..One of the best things about being in the industry or any creative forum,is being there when something great happens.I guess it would be the closest thing to seeing a child being born,minus the yelling and screaming.To say you were there when it happened,at the beginning of it,you can’t beat that.Being at D&D in the greatest era of Hip Hop,I have had the privilege of “being there” on many occasions. I cant really recall the exact time of year we started but it was around the time that they had their lil deal with Pay Day Records.It was then I was put into the whole Roc A Fella Records mix.The epitome of do it yourself,these 
cats were really bout their hustle.I mean they had every door shut in their faces.Not a lot of folks at the labels were messing with em,and if they were, they giving em low ball money.The streets loved em though and that’s all you really needed back then.Street love equaled big money interest..eventually.Now this was before Beans,Freeway,Kanye and all that.It was just Jay heading the bill with Memph in the wings awaiting his turn,soaking up everything.The dynamic was simple..Jay did the music…Dame and Biggs did the business.More than often as most would find to be true,Dame was the one who did most of the business dealings and handling the day to day,cause Jay needed to focus on the music.Jay would have his say of course,as did Biggs,but Dame was the one who had to carry out the missions most times.Cause that was his thing!
..Don’t get it twisted,they did have tough times in the beginning.It wasn’t always peaches and cream.I remember getting paid for sessions in singles and fives,maybe a ten or a twenty will show up,but yall get the idea.One time in particular will always stick out. Dame came to me when he was ready to pay with his Dame Dash shit on full tilt,as usual ..”Yo Did-Ex..my nigga..how much we owe?”..me..”$2,500″..him..”Aight hold up”..Now Dame was good for wearing sweats all the time, unless he had to carry money, back then.Depending on the amount it was either cargoes or fatigues, cause all the loot was loose bills.Today it was cargoes.He’s reaching into every possible pocket pulling out money and putting on top the piano in the “A” room vocal booth.Now there’s a pile of money sitting in front of me, he points at me and says..”It’s all there..Peace”..me..”HOLD ON MONEY!”..him,real calm..”Wah?”..me..”You stay here while I count this madness,you always do this shit Dame”..him..”Aight Aight Calm Down..Lemme get Biggs and Jay we gotta sort some shit out with this kid”..me..”Sort away nigga”.
..Few seconds later Jay and Biggs walk in,with some kid,I can’t remember who, but he was lookin a lil disgruntled.Dame..”What’s the problem Nigga?!”..me(to myself)..(yikes!)..dude..”Yo I aint makin no money with all this shit yo,I’m sayin,this shit is crazy right now man ..I dunno..”..Dame..”Yo HOLD ON!”..(me again to self)..(YIKES!)..back to Dame..”NONE OF US ARE MAKIN MONEY RIGHT NOW NIGGA!”..Dame proceeds to lay into this kid with a series of “Shits” “Damns” and “MotherFuckers”,not in any specific order.The kid is now nervous as all out doors and the room is a lil tense..and I lost count of the friggin money..DAMMIT!Dame now thoroughly heated,begins to poll the room..”Jay you makin money yet?”..Jay..”Nope”..Dame..”Biggs you makin money yet?”..Biggs..”At all”..Dame back to dude..”nigga we tryin to make this money nigga but we gotta sacrifice!We the only ones payin up this bitch anyways…why you complainin?!..I don’t see you complainin when everybody up here having a ball and shit,so what’s the problem?!”..Dame then turns to me..”This nigga here is probably the only one makin money!”..my reply..”yea right!”.Few more words are spit in dude’s direction by Dame as Jay and Biggs look on and occasionally chuckle at Dame’s antics.Homie’s train is now derailed and my money count is done..$2,500 is present and placed in the envelope..me..”Dame we good”..him..”I told you nigga..fuck outta here..I ain’t that type”..me..”I gotta do it son,you know!Nigga You Know!”..him..”Yea yea nigga I got you..Fuck outta here though(ha ha!)”..me..”Asshole”..
Written by Dexter Thibou
