Dame Dash Exclusive Interview W/ CHAMPMAG.COM (Speaks On Black Roc Album Out Now!!+ More)

Dame Dash Exclusive Interview W/ CHAMPMAG.COM (Speaks On Black Roc Album Out Now!!+ More)
CHAMP MAGAZINE
Nathan “Hollywood” Adom
Swagmire

Hollywood: What’s going on homie?

Dame Dash: What’s happening?

Hollywood: Not much. Now we got “The Blak Roc” which is scheduled November 27, 2009 are we still rocking with that date?

Dame Dash: Yes for sure, nothing has changed with that. It’s available digitally and in independent stores. We took a real harsh stance about “wack world”. This world it makes us conform to a certain system, and us paying record stores to sell our records in the form of a co-op, paying for people to play our records on radio, and paying people to play our records on video, we just decided to do every single thing ourselves. So we did a deal directly with Simms, which is for all the indie retailers, all the mom and pop stores, no Best Buys, no Targets none of that and that’s why we made it available digitally.

Hollywood: So for the people up in Canada are they going to be at the independent joints up here, or are they going to be through majors up here as well?

Dame Dash: I think through indie stores as well, actually I have to check into that once again, but I feel like it’s still just going to just be in indie record stores. The world has taken advantage long enough.

Hollywood: And like you said they can get it digital if it is not in any stores available, they can also cop it online correct?

Dame Dash: Absolutely.

Hollywood: Now of course Blak Roc involves you working with the Black Keys. How did that whole thing come to be in terms of finding these guys and them wanting to collab with you?

Dame Dash: I was a fan initially. My assistants went to a concert and they didn’t invite me, and I was upset, and I didn’t know who they were. When I asked why they didn’t invite me, they were like “it was sold out”, and I was like “are you still going without me?” And they were like “man it’s the Black Keys.” I consider them pretty cool, I respect their opinions on things, I look at them as opinion leaders so I was like alright let me hear these records, and I was hearing the Black Keys album and I just started to listen to it a lot more. I became a fan, it became my theme song in my car or in my house wherever I was at I was playing Black Keys. I actually reached out to them, and they  reached back. I was kicking it with the manager and I was looking to be interested to see what would happen if we got into the studio with Jim Jones and see what would happen, if nothing happened that’s cool at least I got to hang out with artists that I am a fan of, and if something happens you get something like this. Everything kind of worked well, we kind of had a good rapport with each other, we kind of love music, and we kind of love to do things without compromising integrity of it. It seem like they got a great career where they don’t have to do so much videos and have a big hit record on the radio, but they are performing in front of 50-60 thousand people every time they perform.

Hollywood: For the people that don’t know, it is definitely a unique sound you are bringing to the table. If you could let the people know the sound you are bringing, and why you chose to go that route rather than the traditional Dame Dash music. Hip-hop obviously is the element people know you for, but you are definitely going outside of the box and incorporating hip hop with rock.

Dame Dash: Well if you look at my career I have been very successful with Roc-a-Fella, but the first person that I kind of signed that was against the grain was Kanye West. At the time that kind of rapping wasn’t so accepted in every walk of life, it was more at least for Roc-a-Fella which is more kind of street related rap. I did movies and projects like “The Woodsman” which wasn’t anything urban, even though I was doing projects like “State Property”, even in clothing when I sold my interest in Roc-a-Wear I went and invested it in Rachel Roy which was a high end designer line that a hip-hop guy like myself isn’t usually expected to own. When I was going to come back, because I was completely not messing with music anymore because I was just kind of aggravated with the wack system, and the wack people in it, and the wack way they were compromising the integrity of the artist and the perspective on things so I’m just going to focus on fashion, but if I had the opportunity to come back, I would have to come back and do something ground breaking and different that would expand the perception of hip-hop. I look at a lot of television every now and again, it’s like an oxymoron but when I look at television, I’m looking at it, I’m looking at the proceeding has to be as a culture and I’m not happy with it, I’m not happy seeing re-runs of Beefs and always hearing artists talking about what they are going to do to other artists, I think it’s ridiculous and I didn’t want any part of that. I just felt like this opportunity I was going to take to show the world that all kind of rappers and good ones that the people don’t talk about because it’s not controversial stick together and can be civil, and do a record, and also show their artistry by just coming into the studio with a rock and roll, as real credible rock and roll band, right then and there writing a rhyme just for the love of music. Where else are you going to see Jim Jones in the same studio with Mos Def having a conversation about Michael Jordan? Which you can see on the webisodes on www.blakroc.com, I just thought it was important for the culture to see that. Mos Def and Jim Jones are on the cover of Relic Magazine, that’s a rock and roll magazine that never had rap, they never respected it enough to have a rapper on there. So for us to do something this credible they feel like this transition translates to rock and roll which to me is timeless, I felt like that is exactly what I wanted to accomplish.

Hollywood: You are seeing the collaborations in the webisodes like you had mentioned you got Jim Jones and Mos Def on there. I seen a bunch of people in there, who else do we got on the album?

Dame Dash: RZA, Reakwon, Pharoahe Monch, Q-Tip, Billy Danze of M.O.P, NOE from Jim Jones camp, Jim Jones, Nicole Wray, I don’t know if I missed anybody, I probably did but we got a lot of people, we got a lot of good credible people, good rappers, real lyricists, nothing about anything commercial, no one is trying to find a single, it’s just rap, and that’s what they did I was real happy with everybody.

Hollywood: Were all the recordings done together, or where some people sending verses, or was it just everyone was in the studio vibing?

