.
But maybe the nearly two decades of feuding – including this year’s legal wrangling – can finally be put to rest, all thanks to the “shout out to Dame” this weekend. Certainly that’s what Dash has indicated when talking to Page Six.
“It was beautiful”, Dash told the gossip website of his namecheck at the Hall Of Fame show. “I’m glad he said it for the culture. We need to squash everything”. And if that shout out was Jay-Z extending on olive brand, he added, “I’ll spin one back. I have no beef with [him] if [he has] no beef with me. Let’s get the lawyers out of it then. Let’s talk like men… but I definitely appreciate it”.
“I would never want you to think that we have to go to the court to resolve anything”, he added. “We can talk it out and the culture needs to see two strong black men working out a problem. Even if they worked together, they can go their separate ways, they can still be cool. We should not be divided. We have accomplished too much to be beefing … There ain’t no way I’m never gonna [not] consider [him] my brother – it’s just that we don’t see eye to eye”.
Whether all this refreshing camaraderie will remain for the long-term – or even the rest of the week – remains to be seen.
