Young Chris of the Young Gunz has explained why he sided with JAY-Z over Dame Dash during the infamous Roc-A-Fella split in the mid 2000s.
The Philly native shared his side of the story during an appearance on Math Hoffa’sMy Expert Opinion, and let it all out on the table regarding the situation between Hov and Dame.
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According to Chris, Jay came to him and Freeway while on the road and explained to them that this “shit about to be over” and wanted them to join him.
“I remember Dame was telling me to do a solo project,” the State Property MC recalled. “That’s kind of why I went with Jay, you know? My loyalty to Neef [Buck]. We already did the first album and I’ma follow up, you feel me? That was my situation.”
He added: “I think back on it sometimes ’cause I never looked at it as being the Bobby of the group. Dame was probably looking at the shit, but we went with Jay and we did what we did.”
As one-half of the Young Gunz alongside Neef, Young Chris joined Roc-A-Fella at an interesting time in the early 2000s. The label had risen to prominence with acts such as Kanye West, The Diplomats, Beanie Sigel and more bursting through the gate.
JAY-Z had teased that he would retire following the release of The Blueprint 2 in 2002, which led Damon Dash to go on a spree and sign several rappers, including M.O.P and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Their empire began to crumble, though, once Jay accepted a position as the CEO and president of Def Jam Recordings.
The final straw in the infamous Roc-A-Fella split happened when Jay, Dame and fellow co-founder Kareem “Biggs” Burke sold their stake in the label to Island Def Jam, and since Hov was president, he retained control of the label and his masters, leaving his former partners with nothing.
Dame and Biggs formed their own label, Roc4life (later called Dame Dash Music Group) and each artist on Roc-A-Fella was given a choice to decide which imprint to join.
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The Young Gunz stayed with JAY-Z at Roc-A-Fella and released their second and final album Brothers from Another in 2005. It was executive produced by Hov and peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 chart.
