In the latest episode of the Million Dollarz Worth of Game Podcast, 50 Cent clowns Dame Dash for telling him that his million-dollar record deal was “no real money.”
In 2002, 50 Cent signed a deal with Eminem‘s Shady Records under the Aftermath/Interscope umbrella. Before the deal, 50 made his name with a street single called “How To Rob” featuring The Mad Rapper, which talked about robbing hip-hop’s biggest stars, including Dame’s partner Jay-Z. When Wallo asked 50 about his first deal, the mogul ironically recalled the conversation with Dame.
“The only person that pointed out that a million dollars was no money was Damon Dash, and he has no money now.” 50 told Gillie and Wallo. ““That ain’t no money. After you get a watch, a chain, you look out for the homies and you do this, that and the third… it’s nothing.”
According to 50, Dash’s comment stuck with him because he believed receiving a million dollars was similar to hitting the lotto in Southside Jamaica Queens. He continued: “And I was like, ‘N-gga, I’m from 134th Street. A million dollars is a lot of money.’ I’m thinking I hit the lotto! How you gonna say it’s no money? I just never forgot that because of how it felt.”
A clip of Dame Dash explaining the cost of advance money in a record deal has circulated social media for years. In 2003’s MTV2: Hip Hop Dollars documentary, Dame explained how rappers usually go broke after receiving a million dollar advance with a mathematical breakdown, including jewelry, taxes, and other accessories. He said:
“What a million dollars is to a first-time rapper. First off, it’s taxed half. So that’s 500,000 dollars, right then and there, boom, so now you only have 500,000 dollars. First thing you gotta do is get a nice car. There’s 100,000, now you got 4 left.
“You gotta get your jewelry game up … and things are costing a lot lately. So let’s say you spend 100 on the low ball side. Cause you want to keep up with everyone else. So now you got, what, 300,000 left. You gotta get a place to live and you don’t have good credit cause you just coming from the street. So you got to drop more than 20-percent.
“So now you got about 250 left. Now your homeboys think you got way more than you have. And you gotta look out for everybody on your block, so put 50 to that. You gotta keep your fresh together, so you gonna spend 50 on fresh. You gotta pop tags every single day, so put 50 on that. You have an overhead where you have to maintain all these things every month. So now you might have 20,000 in bills every single day. And there it is, it’s gone, no more money.”
50 Cent’s deal with Shady Records led to the release of his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin, which sold over 800,000 copies in its first week in 2003. Then 50’s sophomore album, The Massacre, sold 1.4 million it’s first week in 2005. In interviews, 50 often praises Eminem for changing his life.
Since the end of Roc-A-Fella, Dame Dash has endured severe financial hardship, with his one-third ownership share set to be auctioned off as part of a lawsuit. Last week, Dash shared that he went broke investing in his dreams.
In 2019, 50 Cent commented on Dame Dash’s interview with Nick Cannon, during which Dash tried to avoid discussing Foxy Brown’s signing to Def Jam during the early days of Roc-A-Fella. “I wasn’t paying attention to Foxy Brown,” Dame told Nick Cannon. “I didn’t sign Foxy Brown, stop putting me in that s***. Don’t beat around the bush. Say what you want to say,” Dame responded before later continuing after Cannon addressed that she was 16-years-old. “Did I sign her? It seems like you got a question for JAY. Ask him, don’t ask me his questions. Ya’ll keep asking me ya’ll wanna ask him, because he ain’t here. Ask him. I ain’t got shit to do with that, and I don’t even know nothing about that. And now I don’t even wanna remember nothin’ about that.”
After the interview, 50 said about Dash, “Dame is a real sucker for this, he trying to get Jay jammed up.”