Damon Dash and Kanye West may have had a turbulent past since the 2004 split and sale of Roc-A-Fella Records, but the hip-hop moguls recently put their differences aside and are focusing on hopes of expanding their artistic empires into Hollywood.
Both Dash and West are known to exude confidence when it comes to their artistic abilities. Even when pushed outside of the realm of hip-hop, both men hold on to their claims of overall creative genius. Only time will tell, however, if their recent move into Hollywood will prove to be another great success or a humbling experience.
Dash recently opened up to Page Six about teaming up with the “Only One” rapper and having him sign on to executive produce the Damon Dash Studios film Loisaidas.
Dash said he was more than open to partnering up with West despite the troubles in their past but said the results of their teamwork had to be unpredictable.
He figured doing music together would be “too obvious,” but film seemed like the right direction to go in.
His only hope now is that West will be daring enough to explore beyond the executive producing position.
“Hopefully, Kanye will want to get creative and jump in as an actor or director or anything he wants,” Dash told Page Six. “The only thing I don’t want to do with him is music, because we’ve already done that.”
Dash’s self-funded studio has four films under its belt so far and hopes to challenge some of the most successful filmmakers in the industry.
“I’m going after Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Woody Allen,” he added. “I’m going after Harvey Weinstein.”
According to Dash, he has a clear advantage over the aforementioned filmmakers — he doesn’t have any “middlemen” involved.
“All these middlemen just mess up the integrity, all these nerds cutting checks,” Dash said. “I’m all artist, all day, every day. … I have so many authentic stories, I know so many authentic people … I don’t have to wait to get it funded; I don’t have to ask permission. Everybody struggles in Hollywood, I’m not gonna be that guy.”
Picturing Damon Dash and Kanye West as a Hollywood duo may still be difficult for some. After Roc-A-Fella split back in 2004, West decided to side with Jay-Z.
Both Jay-Z and Dash were co-founders of the record label.
Back in January, Dash presented West with the Visionary Award at the 2015 BET Honors.
During his time onstage, he made it clear that his problems with West were in the past.
According to event attendees, Dash described West as a rapper with “courage” and said his only issues with him at this point were “emotional” ones.
Before making their way off the stage, West and Dash took a selfie together along with Dash’s daughter Ava.
