Dame Dash has explained how some teasing led to a legendary rap battle between JAY-Z and DMX.
Speaking on his own America Nu Network, the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder explained the background to the iconic showdown and how it came about.
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“That’s why we had the battle, because they used to bother me so much,” Dame said. “Teased me every single day that I pulled up on the block.”
He continued: “My man, I forget his name, he had a pool hall and Steve calls the Ruff Ryders. I don’t know why but DMX shows up and Jay’s there and we get at it on the pool tables.
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“One of his artists pulls out a gun, everybody start pulling out guns. Some dude says some slick shit and dude had a Tec on him. It was crazy. But we battled. And we had to battle to get the respect.”
“Everybody told me Jay was corny and wack. Everybody told me not to fuck with him. And I did it and look what happened.”
Watch his comments at the beginning of the video below.
Dame Dash did receive some criticism on social media for his remarks, with many taking issue with him once again bringing up JAY-Z.
One Instagram commenter said: “I use to think folks was asking him bout Jay. But these stories always be about something else and he just makes it about Jay. I was walking across the street a car hit me I crawled to the next side. Said to myself damn I shouldn’t have mess with Jay.”
Another also took issue with Dame’s version of events: “This crazy thing about this is. If you watch Backstage DVD Dame says when he first net Jay he thought he was a Harlem n-ggaz cause the c way he dress. Now all of a sudden n-ggaz was reading you cause he dressed funny. At this point Dame doing more damage to his legacy than good.”
In an oral history of the battle, co-founder of Ruff Ryders Entertainment Waah Dean told HipHipDX: “Jay and X went for hours, going in. DMX came all the way from Maryland for that battle.”
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DMX briefly mentions the battle in his 2003 autobiography, where he writes: “The people knew that were the top dogs of our crews and they wanted us to go at it and after a few more rounds, I just couldn’t stand to the side anymore. It was time to hold down the fam.”
