I grew up in a lot of different places. I always saw the bigger picture. I was around rich kids with country houses and private jets. No disrespect to those people, but I never thought they were super geniuses. I couldn't see how I wasn't going to have those things, too.
— Damon Dash
A 'Roc-A-Fella purist' is me.
I love music, but the people in the music don't wanna work.
I'm knee-deep into fashion; I'm knee-deep into movies.
I'm proud of Jay Z's success and Kanye's success. Inside, I feel like I had something to do with their success... I don't have anything but positive things to say.
I don't complain about other people's game - I just create my own.
How can another man call another man boss? That's like calling another man 'Daddy.'
You do something when you're 20, and you're still paying for it when you're 40.
My favorite record was the one I produced with Clark Kent.
It's very rare that a person, especially in his twenties and thirties, can do more than one business and do it well.
Everything that scared me is losing people I love, and everyone that I really love, as it relates to females, I've lost. So what it's made me be is the animal that I am because I don't want to sit down and think about the things that are hurting me, but, you know.
If I have an accountant that just reports I just invested $10 million in my business, and he doesn't exactly itemize where every cost goes, it gives a flag to the government. They want to make sure that the reason I'm not paying taxes is because I'm reinvesting in these businesses and not trying to hide stuff.
I think that the better sign of an OG is when he's happy that the person that he raised got bigger than him and in a position where they could help.
I had to architect my life where I could raise my children.
I don't see the reason for sugar coating anything.
The worst disrespect of all time is to disrespect someone's children.
I try to get to the gym at least three to four times a week.
I become friendly with people I work with.
Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella were two equal entities under the Def Island umbrellas.
I don't wanna be yelling all my life. How loud did I have to yell to say that Jay-Z was the man and the best rapper of all time?
Big shout out to Nas: if you want to scream my name out again and put my name in your rhyme, I think it's funny. Let's make some money from it. Just don't take it so serious, man.
A diabetic always wants to help another diabetic.
We not from Hollywood, so I'm not playing Hollywood's game.
A real man won't ask or answer questions about another man's money.
It's incomprehensible for me to hear another dude talk about another's dude's pockets and have that matter and argue about that.
When my children look and ask about what I do, they know I'm the boss.
I don't like to be considered a 'hip-hop mogul.' I don't know what that means.
I lost my girl a couple years back, Aaliyah, in a plane crash. I wasn't expecting that, and also, my mother died, and at the time, my father wasn't in my life; the only person that took care of me was my mom.
When you're a business man, you have a lot of businesses, a lot of times they think you're laundering money or you're pretending you're writing things off that you don't.
Freedom is priceless.
I'm a businessman who puts up his own money, so I don't have time to hear about emotion. I gotta get right to the point. I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm going to address the elephant in the room, and we'll all move forward.
Look at my life. I ain't got nothing to be mad about.
I believe in therapy, and I believe an objective opinion sometimes helps you be a better person.
Part of keeping work and life in balance is surrounding yourself with people that have similar aspirations.
I think one of the most important things in evolving is forgiveness.
I never had to ask Def Jam for anything.
If I can't do things to the fullest, I don't want to do it.
In urban culture, Larry Davis is something of a legend.
Every little thing I've done as an adult and as a young adult, I've done diabetic.
I'm not a complainer.
If somebody asks you the same questions 25 times, maybe 2,500 times, do you still want to talk about the same thing?
First of all, how could I be broke, and I got all these companies?
Work harder than everyone, be patient, and just know that if you're going to do something on your own, you're gonna have to feel some pain.
I never really considered myself super hip-hop, ever in life. I don't think anything that I've done reflects that.
The reason why Roc-A-Fella crossed and became so essential to pop culture is that we were probably the most authentic people that were also so sophisticated.
I'm a true businessman.
Being independent is everything. That's all I know.
If you're not talking about the truth, I don't even want you around me.
I don't believe in bullying in any form, but especially not on my children.
I work to go on vacation. Hopefully, the more money I make, my vacations will get a little longer to the point where they last a year.
