In a recent interview, Dame Dash reflects on the passing of Aaliyah and how he walked away from R. Kelly and JAY-Z‘s ‘The Best of Both Worlds‘ album,’ claiming, “I didn’t want any part of that project.”
Dame Dash, born Damon Dash, is once again denying any involvement in the R. Kelly and JAY-Z collaborative album ‘The Best of Both Worlds‘ which dropped in March 2022 via Jive Records, Roc-A-Fella, and The Island Def Jam Music Group. The production on the project was mostly handled by R. Kelly and Poke and Tone, and also included producer credits to Megahertz and Charlemagne. The album also featured guest appearances by Lil’ Kim, Beanie Siegel, and Devin the Dude.
In an hour-long conversation on Hip-Hop on the ‘America Nu Network,’ Dame Dash talks all things Hip-Hop, including his work and experiences with Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs. While once again denying having any involvement in R. Kelly’s collaborative album with JAY-Z, ‘The Best of Both Worlds,’ Dame Dash said there was an issue of morale on the line when the project first came to be. He said lines got crossed since he and Kelly already had a rocky relationship.
Dash explained that he doesn’t like working with someone if “small indicators” tell him that he should walk away. The Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder said he had a conversation with Hov about working with Kellz, noting it was “morally wrong,” given the famed R&B singer was prosecuted for child pornography at the time and was accused of “raping” the late singer Aaliyah, whom Dash began dating in 2000 before she died in 2001.
R. Kelly had a questionable relationship with Aaliyah in the mid-1990s, which involved a secret marriage when she was 15 and he was 27, which was followed by an annulment, and a non-disclosure agreement. While beginning the segment on the R. Kelly and JAY-Z album, ‘The Best of Both Worlds,’ Dame Dash revealed that he’d seen explosive clips of Jaguar Wright talking about major players in the music industry and admitted, “The thing about her, is like, sometimes, there’s a lot of truth to what she’s saying based on my personal experiences.”
RELATED: Dame Dash Says Aaliyah Wanted R. Kelly Far Away From Her Following Their Break-Up
After mentioning Wright’s comment about R. Kelly, Diddy, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein having some things in common, Dash admitted he’s had experiences with Weinstein and had to walk away; which led him to speak on doing the same with R. Kelly and JAY-Z. He said, “It’s morally wrong to do a project with someone that we know raped my girl or raped anybody for that matter. So, I do know that conversation was had, and I was really surprised that he moved forward with that relationship.”
Dash continued, “I do know when that project did come out I didn’t want any part of that project. I didn’t want any of the money to go to Roc-A-Fella or me when it came to Roc-A-Fella. It was around the time that Jay was trying to kind of separate himself from us, and he was saying that he didn’t want to be a part of it anymore, and we resolved that issue. He wanted me to dilute, and he wanted Biggs [Kareem “Biggs” Burke] to dilute, and I wasn’t diluting. I know what I mean and what I do for business.”
He also noted that a mutual friend named Deuce told the Roc-A-Fella trio (Dash, Carter, and Burke, who also co-founded the label) that what they were doing wasn’t right. So, they came to an agreement that Hov would keep all of the money made off of the collaborative album with Kellz and that Dash would have no involvement.
Dash added, “I guess I think homie has to answer some questions right now. If he doesn’t it’s just going to make people ask more questions. And me, as a person that knew him, I’m very curious to know the stuff that they say about Aaliyah. I mean, I’m human and when I look at things… a lot of things are weird right now. So, I’m reflecting a lot. So, I’m thinking, well, homie was salty a little bit because he was trying to get at Aaliyah and I was trying to get at her, but I know there are people that benefited from her death.”
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