The ascent of Roc-A-Fella Records became part of a larger, layered journey that has its own rightful place in the history of pop culture. Founded by Jay Z, Kareem Burke, and Damon Dash in 1996, the famed label has a compelling story from where it started to where it’s ended up. Much of that story is still flooded with cobwebs of rumors and has yet to be revealed to the public in detail.
Dame Dash has announced a partnership with Preachers of LA producer Lemmuel Plummer for a project that will tell the story of Roc-A-Fella Records in a television series, Deadline reports.
From Dash:
“The reason why Roc-A-Fella crossed and became so essential to pop culture is that we were probably the most authentic people who were also so sophisticated. My experience doing white people shit is just as heavy as my experiences doing black people shit. Actually, I think I’ve done white people shit better than white people.”
Roc-A-Fella experienced a meteoric rise after the release of Jay-Z’s debut solo album Reasonable Doubt in 1996, and well-documented tensions surfaced over the next decade, leading to Dash’s departure from the label. Those events, including the dynamics of Dash’s relationships with Aaliyah and Rachel Roy, are planned to be shown “in-depth” in the series. Dash commented on the capabilities for what would be an anticipated music soundtrack for the show:
“As much music as I could get, I know what I own, and there’s a lot of different artists that would probably not have a problem with participating,” says Dash. “And hopefully Jay doesn’t either, but as of yet we haven’t crossed that barrier. I’m not worried about that.”
Dash says the show will be a “brutally honest account” of the label’s story. He and Plummer compared the concept of the series to The People Vs OJ Simpson on FX or Vinyl on HBO.
Here’s what Plummer had to say about doing the project:
“It means a lot that Damon trusts us to tell the story – the true story – of how two global music icons got their start and did nothing less than redefine pop culture,” Plummer said. “That story is so unbelievable and yet so true that we know we have an awesome responsibility as storytellers to get things right.”
“It’s not about the music that you hear,” Plummer added. “It’s about the actual [behind-the-scenes] story that’s never been told.” The series won’t be a straight biopic about Dash or any of the label’s principals, however. “Roc-A-Fella as a movement wasn’t revolving around one person, but that’s the way it was made to look,” Dash added.
The project is being co-developed by L. Plummer Media and Damon Dash Studios.
