With the cancellation of Kanye West’s performance at the upcoming Grammy Awards, and a petition to have him removed from the Coachella 2022 lineup, a number of celebrities close to the rapper have weighed in on the backlashing he’s currently enduring.
Damon Dash, West’s friend and former CEO at Roc-A-Fella Records, gave his take on the Grammys’ decision, noting that the Album of the Year nominee probably isn’t as concerned with his exclusion as others might think.
“Kanye don’t give a fu*k about the Grammys,” Dash bluntly told TMZ during a run-in at LAX on Tuesday (March 22). “We make our own Grammys.” The brash mogul also voiced his opinion that Black entertainers and artists should create their own cultural institutions, adding, “I’m not trying to fit into somebody else’s system. So we just create our own so we ain’t gotta worry about nobody else’s rules. It’s not for them to judge who’s hot. It’s for us. They really shouldn’t be giving us the awards. We should be giving them the awards. They gotta respect our culture.”
Driving home his point even further, Dash recalls an instance in which he himself balked at attending the Grammy Awards, citing the Recording Academy’s perceived lack of respect and recognition for Hip-Hop artists and other Black entertainers throughout its history. “When we got nominated, I didn’t even go,” recalled Dash in reference to the 1999 ceremony he, Jay-Z, and others decided to skip out on. “I don’t give a fu*k about the Grammys. I’m not trying to fit in.”
Watch Dame Dash’s interview below.