Beanie Sigel interview on Art of Dialogue: Jay-Z Forced Me To Stop Writing. Jay-Z Wore Biggie's Personal Jesus Chain While Recording His Albums

[Awesome Wells]

One of the biggest myths in Hip Hop is this whole “Dame took a chance on/believed in Kanye when nobody else would” bullshyt

The Jean-Yuhs documentary and Dame’s own words in various interviews have proven that beyond his production skills, NOBODY in the upper Roc-A-Fella brass believed in Kanye West as an artist. They even froze his budget after he recuperated from the car accident and he used his own money to shoot the Through The Wire video and used his own connections to get it played on MTV. It wasn’t until after Kanye had done ALL the leg work that Dame and Jay opened his budget, and then it was with the understanding that Kanye would throw a bunch of Roc-A-Fella artists on the album and basically make it a compilation.

Nobody had any inkling Kanye would become “Kanye” except KANYE which is why he’s such an egomaniac today. He’s the one and true example of manifestation and thats why he gets so many passes for the dumb shyt he says. People like to look to him to believe that with confidence in self they too can achieve the impossible.


Dame should get just about as much “credit” for Kanye’s success as Jay does. Very minimal

Not true, at all.

The doc showed a couple days at the office, at the most. The people who were there are the ones that can speak to what was going on. And everything Beans said was true. They wouldn't even let Kanye in the damn office half the time unless he had an appointment, at first. Security would be following dude and asking him to leave because he was showing up too much. That's when he started coming with the cameras. But Dame was the one that told security to always let Kanye in and to treat him like family. He gave dude an expense account. He was the only producer he did that for. Before people even knew Ye was rapping like that, it was Dame who set up Roc Da World, to manage him and get his beats sold. This was 4-5 years before Ye's first album. Nobody would even take 5 mins to listen to his beats, which is why he was ghost-producing for a minute.

The budget was frozen later because Kanye spent triple what he was supposed to, but wasn't selling no beats, at the time. That's what labels do. Dame put Kanye on "Champions" years before The College Dropout came out. On the track, Dame literally says, "That's my producer. He raps better than most rappers". He was always supporting Kanye as an artist. No one wanted him to rap on that joint. It was Dame who said the track isn't coming out if Kanye isn't on it. Other labels didn't want to f*ck with Kanye. He wasn't even trying to get signed at Roc, at first. But Roc was the only label that would actually let him do his own thing and put some money behind him. Even after he overspent.

And this is why Ye always says today that Dame was the only one that stuck with him, and believed in him. Because it's true. People in the office used to openly clown dude when he came in. Dame would tell n*ggas that Ye was gonna be a star one day and that he was about to put the label on his back. And that's exactly what happened. Without Dame, there would be no Kanye. And everybody that's either been on that label or worked there, knows that.

 

[Ziggiy]

Not true, at all.

The doc showed a couple days at the office, at the most. The people who were there are the ones that can speak to what was going on. And everything Beans said was true. They wouldn't even let Kanye in the damn office half the time unless he had an appointment, at first. Security would be following dude and asking him to leave because he was showing up too much. That's when he started coming with the cameras. But Dame was the one that told security to always let Kanye in and to treat him like family. He gave dude an expense account. He was the only producer he did that for. Before people even knew Ye was rapping like that, it was Dame who set up Roc Da World, to manage him and get his beats sold. This was 4-5 years before Ye's first album. Nobody would even take 5 mins to listen to his beats, which is why he was ghost-producing for a minute.

The budget was frozen later because Kanye spent triple what he was supposed to, but wasn't selling no beats, at the time. That's what labels do. Dame put Kanye on "Champions" years before The College Dropout came out. On the track, Dame literally says, "That's my producer. He raps better than most rappers". He was always supporting Kanye as an artist. No one wanted him to rap on that joint. It was Dame who said the track isn't coming out if Kanye isn't on it. Other labels didn't want to f*ck with Kanye. He wasn't even trying to get signed at Roc, at first. But Roc was the only label that would actually let him do his own thing and put some money behind him. Even after he overspent.

And this is why Ye always says today that Dame was the only one that stuck with him, and believed in him. Because it's true. People in the office used to openly clown dude when he came in. Dame would tell n*ggas that Ye was gonna be a star one day and that he was about to put the label on his back. And that's exactly what happened. Without Dame, there would be no Kanye. And everybody that's either been on that label or worked there, knows that.

From the horses mouth