Dame Dash speaks on Funkmaster Flex and his problems with the industry in an interview with Combat Jack.
Dame Dash has been on an Instagram tirade over the last little while, taking every opportunity to industry figures such as Joie Manda, Lyor Cohen, Steve Stoute, and Funkmaster Flex. The other day, Flex felt the need to respond to the attacks, going on a lengthy rant on air, suggesting Dash “stick to artwork and clothing and slippers”, and accusing him of owing large amounts of money to Currren$y and Beanie Sigel.
Dash has now been given the opportunity to tell his side of the story, appearing on the Combat Jack show yesterday. The former Roc-A-Fella mogul commented on Flex’s rant, comparing the DJ’s viewpoint to his own.
“What I do is I look at other people’s perspectives,” he said. “You have guys like Ebro—and I’m not calling him out. You got guys like Flex who have jobs. They’re paid. They don’t have any equity in anything that they’re working for. A guy like Flex has had the same exact job for 25 years straight. He’s 46 years old. A guy like Ebro I don’t know…but again he’s employed by somebody. He’s told what to do. He’s told to protect something that he doesn’t own.”
He went on to explain that this is a much different outlook than that of an artist or entrepreneur. “His mentality is completely different than Chuck D’s,” he continued. “Chuck D is a man that fights for freedom. He fights for what he believes in. For a person with a job—Hot 97 is owned by a parent company and those people culturally have nothing to do with Hip Hop. They make money from it all day long. Other people that work for Hot 97 fight for them but they own nothing. They have a secure salary. They don’t know about putting up their own money. They don’t know about fighting for what they believe in. They’re safe.”
Dash also addressed more of his issues with label and industry figureheads. “These CEOs have made so much money off rap beef for so long,” he said. “It’s not like when two rappers have a problem with each other they sit them down and squash it. They actually put a battery in their back—sort of like how a battery might have been in Flex’s back—and have them beef with each other. Then they make money off the winner. As opposed to what I do when I see two people having a problem, I sit them in a room and try to talk it through.”
Listen to the full 2-hour sit-down below.
