friendship

Damon Dash Remembers the Day He Lost Jay-Z

In Esquire’s upcoming “People Who Matter” issue, writer Lisa Taddeo investigates Jay-Z’s cross-market appeal. She lets a few ho-hum theories fly — apparently, Jay-Z is successful because he is both a “gangster from the hood” and a “CEO in the boardroom” — and doesn’t get much access*, but the stuff about Steve Stoute and Jay-Z’s advice for Johnson & Johnson (“Baby oil, Jay suggested, should be marketed for its other uses, to remove makeup or to mix with suntan lotion so it glides on smoother”) is pretty great. Our favorite bit, though, came courtesy of Damon Dash. Unsurprisingly, Jay’s former bestie was available for interviews, and he provides the following anecdote about “the day he knew he’d lost Jay-Z.”

*(By the way, we were at the D.J. Hero roundtable mentioned in the feature, and we are an “un-urban white guy,” although we don’t recall saying, “Oh, word.”)

So there you go: Jay-Z and Damon Dash aren’t friends anymore because Jay-Z is cheap.

*(By the way, we were at the D.J. Hero roundtable mentioned in the feature, and we are an “un-urban white guy,” although we don’t recall saying, “Oh, word.”)

Why Jay-Z Is Everything We’re Not [Esquire]

Damon Dash Remembers the Day He Lost Jay-Z