Kendrick Lamar has found himself at the center of an unexpected offer. It all started when an old tweet from 2010 resurfaced, where Kendrick boldly claimed, “I’m sorry, Reasonable Doubt is better than Illmatic… #youcanunfollowmenow.” That tweet caught the eye of Dame Dash, a co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, who took to Instagram to make Kendrick an intriguing proposition.
Back in June 2010, Kendrick Lamar took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his opinion on two iconic hip-hop albums, declaring JAY-Z’s ‘Reasonable Doubt’ superior to Nas’s ‘Illmatic.’ This tweet recently resurfaced and grabbed the attention of Dame Dash, who posted a screenshot of it on Instagram and wrote, “@kendricklamar my 3rd is for sale if you want to buy it. Any serious offers DM.”
Dash owns a third of Roc-A-Fella Records, which he co-founded with JAY-Z and Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke in 1994. Over the years, Dame has faced financial challenges and was recently blocked from selling his shares in the legendary label.
A judge had initially ordered Dash to sell his stake in the company after he allegedly refused to pay a $823,000 lawsuit settlement to movie producer Josh Weber related to the 2016 film ‘Dear Frank.’ However, JAY-Z and Biggs objected to the sale, arguing that the board of directors must first approve any deal.
Dame later provided his side of the story, explaining, ‘In 2021, I was trying to sell my shares at public auction. Jay and Biggs sued me — or had Roc-A-Fella Inc. sue me — and say I was trying to sell all the shares. I’m the CEO of Roc-A-Fella. What Jay did was pretend to be the CEO of Roc-A-Fella. He hired his lawyers on Roc-A-Fella Inc.’s behalf and sued me. Jay’s lawyers were being paid by me and the money generated from Roc-A-Fella Inc.’
Despite the legal wranglings, it’s alleged that Dash doesn’t have control over the sale of his shares. Prior to offering his stake to Kendrick Lamar, Dash had mentioned the possibility of selling it to former Roc-A-Fella signees Cam’ron and Ma$e. He stated, ‘I’m just celebrating the fact I can freely sell it and that I have the option to sell it to Cam and Ma$e. I’m not saying that I haven’t. I like to pass the torch. I like what they’ve done. They didn’t fold. They from Harlem, we all came up together and it would be fun to see them running Roc-A-Fella.’
As of now, Kendrick Lamar hasn’t publicly responded to Dame Dash’s offer. Whether he’s contemplating making a move in the music business or simply taking his time remains to be seen.
The resurfacing of Kendrick Lamar’s decade-old tweet has led to an unexpected opportunity from Dame Dash. Whether or not Kendrick will take up the offer to own a piece of hip-hop history is yet to be determined, but the story has certainly captured the attention of the music world.