Dame Dash: You got to be in the studio. Every record was done right then and there, spontaneous, no artist heard a record before the rap, it’s not like we sent it to them, they would just come in and we would do it. So what you saw it exactly what happened, no doctoring, you just had to come in there, hear a beat, pick one out and jump on that and get up on out of there to make room for the next person to come through. That was the part that I was loving.

Hollywood: Of course there are the webisodes you said, and the first video that came out that was introduced in the project it kind of looked “Documentry-ish”. Is there going to be a video showing the complete series of the whole process of the making of the album? Or are we just going to get bits and pieces?

Dame Dash: My man John made a whole movie of it, so you will be able to see it in its entirety. We want to go the festival route with it first because it looks like a piece of art. It is real good and again I am proud of it, so yes there will be a movie component to it as well.

Hollywood: You had mentioned earlier that there wasn’t an aim to make any singles, just for cats who have the passion for the music and are lyricists to come together to make music. Is there going to be any videos for certain songs that we can expect, or are you just going to keep it strictly audio?

Dame Dash: Again, we give you a good visual and we actually did make a video, but we just took elements of what we already shot and put it together. You know at some point, who knows what we do, it just depends on how we are motivated. Our agenda really won’t be to sell an album or make a video, or make a video to sell an album, the agenda will be to just make art and whoever receives it that way, receives it. It’s funny again I keep saying “wack world”, this “wack world” to me is a world where they make you conform to a structure. You have to fill out things just to be heard, you have to pay people to play your stuff, I just can’t do it I just feel like the art is too good for that. We have to this  anyway we can, which is why we chose to open up the website, shoot out webisodes, and not really service radio, even though radio can play it if they want, but they are going to send me a bunch of edits, I just can’t do it, I’m not paying for it, I just can’t. Again that is the president that we set but, we will probably have more visuals if we are moved to. I got a lot of young guns up. I started a television network called Creative Control so at all times there are cameras around and we are always able to execute a really good visual that doesn’t compromise the integrity of their music

Hollywood: Now for the people that follow Dame Dash and always want to know what’s going on, what have you been up to aside from the Blak Roc Project? We know you are a man who never sleeps so we know you’re always up to something.

Dame Dash: Well like I said I started a television network and we are going to launch that on Black Friday as well. You can look at it and go see a little trailer of it on www.creativecontrol.tv, and I’m working with the fashion real heavy. Rachael Roy don’t know how it is doing out there but it is pretty well received in America. It’s fashion, kind of  like a higher end fashion kind of thing, that is where I wanted to go with things, and just living life and taking care of my kids and having fun.

Hollywood: How is Kareem Biggs doing?

Dame Dash: (Chuckles) Biggs is good. He don’t really like “wack world” so much so he stays quiet, he’s doing his thing his way, but he’s defiantly not coming out. I don’t see him as much as I want to because I’m still in “wack world” sometimes.

Hollywood: The streets been talking about the whole issue with beans and hov. Your name got brought up in that argument, do you agree with the point segial brought up in terms of what he was given to him as a member of the R.O.C and that whole argument going on? Do you support bean’s decisions?

Dame Dash: I don’t feel peoples personally opinions and their business should be used as entertainment, so whatever beans issues are, I think he should just sit down and have a conversation with jay, and if jay won’t let him then they just got to run into each other. But just because he is talking his business I really wouldn’t be the one to do that, to talk his business as well, so I just hope everyone can just look at what we have done for hip-hop, and how many years ago it was and just appreciate that regardless of what nobody is perfect, everybody got their little funny ways, but we did so something really big for the rest of the culture to see and I just don’t want to taint that, I think it has been tainted enough as it is. I don’t have no opinion really on it, but what I just said, and not one anybody’s side I got love for everybody, I just feel people should move forward, as appose to addressing things that happened years ago. I know I was a different person years ago and I’m sure you were too so you can’t really hold people accountable now for what they did a half a decade ago. We made history, we had a good time, we all made a lot of money and I got love for everybody.

Hollywood: Dame we know you are a busy man, if you can let the people know when the Blak Roc album drops.

Dame Dash: The Blak Roc comes out “Black Friday”, that’s the Friday after thanksgiving. I know it don’t mean so much in Canada thanksgiving but, its November 27 2009 it will be in stores. There will be a movie coming, hopefully there will be a nice tour, good merchandise, nice shirts stuff like that and we can just keep bringing really good music our way and just know we will never conform to “wack world.” – Also I forgot to tell you my man Mos Def has been on a lyrical assault mission, he has been rapping a lot. We are about to flood the market with a lot of Mos Def music & my man Currency. Big shout out to Jay Elektronica I am feeling him right now. In rap for a minute I was so jaded by rap and the business of it, that I didn’t even really pay attention to it and what was really going on. I ran into Mos and through doing this project I looked under the hood and I was seeing that hip hop over all is such an intelligent brilliant culture that has evolved so much. It is just really such a shame that the stuff people want to talk about is the negative gossip stuff that doesn’t even reflect the rest of hip hop. I think right now that I have to take whatever resource I have and let the world see how far we have some. Everyone keeps talking about the 5 percent of negativity but there is such a positive world out there with all these poets, and film makers, and all these people that share. I was chilling with The Cools Kids last night and there general consensus was that everyone works together. They were like yeah where is Currency and hung out with Mos Def until the end of the night. When people use beef they use it in a form of promotion because that is all they got, and I think it’s just really bad that hip hop gets that kind of a platform where it looks like it is negative and its just so positive and there are some really good lyricist out there. I just wanted to say that before we got off`.