Dame speaks on how he used to spoil all the artists on Roc-A-Fella, how he’s disappointed on where the label went, his admiration for Kanye’s hustle, how he thinks Hov should’ve stopped rapping after Blueprint 1, Killa! and more.

Apparently Jay-Z’s cover issue of XXL is on newstands in NYC and Low felt the need to put up yet another excerpt (I feel like I’ve read the entire thing now haha). This time Hov talks about the speculation that has always floated about whether Jay or Dame made the executive decision to bring Kanye West on board to Roc-A-Fella Records.

Jay-Z on not receiving credit for Kanye West, Ne-Yo, Rihanna & Young Jeezy..

“Let’s first clear this thing about Dame and Kanye and all of us. We all had a conversation about Kanye and whether to sign him. No one knew what would become of Kanye. Not Dame, not me not Biggs. So we all sat down and said, “Let’s at least sign so we can keep the tracks in-house. It’s only good business.” And Dame said, “We can put Beans and Cam, surround him and make this type of album.” I wasn’t saying don’t sign Kanye, I was saying, at least keep the beats in-house, if anything. I don know. Maybe, maybe not. Let’s keep him here. Dame came up with the idea of surrounding him with Roc-A-Fella artists on his album, which never came out, ’cause when the album came in, everyone was like, “Oh this is good.” He stood on his own. If anything, I should be credited for wanting to sign him for his tracks. So even if Dame did sign him, he was gone at that time. I engineered those album. In my years there, even if Tina Davis signed Ne-Yo, she was gone. They were gonna drop Ne-Yo until Ty-Ty [Tyran Smith; former Def Jam VP of A&R] put his hand up and said, “I’ll do that project”.” So there’s no Ne-Yo if I’m not there. I scrapped on of his videos that no one knows about, pulled Hype Williams, pulled June Ambrose, my stylist, made the “So Sick” video, and he’s outta here. Rihanna, there’s just no getting around that. So in three years, I’ve worked on Kanye, Ne-Yo and Rihanna. I don’t even wanna talk about the Fab record that was mine ["Money Goes, Honey Stay (When The Money Goes Remix)" off Fab's latest LP, "Loso's Way], Jeezy doing “Go Crazy (Remix)” in my office. It doesn’t even make sense to [list] like that, cause it’s childish.”

Jay-Z on the business mindset of Dame Dash…..

“I don’t want people to take this wrong, but if that’s my opinion. that’s my opinion. Dame is good at starting something. I don’t know if he gets in his own way at a certain point. You know, the fights you had coming up aren’t the same fights when you’re on a different level. What would happen is, a lot of times, I would have to go fix. You know, it was time-consuming, going back and just doing three meetings, when we could have had one. Nothing got accomplished, because everyone was screaming at each other. It got to a point…..John Meneilly (Jay’s manager) is not even the same type of thing.”

One of the first places I went to during my very first visit to New York was to the famed Tunnel. While I don’t go out too much nowadays, to me that was the best club I’ve ever been to in my life. Anyways, Daniel unearthed classic footage of the Roc-A-Fella family in full swing during the release party for Jay’z Vol. 3… The Life & Times of S. Carter album. (”So Ghetto” = instant vintage). Check it out up top and down bottom.

We weren’t as on top of things with Young Chris’ 30 Verses, 30 Days series as we have been with Free’s Month of Madness so this mixtape is a must have for those that wanted each track. Shouts to DJ Ian for the linkage. And for those missing Shake’s witty commentary… he shall return tomorrow haha!

Artwork + Download link after the jump…

DOWNLOAD: Young Chris – 30 Verses, 30 Days (Mixtape)

Part 7 of Cipha Sounds exclusive footage of the classic freestyle session with Roc-A-Fella on Hot97 and Funk Flex. This time around, Kick In The Door gets the R-O-C treatment.

PREVIOUS: Roc-A-Fella’s 2001 Freestyle Session on Hot97 pt.6 (Video)

Day 13 folks. The Month of Madness continues. Blunt on the beat.

DOWNLOAD: Freeway – I Can Deal With It (Day 13)

PREVIOUS: Straight Madnes (Day 12) | Movin Out (Day 11) | Tell You Something (Day 10) | Mindstate Takeover (Day 7) x Blauh (Day x Together (Day 9) | I’m Great (Day 6) | Gonna Get Mines (Day 5) | Look Around (Day 4) | Count on Free (Day 3) | Ever Last (Day 2) | Month of Madness (Day 1)

Part 6 of Cipha’s unreleased footage of the classic session that went down with Roc-A-Fella on Hot97 with Funk Flex. I was actually waiting for this clip. Free went in!

PREVIOUS: Roc-A-Fella’s 2001 Freestyle Session on Hot97 pt.5

Day 4 of Free’s Month of Madness is upon us. Trife on the beat!

DOWNLOAD: Freeway – Look Around (Day 4)
PREVIOUS: Count on Free (Day 3) | Ever Last (Day 2) | Month of Madness (Day 1)

Let’s keep it Roc-A-Fella for a second. Part 5 of Cipha Sounds unseen footage of the classic radio session on Funk Flex’s Hot97 show. Oochie Wally & Dead Wrong play on…

PREVIOUS: Roc-A-Fella’s 2001 Freestyle Session on Hot97 pt.4 (Video)

As I said this weekend, Freeway will be dropping a new song each day of December for his Month of Madness campaign. It’s December 1st and here goes the first joint.

DOWNLOAD: Freeway – Month of Madness (Day 1) | Mediafire