Dame Dash Talks Kanye West, Dapper Dan, & What Being Independent Really Means [Interview]

Dame Dash was once a force in the music business. Now he's trying to make his mark in the film industry. And he's going to try and do it independently

Dame Dash will forever remain a staple in the culture. Not only was he the co-founder of Roc-A-Fella, one of the most successful labels levels ever, but he also grew a fashion and lifestyle enterprise; he helped mold Rocawear into one of the greatest streetwear lines of all time.

WATCH: ‘I’m Embarrassed By It’: Dame Dash Speaks On Sexism In “Big Pimpin’” Music Video

Fast forward to 2018, the mogul isn't letting up. Dame has released a book, Culture Vultures, and a new feature film, Honor Up, which he produced and directed and also stars in. (Dame plays a character named OG, who is deeply rooted in the streets of Harlem.)

The movie also stars Cam’ron, Murda Mook, and Smoke DZA, as well as Dame Dash's cousin Stacey Dash (who would go on to disown the film.) When the poster for the film was first released, the talk was centered around Kanye West who executive produced the movie. 

WATCH:A lot of "Snitches" Get Shot in the Trailer for the KanyeWest-Produced Film 'Honor Up'

We recently sat down with Dame Dash to talk about his vision of the film, his tenure in the rap game, working with Kanye, Dapper Dan's influence and much more.

OKP: What does being independent mean to you?

Dame Dash: Being independent is everything. That’s all I know. Freedom is priceless...What I take pride in the most about [Honor Up] is that I paid for it. I did everything myself. I figured out how to get it distributed by Lionsgate, but still maintain ownership...I did this on my own. And there’s pride in that. And I was able to work with the people I wanted to work with. When I made Paid In Full, I had to ask. We had to make trades. I got Cam’ron — and their [ask] was [Wood] Harris, which turned out to be good. 

I've been in both situations and this situation is way better. We haven’t had to compromise. We still have everything that everyone else corporate has. We have more assets. We’ve made more content. We’ve made better commercials. We’ve made better posters. And then when you have someone who has as many eyeballs on them as Kanye — he’s like Michael Jackson today, him and his wife combined. So you don’t really have to pay for promotion. 

OKP: What was it like working with Kanye on this?

Dash: It was cool. It’s fun to see Kanye evolve. It was just always fun for us to be bringing him the movie to watch. I think that the better sign of an OG is when he’s happy that the person that he raised got bigger than him and in a position where they could help. Because what do you really do it for? Put them in a position where they can help and not have to expose themselves. They could just have fun and he could be a movie exec. And we could make the movies we want.

He was around for the whole process. We could just keep bringing him the cuts and all that. And he was just like, “Yo, don’t put my name on nothing until I see it.” Which is cool...That’s what I would say. I gotta respect that. 

OKP: Being one of the founding pillars of Roc-A-Fella, what was your goal from the beginning?

Dash: World domination. My goal was exactly what we did — I accomplished that. My goal was for that to open the doors to do whatever I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And that’s what happened.

OKP: What were those early convos like with JAY-Z?

Dash: I’ve always been a firm believer of... time is the only thing that’s really your enemy and you gotta do as much with it as possible. So I don’t like to waste moments. So when we speak, I speak about things that are productive, that are gonna evolve. And, honestly, a lot of what we spoke about was the books we were reading that were about evolving our souls. It was weird because they weren’t the conversations that you would expect. 

OKP: At the height of Roc-A-Fella did you ever foresee it coming to an end?

Dash: I knew it was coming to an end. Ain’t no "foresee it" — I was leaving. I was done. I did what I had to do. It was time for me to move on. I had daughters, so I couldn't have that environment around my daughters. I couldn’t have a bunch of aggressive men with their own problems around my child...I had to architect my life where I could raise my children. I had my son. I raised him since he was eight. And I would have done it [differently]. With your boys, you’re a little rougher. You want him to be a little tougher. But with your girls, there’s no exposure. I had to change everything. So I went and got more artistic. I started to open up art galleries. I started to do things — I made my woman my muse. And I started to build businesses around the female energy in my life. And life got a lot better for me.

Roc-A-Fella had to end. As you evolve the things you talk about change. Our core was about our survival skills in an extreme circumstance. I haven’t been in that extreme circumstance in 30 years...Sometimes I think our guidance was in the wrong direction, which is why I’ve spent a lot of time correcting that. Because it was a young perspective with a lot of power. Now here’s an older perspective, a more evolved perspective.

