As Dame Dash opens up, he shares his thoughts on Coodie and Chike's jeen-yuhs.
Netflix's three-part documentary on Kanye West's career—a collection of 20 years' worth of film—features on-camera input from Dame himself during his Roc-A-Fella days in the early ’00s. As he reflects now, he could never have predicted Ye would grow to the size he is today.
“I think this is the right time for that,” Dame told the Jasmine Brand. “’Cause you get insight into who Kanye is, especially because he’s so public. He’s turned into our new Michael Jackson, you know, whether that’s negative or positive, but that just is what it is. I wasn’t expecting all that from Kanye.”
As for MJ's comment, Dame elaborated, saying that "every “every move [Ye] makes, everybody’s paying attention to him” and that he “triggers the world” now.
“He wasn’t that bold back then, but he always was very confident,” Dame shared. “It’s levels to it, so I thought he had a lot of confidence rapping among the fierce rappers that were around, and also being vocal. I give everybody the same exact opportunity [when] I see potential, I see the same potential in mostly everybody. He just really took the opportunity and he really listened. And what he did was he leveraged his celebrity very well.”
"Karma" for those who ignored Ye, Dame said, adding, "I had many firsts in sneaker deals, streaming services, etc. Dame also referred to Ye as a "free man" and called his ability to draw attention "karma." However, “sometimes things don't move as quickly” because Dame didn't have Yeezy's fame to leverage it.
“I love the fact that [Ye] was smart enough to take his celebrity, and that’s what I taught them—use your celebrity to leverage it for your own products. And that’s what he did and that’s what mostly everyone who has been successful has done.”
If you're looking for more on Ye's remarkable rise, check out the second act of jeen-yuhs on Netflix on Wednesday, before he drops Donda 2 on his Stem Player product same day.