Damon “Dame” Dash was recently on the Breakfast Club and things got pretty intense with host DJ Envy and ruffled the feathers of almost every employee in the United States. The biggest takeaway has been the former co-founder of Roc-a-fella records take on being an employee.
“All these so-called moguls y’all talkin’ about name one that puts their own dough up…you’re only the boss if you put up your own money, if you don’t put up your own money I don’t care how much someone gives you. You’re only a supervisor.”
There is a lot that has been chewed, digested and even regurgitated from this interview. There is a majority of people who caught feelings because and it should be expected, a lot of us have bosses. People are calling Dame Dash an idiot or arrogant for what he said. But why? He is and has been successful business man. As of 2013, over 70 % of Americans are not engaged at the workplace, according to a Gallup study. While there are a variety of factors for that high percentage, work morale largely comes down to who you work for. That high of a number clearly shows we are not happy just being workers.
Dame is not saying anything that has not been addressed before especially for people of color. While the tone and word usage could have been different, what Dame said is pretty spot on. There is room to disagree on his views of being a man is correlated to being a boss.However, economic empowerment or being self-sufficient is never bad. How can you be mad at someone telling you to be prideful and own something? I don’t agree with everything he says but I know for a fact I want to own something and have something that I can stop doing whenever I want and give to my future kids.
While what Dash may be arguing against is a socialistic construct due to capitalism. Dash brought something to this interview all hip hop artists should be doing immediately . In the digital era, why are there so many album push backs? What promotion can a record label, that usually does not understand your fan base, do for you? What in 2015 can you not do for yourself that you need a boss for as a rapper? Nothing is wrong with being a worker, but at a certain point in your life you have to ask yourself what is the end-goal to this? If you can never become a boss or use the money to own something of your own from it than you will need to stop what you’re doing.
Follow us on twitter@hiphopenquirer
