
As a die hard Jay-Z fan, this is a disappointing story for me to write. I do take into consideration that this story is technically 17-years-old, so I can hope and assume that Jay-Z has grown substantially as a person since 2002 (his interviews and music suggest he has), but it’s still disappointing to say the least.
Jay’s former Roc-A-Fella records partner, Damon Dash, recently say down for an interview and discussed Lifetime’s new documentary, “Surviving R. Kelly”. In it, he said that Jay’s 2002 collaborative record and tour with Kelly, “Best of Both Worlds”, was what ultimately ended their business partnership and friendship.
Ok, so there several things you need to know to understand this blog/story in general.
First, back in 1994, R. Kelly produced and wrote for Aaliyah’s first album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number.” Aaliyah was 15 and Kelly was 27.
It’s essentially public knowledge now that Kelly and Aaliyah faked her age on a marriage certificate and were briefly married, which her parents then had annulled.
Numerous people from Kelly’s former team have openly said that Kelly boasted of his sex life with the underage R & B singer, and even feared she was pregnant (probably why he married her. If he had gotten her pregnant, he couldn’t legally be implicated for statutory rape if they were married).
Aaliyah cut all ties with Kelly after that and refused to speak about him in interviews or to people in general.
R. Kelly has been accused (and charged) of a ton of stuff regarding underage girls since then. From sex tapes with underage girls where he peed on them, to the new “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary, where many of his former victims describe being essentially held hostage as sex slaves in Kelly’s mansion.
Basically, the guy is a known pervert and sadist. Even his ex-wife says there was a fuck to of physical, verbal, sexual, and emotional abuse within their relationship. I’m pretty sure all of his kids want nothing to do with him.
Damon Dash dated Aaliyah from 2000-2001 when she died, and his relationship with her and his respect for what she had been through ultimately led to his falling out with Jay, who refused to stop working with Kelly.
Up until this point, the public really had no idea why Damon and Jay fell out after years of friendship and business, but Damon finally shed some light on the situation.
In his recent interview, Damon was asked about the new Kelly documentary, and he stated:
“I watched some of it yesterday, as much as I could tolerate. I’m not gonna lie, as a human, I was tight. I was tight about a couple things. Number one: 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. She would just leave it at, ‘That dude was a bad man.’…It was so much hurt for her to revisit. I wouldn’t want to revisit it without a professional. Whatever got done was terrible.”
Shortly after Aaliyah died, Jay-Z told Damon that he was going to do a collaborative album with Kelly, “Best of Both Worlds”, which Damon strongly opposed given that both he and Jay were aware of Kelly’s alleged abuse of Aaliyah.
Jay-Z didn’t listen to Damon’s opposition, and made the record anyway through Roc-A-Fella records. Though a co-owner of the company, Damon refused to have his name on the record and gave all of his profits from the record to Aaliyah’s favorite breast cancer charity.
Damon says of the record and the end of his partnership with Jay-Z:
If you remember Best of Both Worlds, you don’t see my name on that. I never wanted no part of that. I know I’m not fuckin’ with that…I knew morally, [me and Jay] weren’t the same. So, to me, Roc-A-Fella was defunct. It was over. I couldn’t fuck with it.
Damon officially parted ways with Roc-A-Fella in 2004.
While I doubt that Jay-Z will address Damon’s story, I really wish he would, because cheating on Beyonce is one thing, but publicly supporting and working with a man who had allegedly abused someone who was supposed to be your friend is another.
I like to think that Jay-Z is better than this now, but I might just be a hopeful fan.
First Kanye fucks over my love for him, and now Jay? What kind of shit world is this???
DaltonFam says
Don’t forget about this gem!
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/jay-z-r-kelly-crying-little-btch
That shit made me laugh my ass off. They put Kelly out so bad…
But yeah Memphis Bleek says that Dame was lying when he said this.
masambo says
well sad story, but nothing will ever be hidden under the sun