Damon Dash Quotes

Def Jam is the reason why I started a label.

Shady's great; I love Shady Records.

Def Jam is an iconic label.

People don't get signed by Def Jam every day on my block.

I used to be a Def Jam artist. I was - I survived Def Jam.

So So Def has been one of the most successful and consistent labels in the game in the last 10 years.

I don't get involved in record label politics.

Island Records was the first record label to... acknowledge me. After that, quickly, Republic Records, and then Atlantic Records, Sony Records and Warner Bros. It was all the labels at once. It was absolutely insane, like, knowing that this many record labels were interested in me.

There's probably a bunch of Power Stripe floating through the Def Jam offices right now.

Def Jam just made deals with me. They wouldn't let me go because they didn't really have that much street cred. So they kept me around.

I have friends who have a CD mastering plant in Hollywood and they are very sceptical about European record labels' understanding of digital technology.

I always wanted to be a part of a New York-based label, so I've worked really hard to try and network with people that I felt would put me in the right place.

One of the reasons I started Tzadik, which is my own label, is to keep things in print. I got tired of labels dropping things out of print when they don't sell.

I never, ever had it in my mind that I wanted to be in the record industry, because I still contend that the record industry is an insidious affair. It's this terrible collision between art and commerce, and it will always be that way.

There's artists that I'm working with on a new label of mine. Foxy Nova and Supa Nova.

Artist development is something that I've been passionate about from my days at Uptown and Motown Records.

I take pride in being one of the most successful producers in hip-hop history, having the most successful record in hip-hop history, I have the most number ones.

I know there are some labels that put out music for art's sake, but I don't know which ones.

Doing things in my day was simple: you either signed to a big label or you signed to a very small label, and you worked with that one, and then they eventually signed you on to a big one.

I love Interscope, I love Star Trak.

I love producing. I have been producing some acts and starting a label.

I was signed by L.A. Reid on Arista Records when I was 16. He understood me and believed in me. Arista folded and I got put on RCA or whatever, then there were new people there, and every six months it changes and more new people come in.

When I started Milk! Records, it was a pretty non-profit making venture.

It's typical of record companies. They sign you because you're unique, and then they want to put you in a mold so they can sell records.

Gone are the days when Virgin Records was owned by Richard Branson, a fan of music. Now they're all owned by some guy who bought it off some guy who bought it off some guy who wants a return on his investment.