Overall, real wealth ain’t really the dough — and that’s what we were teaching. Real wealth is your quality of living. And love is your currency. And how much is the people you love are having a good time and laughing more than your crying — that’s wealth. And that’s what I’ve been trying to teach to the world. That’s why I made the book Culture Vultures. 

OKP: What is your definition of “culture vulture”?

Dash: A person that makes money from the culture, but doesn't live the culture. A person that doesn’t help the culture that they’re making money from. A person that intentionally hurts the culture, so that they can monetize it. A person that takes care of their children based on somebody else’s work and labor and makes them think they have more than they do, so they can continue to work for them...That’s a culture vulture. And that could be black, white, whatever. There’s black culture vultures, there’s white culture vultures, there’s every kind of nationality. And the worst culture vulture is the one that does it within his own supposed culture. That’s the one that’s the devil because he’s pretending to be something he’s not. And that’s cheating.

OKP: Why is it so important for you to put that out for the people?

Dash: I think when you have consciousness you become responsible. And I think the truth is a heavy burden. Because usually the truth teller gets crucified like Jesus. The person that tells the truth is always gonna have to fight the people that are lying. And because the people that are lying are cheating. You’re not fighting the same fight. Like, the shit that they’ll do, you won’t do. So how do you protect yourself? You gotta be extra strong...It’s a life you gotta choose.

And that’s life that I did choose, because life has been so easy for me. I’ve had so much fun every second. I benefited and monetized everything that I loved, at every time. I’ll be 47 in May. What else should I do? And plus, I don’t like the people that are taking advantage and fronting. I think they’re soft. And I want everybody to know. So that’s why I call out names like Lyor Cohen and Charlie Walk and Barry Klarberg… Steve Stoute. All those people that have really taken advantage. I feel like I don’t want other people to be taken advantage of.

You gotta look at this movie. This movie was made by us. It’s a black movie. No disrespect to Black Panther — it’s about black people, but it’s not made or funded by black people. There’s still another culture making money off it. So I’m glad that now we’re in that position. But this is a black movie [which came out] the same day, funded by somebody black — down to like the only television station that’s really embraced it is owned by somebody black. The person that brought the most attention to it, Kanye, is somebody black. The actors are black. It’s black, black, black, black, black, black. And I haven’t had to put up the money that they do because you don’t have to pay for cool.

OKP: How does Honor Up compare to Paid In Full ?

Dash: I was there [for the Paid in Full era]. I saw it. I was a part of that. I could have told the story from my point of view, but I didn’t. I chose to tell it from somebody else’s. This movie is from my point of view. Also, Paid In Full wasn’t paid for by me. It was paid for by Miramax, which is [owned by Harvey and Bob Weinstein]. That’s where all this bullshit happened. I went to war with the Weinsteins 15 years ago because I saw what [Harvey] was doing. 

I’ve been trying to punish him for years. I’ve been trying to punish all of these people. I’ve been trying to punish all of them. I talked, I beefed, I muscled, and nothing’s happened. You know what took these men down? Women. And that’s how powerful women are. And I’m glad that women are starting to realize their power and having confidence in it. I’ve been saying this shit for five, six years. I apologized for “Big Pimpin’” ten years ago, not when it was convenient and when everyone was doing it. My hashtag has been #InvestInWomen for years. The things that have gotten me my most success are when I have a crew of women around me. Because dudes get jealous. It’s the testosterone. But my point is, these things and these ideals are nothing new. I live by it.

OKP: You and Dapper Dan are both Harlem natives. What did you think about Gucci embracing him now after all these years?

Dash: I’m hyped! I was there. I had a Dapper Dan, the shearling right? And he made the pockets extra deep because we supposed to be tough so we could carry guns in them [laughs].  But I never carried a gun in them. He just was the fly guy, you know?

OKP: What was your initial reaction to Stacy Dash’s tweet and have you guys resolved anything since?

Dash: Oh, that’s family business — it would be corny to talk about. But my reaction to what I saw was, I thought she got her Twitter hacked.

OKP: Is there anything else that you want people to know?

Dash: That I got another movie coming out called The List, starring Brian White, Columbus Short. Already shot, about to put that out. And that my book Culture Vultures is out...Check that out.