Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz
For those that didn’t know, JAY-Z and DMX didn’t really see eye to with one another despite always putting out great records together, but that didn’t stop Jigga from a tremendous solid for Dark Man X.
Speaking with The Breakfast Club ahead of the premiere of Ruff Ryder’s Chronicles on BET documentary, founders of the iconic Hip-Hop stable Dee, Wah, and Chivon Dean broke down why the two Hip-Hop legends had beef in the first place.
“What had happened was Jay-Z called X and told him, ‘The inmates have took over the prison.’ And when your man Jay-Z got in position, X felt like he didn’t honor him and hold weight like he was supposed to.”
They go on to further explain that it was the massive egos of the New York rappers that led to the tense relationship between them. More specifically, X wasn’t feeling too comfortable with the idea that JAY-Z was running the label he was under and felt The Blueprint crafter didn’t have his best interests at heart.
The situation between Hov and DMX eventually led to Earl packing up his dog house and taking his talents to Columbia Records in 2006, where he released his album Year of The Dog…Again. Before that could happen, Dee and Wah revealed that X owed Def Jam a rather large sum on money, in the ballpark of $12 million to be exact. The brothers decided to talk to JAY-Z about the debt and convince Mr.Carter to clear it all in full, so X’s transition to Columbia was free of any issues.
“X was in debt over there. He probably owed about $12 million. I respect him on that because he let him go clean with nothing.”
Gotta respect JAY-Z for that. You can peep the entire Breakfast Club interview featuring the Ruff Ryder’s founders below.
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Photo: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz
