Friday Roundup: Dame’s Grief, On Demand
It's sad to see what the hip-hop icon's reduced himself to for extractive YouTubers.
Photo Credit: The Art of Dialogue
I got home from Jay-Z’s Sunday night Yankee Stadium concert at 5 am; Dame Dash’s account of the weekend might have been recorded before I arrived. I’m going to write about the show eventually. All my peers have that covered for now. The two nights I went to were unforgettable. It was an inspiring dedication to craft and a celebration of an iconic era of rap history. I’m not sure bars, skills, and appreciation for craft met mass appeal more easily than it did for ‘99 to ‘05 Roc-A-Fella. Every time I hear big stars making baby voices to go viral, or ponder the indie rap stalwarts who don’t have a whiff of a “Roc The Mic” or “What We Do”-caliber hit, I appreciate the lightning that Jay-Z, Dame, Biggs, and crew captured in those champagne bottles.
Dame Dash doesn’t agree about the shows. At least not publicly. He thumbs-downed the event during a recent interview with YouTube channel The Art of Dialogue. He expressed that he didn’t want his kid to wear a bandana as Blue Ivy did on night one. He dissed Roc Nation for making Yankees merch, and Jay-Z for having Beyoncé cut his hair. He said his fellow Roc-A-Fella co-founder is “not in the same league” as their former signee Kanye, and that the show gave him the desire not to see “old niggas” onstage. He conveyed the latter without the self-awareness of being the old friend incessantly talking about the “old nigga” onstage. He can’t see his contradic—pause—tions.
For the past several years, Dame’s been going into overdrive with relentless criticism of Jay-Z’s every move. This latest interview comes weeks after Dame offered to fight Jay-Z, and do a Verzuz with him. He also made a cringey Jay-Z diss called “Fake Teeth.” Dame’s routine was must-see TV a decade ago when he was spinning DJ Envy and Charlamagne with vigor on The Breakfast Club. But it’s withered. These days, Dame content consists of him throwing hateful Jay-Z barbs against the wall, running out the clock to collect his next bag from The Art of Dialogue. His vitriol makes a lot of people laugh these days; it makes me sad. If people in the Roc-A-Fella orbit can still go viral discussing the movement 20+ years later, what could their continued union have blossomed into? We’ll never know.
When his dentures fell out on camera, he tried to make a joke of it to stay in the zeitgeist. It’s nothing to see teenagers making regrettable decisions in the name of virality. But it’s nothing but depressing to see where Dame is in 2026, especially when some of it seems self-inflicted.
Eight years ago, I wrote about the music industry doing Dame wrong. In industry, Black people rarely get to be as assertive as he is, especially not when they’re also clearly stating that their ethos is culture first. Having one of the most visible figures in rap fiercely championing Black art — and Black equity — threatens a racist, exploitative industry. Where Jay-Z deftly moves through the room full of vultures, Dame called them out for who they were. It’s why Lyor Cohen allegedly gloated that he “shut him down.” It was a move for the status quo.
He was a pitbull for his artists. And being outside in Harlem from a young age gave him the social and cultural instincts he needed to build an empire. But the same traits that made him a business force backfired on him. Cam’ron and Jim Jones defended him in the wake of the Roc-A-Fella fallout, but he eventually fell out with both of them. Beanie Sigel has said that after he went to his Damon Dash Music Group, Dame was stealing money from him (even though they’ve since made up). He and Currensy’s partnership was short-lived after the New Orleans rapper sued Dame for releasing his music without permission. Fans have recently called for Jay-Z to squash things with Dame, but they already tried that in 2013 — soon after, the acrimony started again.
It seems like every reclamation journey Dame attempts goes wayward. And even if they were successful, the courts would eat through his proceeds to satisfy the $25 million he owes various people. The weight of regret and debt anchor him in front of YouTubers fixated on his thoughts about people he’s on the outside looking in on. That life would sting for anyone, especially someone as proud as him.
He’s not admitting it, though. Being in New York for 13 years, I’ve met more than a couple dudes from Harlem. One of the most memorable Harlemites I’ve met was an old coworker who was Oscar-hunting for the best performance of manhood. He generally spoke at a large-social-gathering-volume no matter who was in the room. I heard about a bunch of arguments, thrown chairs, and all types of mischief that might be funny if he was in college. He was a funny, insightful guy when he was actually relaxed, but I may have seen that side of him like three times. I feel like he adopted that personality to stay afloat in Harlem.
So much of the lifestyle there is bravado, bluster, fresh fits, quick wit, and every other quality that makes you the king of kings. It’s difficult to just be chill, mild-mannered, and soft-spoken in an environment where loudness is the default, in every sense of the word. Dame, a King of Harlem in his prime, had to embody all those traits to an exponential degree. There’s no turning down or letting up. And there’s definitely no vulnerability. In Harlem, which boasts some of the highest obstinance per capita of any region in the world, accessing your real feelings can be something like walking from 125th Street to Long Island.
