Damon Dash has alleged Jay-Z was rapping about his life on the 2000 hit single "Big Pimpin'."
In a conversation with the Moguls In The Making podcast, Dame was asked to confirm rumors that "Big Pimpin'" wasn't about Hov's bachelor lifestyle and instead saw the Brooklyn rap legend rapping about his former business partner's relations with women. The topic came up after one of the show hosts mentioned Future rapping the line, "Big pimpin', rockin' with her like I'm Dame Dash" on the song "Fried (She a Vibe)" off WE DON'T TRUST YOU.
According to Dame, everything Jay said in that song was him trying to imitate the Harlem native. Dame stated he was the actual CEO and the one who was actually living the big pimpin' lifestyle. "Everything Jay said he was pretending to be me, yes," Dash said. "Who's the CEO, who was big pimping? Who was doing all those things? It was me."
Dame first confirmed the rumor during an interview with Math Hoffa last month, during which he stated he was happy that Future mentioned him in his verse. "Future was talking about my past in the present...He said 'Big pimping like Dame Dash,' I didn't make that record. N***as know it was about me."
The lore behind "Big Pimpin'" is one of the most expansive in hip-hop. The song was the fifth and final single on Jay's Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter and was produced by Timbaland while peaking at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bun B and Pimp C are featured in the song, with the latter's reluctance to be on the song being well-documented over the years.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2010, Jay admitted he was disappointed with the song's lyrics and denounced making the song in the first place.
"Some [lyrics] become really profound when you see them in writing," he said. "Not 'Big Pimpin'. That's the exception. It was like, 'I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing?' Reading it is really harsh."
