Damon Dash and producer Lemuel Plummer have announced that they are developing a drama series for television based on the Roc-A-Fella Records story. According to both parties, the television show will be a “brutally honest account about the rise of Roc-A-Fella touching on everything from Dash’s relationships with Aaliyah and Rachel Roy, to an in-depth look at Dash’s departure and the severing of his business relationship with Jay-Z.”
“My experience is colorless. The reason why Roc-A-Fella crossed and became so essential to pop culture is that we were probably the most authentic people that were also so sophisticated,” Dash told Deadline. “My experience doing white people sh*t is just as heavy as my experiences doing black people sh*t. Actually I think I’ve done white people sh*t better than white people.”
While the show is still in the planning stages, Dame and Lemuel plan to go full steam ahead with the upcoming program. The pair recently worked together on the BET reality show, Music Moguls.
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DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Old rumors about Roc-A-Fella Records may soon be laid to rest and, in some cases, confirmed. Music and film producer Damon Dash has partnered with Preachers Of L.A. executive producer Lemuel Plummer for a TV series that will tell the story of the storied rap label co-founded in 1996 by Dash, Kareem Burke, and rap superstar Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.
“It means a lot that Damon trusts us to tell the story – the true story – of how two global music icons got their start and did nothing less than redefine pop culture,” Plummer said. “That story is so unbelievable and yet so true that we know we have an awesome responsibility as storytellers to get things right.”
Envisioned as a series that Dash and Plummer specifically liken to HBO’s Vinyl or The People Vs OJ Simpson, the show will examine the meteoric rise of the company that established Jay-Z as a leading voice in hip-hop, and later launched the career of Kanye West, while looking at the high cost of fame and the pursuit of it.
Speaking to Deadline, Dash was coy but optimistic about the music that might make up the proposed show’s soundtrack. “As much music as I could get, I know what I own, and there’s a lot of different artists that would probably not have a problem with participating,” says Dash. “And hopefully Jay doesn’t either, but as of yet we haven’t crossed that barrier. I’m not worried about that.”
However, he and Plummer were quick to clarify the series won’t be focused on the music, but instead on the behind-the-scenes highs and lows, beginning from Dash’s private school upbringing and street hustling period to becoming Jay-Z’s manager and beyond. “What defined what we were doing is everything that was in my life equals Roc-A-Fella … there was a point of view at Roc-A-Fella I’m not quite sure people knew what it was. We had so much going on,” Dash said, citing the label’s film and fashion enterprises.
“It’s not about the music that you hear,” Plummer added. “It’s about the actual [behind-the-scenes] story that’s never been told.” The series won’t be a straight biopic about Dash or any of the label’s principals, however. “Roc-A-Fella as a movement wasn’t revolving around one person, but that’s the way it was made to look,” Dash added.
