Record exec Damon Dash, the boyfriend of late singer Aaliyah at the time of her death, is weighing in on the controversial Lifetime documentary, ‘Surviving R. Kelly,’ which is comprised of a collection of testimonies from alleged witnesses and victims of sexual assault at the hands of the ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ singer.
In an interview with “The Hip Hop Motivator” of Hip Hop Motivation, published Saturday (Jan. 5), Dash not only shared how disturbed he was by the documentary’s content, but also reflects on conversations he had with the young songstress about her traumatic relationship with Kelly.
“I watched some of [#SurvivingRKelly] yesterday, as much as I could tolerate and I’m not gon’ lie, as a human, I was tight. I was tight about a couple things…”
Hear what he said inside on this topic and more:
Start at the 10 min mark:
On Aaliyah & R. Kelly’s relationship:
“There was a girl when she was even trying to talk about it and she couldn’t, and I remember Aaliyah trying to talk about it and she couldn’t,” Dash said. “She would just leave it at ‘That dude was a bad man.’ I didn’t really want to know what he did, to the extent that I would, you know, deal with it. Because that’s what a man does. But it was so much hurt for her to revisit it. I wouldn’t want to revisit it without a professional. Whatever got done was terrible.”
On How Jay Z’s decision to work with Kelly impacted Dash:
“I never wanted no parts of that.” “I knew morally we weren’t the same. The moral fabric was compromised.”
*****
As explained in the video above, Dash suggests the dissolution of his highly publicized professional relationship with Jay Z was due in part to the latter’s decision to work on the 2002 ‘Best of Both Worlds’ album with R. Kelly. Dash asserts the act not only caused him to have his name removed from the album credits (despite having contributed work), but also led to the demise of Roc-A-Fella Records.
Fans familiar with the time period are calling Dash out on the assertion, however, as he is prominently featured in Jay & Kellz’ ‘Fiesta’ music video. And, while ‘Fiesta’s 2000-release preceded the release of ‘Best of Both Worlds’ by over a year, it did not predate Dame’s relationship with Aaliyah.