Six Things You May Not Have Known About Music Mogul Damon Dash
Dame Dash may have brought his relationship with brothers Bobby and Jeremy to national TV on Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn but what else is there to know about the elusive music mogul?
We know about Dame's business endeavors with Jay Z and his romantic relationships with Aaliyah. We know about his high-profile marriage and subsequent divorce from designer Rachel Roy. But c'mon, the dude's an entrepreneur.
Here's everything else you need to know about why Damon Dash is a mogul.
Dame Dash is Stacey Dash's first cousin.
Dame and actress and FOX news correspondent Stacey are first cousins. The two seemed to have a good relationship in 2004 with Stacey appearing in then Roc-A-Fella-Records artist Kanye West's "All Falls Down" music video. However, in 2016, after Stacey made disparaging comments about BET and said there shouldn't be a Black History Month, Dame wasn't feeling it. In an interview with Dr. Boyce Watkins, Dame said, "It's annoying having a cousin that looks like that and has an opinion [like that,] that works for FOX news," the mogul continued, "Even though we share the same last name, we don't share the same perspective in the way that we approach life." He punctuated it in true Dame fashion, "I would never say no crazy s--t, like that."
Dame has done reality TV before Family Therapy.
In 2005 Dame tried reality TV on BET with The Ultimate Hustler. The premise was that the mogul would school 16 "regular" people on how to get money and become a "hustler." In an interview with NPR Dame said, "I'll be teaching people my ideals, not to say they're right or wrong, but they're things that got me to where I had to go."
Dame Dash discovered Kanye West.
While Hip hop heads surely know that Kanye was discovered by Damon, the layman may not. Yeezy has admitted that Dame "presented [him] to the world" but when Jay and Dame went separate ways, Kanye followed Jay. He told The Breakfast Club in 2015, "It was the moment when Roc-A-Fella split and it made more sense for me career-wise to roll with Jay even though Dame had supported me." He went on to say, "'Where would I be if I had rolled with Dame? Would I have been more successful? Would I have been less successful?' I can't say. But at that time, you know I came to Roc-A-Fella because Jay Z was my idol, and it would've been very hard for me at that young state where I was to separate from my idol."
Dame Dash has produced critically acclaimed independent films starring Kevin Bacon, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Helen Mirren.
In 2004, Dame produced The Woodsman starring Kevin Bacon, David Alan Grier, Eve, Kyra Sedgwick, and Benjamin Bratt about a child molester trying to star over after 12 years in prison. The following year he had a hand in the Lee Daniels helmed Shadowboxer starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Helen Mirren, Mo'Nique, Macy Gray, and Joseph Gorden-Levitt.
Dame Dash blamed himself for Aaliyah's death.
On Family Therapy, Dame opened up about losing his girlfriend Aaliyah in a plane crash in 2001. He later told the hosts of The Real, "There’s no chance if I was there, we would’ve been on that plane." The couple were a music industry power couple who, while not officially engaged, "were definitely gonna be married," according to Dash.
Dame Dash produced a play starring, and about, Jim Jones.
In 2009, Dame added theatre producer to his resume when he produced the Hip Hop Monologues off-Broadway for his then-protegee (and Love & Hip Hop's first star) Jim Jones. Dame told the New York Times that Jimmy was "the best A&R in the business." The trailer for the theatre production even featured Jim's mother Nancy Jones wiping her tears way. VH1, fam.