Before you read this article in it’s entirety, I suggest you open up another tab in your browser and log onto Twitter, and type “Dame Dash” into the search field. Scroll through the long list of tweets and I promise you will witness two things with your own eyes. One, hilarious mimicry of Dash’s quotes from his The Breakfast Club interview. Two, folks attempting to dismiss his comments as nothing more than the inane ramblings of a complete fool.
To be honest, I’m here for the mimicry because that (and live-tweeting) are really the most entertaining aspects of Twitter. Going on in on someone and piling on is what Twitter does best. But, it’s the second part that I take issue with because, well, these folks don’t really know what the hell they are talking about. And dismissing Dame’s logic as the demented rantings and ravings of a broken mind is more symbolic of a truly scary reality: Dame Dash isn’t crazy – we are.
Dave Chappelle speaks the absolute truth in the video above. “Craziness” isn’t some inherited trait which should lead to someone’s ideas and thoughts being dismissed. However, we as a collective society have embraced a sense of madness by becoming either enraged or apathetic at the concepts of self-determination, ownership, dream chasing, and not accepting the standard that we must all work 40 hours a week at a job we hate until the day we die. We’ve accepted the crazy idea that there is a set path in life, and everyone who doesn’t get on that path is a failure. In our modern western society, we’ve even mapped out ages that indicate when you’re supposed to have your degree completed, when you’re supposed to have your first home, and when you’re supposed to be married with kids and a white picket fence. And we mercilessly terrorize anyone who doesn’t fit within these established paradigms and to challenge them is “crazy.”
Dame Dash is a man with many imperfections, gaping character flaws, and self-destructive vices. Simply put, he’s a human being — just like you and I. I’m not here to convince you that Dame Dash is a genius, or that he’s better than anyone else; I’m here to convince you that relegating him as a dude with nothing important to impart on anyone is symbolic of our own craziness.
Let’s get something straight, Dame Dash is NOT a business failure. Your uncle who said he was gonna start a concert-promotion company but decided to just sit in the backyard and play Spades with his friends all day is a business failure. Your coworker who said she would start her own salon, but ended up using the money as a down payment on a new Jeep is a business failure. The millions of people who dream up great, inventive, money-making ideas everyday but don’t do a damn thing to make that idea come true are business failures. And I don’t wanna hear any bullshit excuses about how “they’re just getting their money right” because there are far more procrastinators than there are waiters, which is evident by our economy’s seemingly constant need for new entrepreneurs.
In this debate over whether or not Dame Dash is crazy, I’ve noticed a very stark difference between the people who write off his words, and those who support MOST of what he says. The people who mine his thoughts for chunks of gold are people who have the ability to disseminate information and separate out the bullshit. Dame’s belief in using your own money to invest in yourself was a take-away for me, while calling a grown man “Chatty Patty” was not. Dame’s ideas around creating inter-generational wealth that you can pass on to your children (i.e. hustling for your last name, not your first) is something I’ve noted, while screaming on DJ Envy about what real men don’t do from listening to rumors to sharing hand sanitizer, was left in my mental recycle bin. Dame has more than a wealth of great information to pass on to anyone looking to lead a more fruitful life, while at the same time providing a first-hand look into what can happen when you let your vices and weaknesses get the better of you. Do I like how Dame communicates his thoughts? Not really, but I’m not so weak and delicate that I would overlook existential truisms to debate one’s tone.
Now go back to that open Twitter tab and continue to read some of the tweets people are leveling at Dash and ask yourself, “What exactly has this person achieved that I haven’t?” If the person tweeting is someone slaving away at a mundane, soul-sucking 9 to 5 who has 300,000 tweets about hating Mondays, wishing they had a day off, and imagining what they would do if they ever got “rich,” then that might not be the best person to provide you with advice on how to get yourself up out of the rut you may be in. That person who tells you to write Damon Dash off as a fool, but has never owned a nine-figure (hell, or even five-figure) company, has never pursued their dreams, and has never gambled on themselves, then you might want to reconsider who is truly the sane person in that scenario.
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Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.