#JAY-Z’s Nas Apology Made Roc-A-Fella ‘Look Crazy,’ Says Dame Dash

Dame Dash has reflected on JAY-Z and Nas‘ beef and believes Hov’s apology made Roc-A-Fella “look crazy.”

The Roc-A-Fella co-founder was a guest on The CEO Show alongside fashion icon Willie Esco, where he spoke about his admiration for Escobar and how he’s maintained his integrity throughout his 30-year career.

During the conversation, Dame Dash also shared his reaction to Nas name-dropping him on his iconic JAY-Z diss track, “Ether.”

“I was in shock but I was happy. I wasn’t hurt,” he said. “I’ma tell you right now what happened. I was hyped that he said my name but also I knew what homie was doing and I thought it was a distraction. I’m like, ‘This is bubblegum shit.’

“I go to do a fucking Rocawear campaign in Arizona, with Freeway I think, he was there. I land and this dumb shit is on the radio and we took an L because he got in this man’s emotions.”

Dame continued: “Yo, I fuck with Nas. I think he’s one of the cooler ones. You see how cool somebody is when they’re older. It’s easy to be cool when you 21. Like, reckless — you supposed to be that. But sometimes after 30, you don’t change your jeans and your cut is different and you start to get corny and you don’t even know it.

“You stay in that moment in time. It’s not your high school days — you don’t wear the same cut jeans you had back with you was rolling. So I think he’s evolved well. I never look at him and think he’s some place he shouldn’t be. I look at the investments and the things that he does, and then he says my name sometimes.

“But he’s one of the dudes that I consider straight vinyl – pure Hip Hop, unadulterated. I haven’t seen him do nothing corny, so I have a respect for him. And plus, he got at homie. He was the only person I ever seen really rattle him like that. Yo, bro, I couldn’t even talk to this dude, for three weeks I didn’t talk to Jay about any of that shit.”

Dame Dash then recalled his reaction to JAY-Z’s apology to Nas and said he puts the blame on Irv Gotti.

“When he apologized and shit, I was like, ‘No!’” he said. “I was hitting him from the thing like, ‘Get off the radio! We looking crazy!’ And Irv did that shit. A Queens n-gga, he gave him — pause — the banana in the tailpipe. That was a Queens thing — he didn’t even see that. Yo Irv, stay out my business.”

Hov’s apology, which came during an appearance on Hot 97 in December 2001, was prompted by a phone call from his mother, Gloria Carter, who did not approve of her son’s crude shots on his “Ether” response, “Supa Ugly.”

The diss track included lines about having sex with Nas’ baby mother, Carmen Bryan, in the back of his car and leaving “condoms on your baby seat.”

“Mom put in a call and said, ‘That went too far.’ And she’s never, ever called me about music,” JAY-Z told Angie Martinez on air. “So I was like ‘Okay, okay, okay. I’ll go shut it down.’”

He added: “Once again, I apologize. I felt like I didn’t think about women’s feelings or [Nas’ former girlfriend’s] feelings, or even my mom. It was really like, ‘Let me meet your level of disrespect with this level of disrespect.’”

During a separate interview earlier this year, Dame Dash tore into his former business partner by saying JAY-Z’s response to Nas was “terrible” and that Escobar came out on top in their feud.

“Jay’s response was terrible,” he said on the That’s F***ed Up Podcast. “The thing is, we had first hit him with the joint at Summer Jam that was kinda hard, the ‘Takeover.’ But when [Nas] came with the ‘Ether,’ I was kinda hype because he said my name. I was like, ‘I guess I’m in a rap record.’

“But the response, I wasn’t there for the response. I had landed, Irv Gotti fucked that one up. Every time Irv Gotti got in my business, he fucked shit up … He threw that ‘Ether’ on him. He had him apologizing. The rap that he did was wack — when I heard it, I was pissed.

“I was coming from doing a Rocawear ad on a private [jet]. I had just landed from like Arizona and I’m listening to this shit on the radio like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ So I was like, ‘Go to the fucking Baseline [Studios],’ you know, ’cause I wanna know what happened. I’m like, ‘What the fuck happened?’

“And they in there high-fiving and shit. I’m like, ‘What you high-fiving for? This shit is wack.’ This n-gga talking about other n-ggas’ business and shit, like we don’t do that. And it was Irv. I was like, ‘Irv Gotti.’ I called Irv, told him don’t ever get in my business again bro, like, ‘What you doing? You not about war.’”

He added: “You see how his wars go with rap — he doesn’t win it. He’s not a general like that. So it was like, stay out of my business. And Irv keeps talking about me all the time, like stop talking about me, Irv.”