Mase and Cam’ron made up after years of estrangement when they both publicly admitted that losing their friendship hurt. Little Brother’s May The Lord Watch documentary is an inspiring glimpse of two Black men talking through their differences like adults and reuniting. It’s good to see Black men be able to push past social conditioning, articulate their pain, and resolve conflicts without ego. But we’ll probably never get a full Roc Reunion because Dame is clinging to his ego like the door in Titanic.
Dame’s said that his constant internet presence is about owning the algorithm, which could be partly true. He and Jay are still bonded in their devotion to money. Jay’s track record indicates that he’d do just about anything for a big enough bag. And Dame would say anything about Jay for a bag. His torrential debt also necessitates a constant internet presence.
But his predilection for throwing Jay under the bus feels like him masking pain. It doesn’t seem like he’ll ever be real about his estrangement from his onetime brothers. Every interview raises more questions than his petty sniping answers. Is he clowning the Roc Brunch lot because he’s no longer in the circle? Does he diss every Jay-Z move because his consultation is no longer sought? Is he downplaying Jay’s continued relevance because he couldn’t “make another Hov?” Cam’rom admitted that he dissed Mase at every chance for over a decade because he missed their friendship. No one can get inside Dame’s brain — pause — but it wouldn’t be surprising if we were watching the same thing here.
And this misplaced grief is taking place on extractive YouTube channels run by people with no interest in anything but turning his acrimony into money. Dame does most of his bantering on The Art of Dialogue, a channel run by someone apparently named Art. He’s faceless and rarely asks questions that elucidate an inkling of how he feels about his subjects or the culture he’s interrogating. He’s a sterile Oz-like figure of his corner of the internet, with no discernible worldview but the pursuit of a dollar. Even if Art, or whoever else is interviewing Dame, deduces the mogul’s pain, or feels like he’s going too low by mentioning Jay’s daughter, they’re not above sending him another bag to keep the show going. Anything for a dollar has melded into “anything to go viral,” because they often happen in tandem. So now we’re reduced to seeing one of hip-hop’s most impactful figures constantly play himself to steer an unscrupulous algorithm.
The pain of the Black experience, and the caustic results of repressing it, have burst out the seams of the music and into our YouTube feeds. Frantz Fanon once stated that “trauma can become culture when pain is passed down without being questioned.” We see that dynamic throughout the online interview circuit, with people airing out their trauma and dirty laundry to interviewers with no editorial intention but profit. When there’s no editorial empathy, interview subjects are wrung out on the basis of sensationalism over humanity.
So some may find it funny to laugh at Dame’s anti-Jay-Z latest clip, but it’s more alarming to see someone so clearly wracked with regrets, and in denial about them. Dame is full of wisdom and game he could offer, but has chosen the lesser path of gossip. Nowadays, when I see his clips come on my timeline, I do his favorite thing and pause them.
More Thoughts
Memphis Bleek blunders as Jay-Z’s spokesman. Last week I wrote about how Jay-Z’s inaccessibility helps shape people’s impression of him. If he’s not addressing something on a record, he’s not talking about it at all, allowing popular perception to harden. Recently, his little brother Memphis Bleek tried to put the fire out for him and made the situation worse. On Power 105, Memphis Bleek attempted to set the record straight on the Target vinyl controversy, telling media personality Mouse Jones that “I don’t give a fuck about that activism shit,“ claiming that Jay-Z taught “the community” about money, and asserting that the people “don’t deserve” to hear from Jay-Z about his track record of crossing picket lines. Is this a glimpse into how Jay and his inner circle feel about the people who just helped him break his own attendance record at Yankee Stadium? I’d hope not, but it would be nice to hear Jay speak for himself. The gripes people have with Jay-Z deserve an accountable conversation from him, not overzealous yes-men.
A Suno hack revealed the sources of their training set. Over 100K hours of YouTube music, Genius lyrics, and an intention to download a million hours of podcast audio. Are AI podcasts next? Are they training more realistic bots on social? Maybe it’s both
Kyle Kuzma calls out his fellow athletes for crying broke. I’m glad he recently called out NBA players’ tendency to act like “only a couple million dollars” or whatever isn’t money. Yes, players get exploited and find themselves thrown in a lifestyle where it’s easy to waste money, but no working-class people want to hear them act like they couldn’t live off “merely” seven figures.
38 Spesh and Jadakiss are kinda getting into it. It seems like it’s gone from would-be friendly competition into a full-on rap feud. Hopefully cooler heads can prevail, and they can talk it out. 38 Spesh is a really talented rapper; it kinda sucks that his introduction to so many people is drama. This seems like one of those things that needlessly blew up into a war of egos for the entertainment of bloodthirsty “get in the booth” rap fans.
Madison Square Garden is suing WIRED for exposing their surveillance. The Knicks run was some of the most fun I’ve ever had as a basketball fan and someone who lives in New York, but fuck James Dolan for attempting to punish an outlet for exposing him. All that said, the celebrities I’m outraged for will be right on Celebrity Row next year. Have any of them announced plans to boycott games?
Just wait until discovery on that MSG suit, Dolan couldn't get in the way of the Knicks winning, so his next best blunder was letting pride drown out any voice of reason.