Damon Dash Said He Was Disgusted That Jay-Z Worked With R-Kelly Twice
Damon Dash and Jay-Z were former business partners who had a falling out years ago. In recent years, Dash said he hoped to put his feud with Jay-Z aside. In the past, though, Dash spoke about his disgust that Jay-Z chose to work with R. Kelly twice. He once said he couldn’t morally understand how he could have done that.
Damon Dash once shared how he felt about Jay-Z’s decision to work with R. Kelly
Dash and Aaliyah were involved before her death. He found it unfathomable that Jay-Z would work with Kelly after he illegally married Aaliyah when she was a minor.
“I just couldn’t believe he did a project with R. Kelly knowing that he’d raped my girl,” Dash said, per Complex. “I was like, ‘Just don’t put my name on that, I don’t want no money from that. If it is, put it to Aaliyah foundation.’”
Jay-Z and Kelly worked together on two albums and toured together in 2004. They planned a tour for 2002, which fell apart due to Kelly’s child pornography charges.
“Like, they did this s*** twice,” Dash said.
While his company produced the albums, Dash said he didn’t want any part of them.
“I really am not on the Best of Both Worlds. I didn’t go to a show. I didn’t have my name on any of that. I was in ‘Fiesta,’ but only because Aaliyah said she wanted me to do it that way,” Dash said. “I know I’m not f***in’ with that … I knew, morally, [Jay-Z and I] weren’t the same. So, to me, Roc-a-Fella was defunct. It was over. I couldn’t f*** with it. It was something that, to me — I don’t wanna say ‘unforgivable,’ but I couldn’t understand it.”
Another celebrity called out the collaboration
Nas also called out Jay-Z for his work with Kelly. He once said he didn’t think Jay-Z could have been fully ignorant of Kelly’s predatory behavior.
“I could have shown the R. Kelly video that everybody’s talking about and made fun of it and show pictures of Jay hanging out,” he said, per Vibe Magazine. “You can’t tell me Jay didn’t see a 14-year-old girl come into the studio and sit on R. Kelly’s lap. You gonna tell me he didn’t see no 14-year-old girl come into the vicinity?”
Nas said he had long been aware that Kelly had a problem due to the time he spent with him.
“You’ve seen it go down. I’ve been around R. Kelly … I’ve been on tours with him,” he said. “I didn’t see no 14-year-old, but I talked to the man and see there’s a little problem there. The brother needs help and I pray for him. I’m here for the people. I’m here to talk [about] the truth.”
Damon Dash once said he hoped Jay-Z would not be implicated alongside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
Following Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, Dash said he hoped he never heard that Jay-Z had involvement in Combs’ illegal activity. He wondered why Jay-Z hadn’t spoken out about Combs.
“I would never want to hear like, ‘Jay at the freak off party’, that’s crazy,” he said, per Yahoo. “The s*** they saying, and I just be wondering why nobody… he don’t say nothing about it.”
Dash thought any involvement on Jay-Z’s part would reflect poorly on all of hip-hop music.
“Regardless of what, perception-wise, Jay is also a pillar of Hip-Hop, and if anything bad happens to him, then it’s really going to look crazy for Hip-Hop.”
Recently, Jay-Z was named in a lawsuit alleging that he and Combs raped an underage girl at a party.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.
