Dame Dash on Walking Away From Jay-Z and R. Kelly’s ‘Best of Both Worlds’ Album: ‘I Didn’t Want Any Part of That Project’

Dame Dash has once again denied he had any involvement in Jay-Z and R. Kelly ‘s Best of Both Worlds joint album, this time saying there was a morale line the project crossed since the singer had a troubled past.

On Monday, Dame released an hour-long conversation on hip-hop culture through American Nu Network , and one of the topics that came up was Best of Both Worlds, the collaborative album between Hov and Kellz that was released in 2002. With that album, Dame explained that he doesn’t like working with someone if “small indicators” tell him he should walk away.

The former music executive said there was a conversation between himself and Jay about working with Kelly as it was “morally wrong,” given the latter was prosecuted for child pornography at the time and “raped” the late Aaliyah , whom Dame dated in 2000. Kelly had a questionable relationship with Aaliyah in the mid-’90s that involved a secret marriage when she was 15 and he was 27, an annulment, and a non-disclosure agreement.

“It’s morally wrong to do a project with someone that we know raped my girl or raped anybody for that matter,” said Dame. “So I do know that conversation was had, and I was really surprised that he moved forward with that relationship.”

He continued, “I do know when that project did come out I didn’t want any part of that project. I didn’t want any of the money to go to Roc-A-Fella or me when it came to Roc-A-Fella. It was around the time that Jay was trying to kind of separate himself from us, and he was saying that he didn’t want to be a part anymore, and we resolved that issue. He wanted me to dilute, and he wanted Biggs to dilute, and I wasn’t diluting. I know what I mean and what I do for business.”

Dame added that a mutual friend named Deuce told the Roc-A-Fella trio what they were doing wasn’t right, so they came to an agreement that Jay would keep all the money made off Best of Both Worlds, and Dame had no involvement. According to Dame, Jay has to answer some questions now.

This isn’t the first time Dame has said he wanted no parts of Hov and Kelly’s joint album. In 2019, Dame sat down for a conversation with Nick Cannon, where he claimed Roc-A-Fella Records had nothing to do with the album, and he also brought up how he wasn’t in any scenes with Kelly in the music video for Kelly’s 2001 single “Fiesta” featuring Jay-Z and didn’t bring anything up because Aaliyah told him not to.

Soon after Dame made that statement, one of Roc-A-Fella’s first artists signed, and Jay’s childhood friend, Memphis Bleek, called the Dame a liar and said he was more involved than what he was letting on .

“Everybody knows I fucks with Dame Dash. This is my guy Roc-A-Fella history, but somebody got to tell him he’s bugging,” said Bleek during a podcast. “You bugging, and then you going to really say you wasn’t down with n***s? You was opposed to it…you fucking lying.”