Dame Dash recently opened up about the fall out between himself and his co-founding Rocafella partner, Jay-Z. Dash says that tensions started with Jigga during their run with Rocawear Clothing. “It was me and Jay and the two Russians voting on every decision, and I controlled the vote, because I always had Jay’s vote.” The two Russians were Alex Bize and Norton Cher, old-school clothing slingers from Manhattan’s garment district who ran the day-to-day operations.
“But one day,” Dash says, “they brought me to a hotel,” he stated. “I said, ‘Why are we meeting at a hotel?’ and it was because they didn’t want anyone to hear me yelling. That was the day they told me they didn’t want Mario Testino to shoot the ads.” Instead, they were going with someone cheaper, and they were going in a different direction altogether. “Here the Russians were telling me how to cater to my people! I wanted Rocawear to be sold at Bergdorf Goodman’s, not Dr. Jay’s!” says Dash. “In the end, Steve Stoute was making money off them. Jay stopped listening to me and started listening to him.” Shortly thereafter, Jay-Z made their separation formal when he bought out Dash’s stake in Rocawear for $30 million.
