According to MTV.com, Damon Dash has decided to re-launch the now infamous Roc-a-Fella records with his new artist and best friend Curren$y as the pilot project.
“I think we just having fun, really,” Dash told MTV.com, “[Curren$y] inspired me to dust off the chains. We brought ’em out for kicks, just ’cause we could. Then we was like, ‘F— it, let’s put it out through Roc-A-Fella.’ It was really more something he wanted to do. Basically, ’cause we having’ such a good time, and the opportunity’s there, we was like, ‘Why not?’ “
Peep after the jump and watch how Dame came to get access to his former brand: Roc-A-Fella. [More]
Dash states that Curren$y’s debut album on the newly re-launched Roc-a-Fella Records will show fans that the music the Roc creates is not just about records sales, but more about friendship.
“The funny thing is, people don’t know that Roc-A-Fella wasn’t meant to sell records,” Dame continued. “It was meant to show the respect and the honor amongst each other as friends. It was a friendship thing. That’s what people liked. It’s what made Roc-A-Fella appealing. It’s odd, because I f— with [Curren$y]. I kinda like him. When I met him, I wasn’t as familiar with his music. My nephews and Sean O’Connell put me up on him. I liked him as a friend. Then I start seeing he’s super nice with the rhymes, then I started seeing his influence. It’s similar to the way we felt back in those days. It’s working out.”
For naysayers that think Jay-Z still owns the rights to the name “Roc-a-Fella,” Dame clears it up explaining:
“Def Jam or Universal bought the brand. I think the ‘beef’ [with us and Jay-Z] was that Jay made it clear he didn’t want me or Biggs to be a part of it. That’s really where it was at. Now that he doesn’t work for Def Jam anymore, he doesn’t have the right to use the name. So there’s no reason for us not to use it. It’s there, and it’s a brand that’s not being used. So I was like, ‘I’ll take it.’ It always meant something to me.”
Now that Dash has inked an exclusive deal with LA Reid and Def Jam, which makes Def Jam the exclusive distributor of his projects, it looks like Dash and the Roc are back in business.
Although it seems as if Dame is in the position to really get over with the use of the Roc-a-Fella brand, Dame insists that the new movement is about positivity and growth.
“It’s a way more positive movement,” he added about the label’s new incarnation. “It’s what I wanted Roc-A-Fella, what I thought it should be 10 years after I started it.”
Curren$y’s debut album Pilot Talk is scheduled to hit stores June 15.
