Dame Dash speaks on how R. Kelly played a part in his broken friendship with Jay-Z.
In an interview with Kenyatta “The Hip Hop Motivator” of Hip Hop Motivation, Dame spoke about the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, which led him to reflect on Jay Z’s decision to collaborate with R. Kelly on 2002’s Best of Both Worlds.
Dash was disturbed by the Kelly documentary, chronicling decades of sexual abuse against Black girls and women. “I watched some of it yesterday, as much as I could tolerate and I’m not gon’ lie, as a human, I was tight. I was tight about a couple things,”.
“There was a girl when she was even trying to talk about it and she couldn’t, and I remember Aaliyah trying to talk about it and she couldn’t,” Dash said. “She would just leave it at ‘That dude was a bad man.’ I didn’t really want to know what he did, to the extent that I would, you know, deal with it. Because that’s what a man does. But it was so much hurt for her to revisit it. I wouldn’t want to revisit it without a professional. Whatever got done was terrible.”
Dame Dash also spoke about Jay Z going on a tour with Kelly, in spite of his child pornography case. Dash didn’t want to be involved in the Best OF Both Worlds project because Kelly “violated” Aaliyah and others, and Jay was aware of how he felt.
In the end, Jay went forward with the project, while Dame had his name removed from the album credits. “I never wanted no parts of that,” and says he donated his portion of the proceeds to a breast cancer organization supported by Aaliyah.
According to Dash, Jay’s decision to work with Kelly contributed to the subsequent end of Roc-A-Fela Records. “I knew morally we weren’t the same. The moral fabric was compromised.”
Dame also gave props to John Legend “for being man enough” to participate in the Surviving R. Kelly documentary when other artists, including Jay-Z, turned own the opportunity.
Dash also posted part of the interview on his Instagram with the caption “Conversations with @hip_hop_motivator I’ve been tight about people looking the other way about this situation …especially the people that I thought were the closest to me…and I couldnt make a dollar with the dude I knew did this type of shit… never really spoke about it because it but I definitely felt a way.. I guess it’s time it gets addressed…I personally know how much pain was caused to someone I personally loved …that question always gets asked but never gets answered…but I address the elephant in the room..the truth is what the truth is”
Here’s the full interview (scroll to the 10 minute mark for the talk about R. Kelly, Jay-Z and Aaliyah).
