Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
Back in the early 2000s when Dame Dash signed The Diplomats to Roc-A-Fella Records, rumors began to swirl that there was a confrontation between Dipset and Roc-A-Fella members that caused animosity in the camp (some even said Juelz Santana slapped Jay-Z). And now, we might’ve gotten some clarity as to what actually happened—and allegedly, someone indeed got slapped.
In a recent interview for The Art of The Dialogue, former Dipset member Freekey Zekey revealed that the tension between Dipset and Roc-A-Fella stemmed from a dust up between Jim Jones (of course) and Roc-A-Fella executive, Lenny Santiago. Reminiscing about the incident that began the drama, Zekey said things went left when Dipset called Lenny in order to get some studio time on a Sunday to which Santiago responded, “Kiss my ass, it’s Sunday. What you talkin’ about?”
Needless to say, that didn’t go over too well with Jones and company. The next day they went to the studio looking for retribution. Though he wasn’t around for the actual incident, Zekey says, “I’m pretty sure somebody got slapped or something physical happened to Lenny S.” Looking to kill whatever internal beef there might’ve been within the label, Dame Dash’s solution was for Jim Jones and Lenny S. to simply fight mano-a-mano. He got the two men in front of each other and said, “Lenny S., go over there and fight Jim.’”
That really does sound like something Dame Dash would do, too (LOL).
The proposed fight didn’t actually happen though, as Lenny called some reinforcements in the form of Memphis Bleek’s fam who rolled up in a jeep.
“That’s when it kinda.. the diamond started to… we found something hard enough to start to break the diamond. Because it was like, ‘Hold on, this is Bleek’s people with Lenny S. and y’all n-ggas gonna ride?’ That’s where the divide came from. It was just supposed to just be a Lenny S., Jim Jones fight but I guess Lenny S. called somebody and who he called was Bleek’s fam.”
Could that be the reason why Memphis Bleek once said that Dame Dash threatened to kick him off the Roc-A-Fella label, which in turn led to Dame and Jay-Z’s turmoil?
Regardless of what exactly led to the demise of one of the greatest Hip-Hop labels the game had ever seen, it’s disappointing to know that we could’ve gotten hella good music from Dipset and Roc-A-Fella artists during that period in time only for them to beef internally over egos.
Such a shame.
Check out Freeky Zekey’s talk about the incident below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Freekey Zekey Says Jim Jones Slapping Lenny S. Led To Dipset & Roc-A-Fella Break Up
was originally published on
hiphopwired.com
