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Step Aside, Pharrell: Damon Dash Is Hip-Hop's Newest Beatmaker

Roc-A-Fella CEO has made tracks for Jay-Z, M.O.P., Posh Spice.

NEW YORK -- You might have witnessed his unabashedly self-gratuitous showing last week during the VMA pre-show: Dame Dash holding up bottles of his Armadale vodka on the red carpet.

It seems the Roc-A-Fella Records CEO isn't bashful about pushing any of his products -- liquor, the artists on his label, his clothing line or his relentless pursuit to get "all the money."

And now Dash is planning to bring one of his rarely used hustles to the forefront -- he's going to try his hand at record production.

"Me and Clark Kent produced 'Brooklyn's Finest' with Biggie Smalls on [Jay-Z's] Reasonable Doubt," he said last week at Radio City Music Hall. "I bring the producer the idea and they arrange it so I get co-production [credit]. I did [Jay-Z's] 'It's All Right' [and] 'Champions' with Kanye West. Every record I did was a hit, I just keep [on the] low with it."

Dash isn't being shy about his production anymore. Not only is he executive producing the new album by Victoria Beckham (better known as Posh Spice), but he also masterminded a few beats on her project as well.

"I said, 'You know what? It's time I get my creative grind going on and get into unchartered territories,' " he continued. "When you want to make a billion dollars, you gotta find a billion things to do and a billion ways to make money. That's what we're doing. As long as the music is good, we're gonna keep going.

"I'm on my international grind," Dame continued. "On my quest for greatness and [in trying to] take over the world, I affiliate myself with the best from every country. So I got with the Beckhams, David and Victoria. I decided to do her album, so I did about 13 records (see [article id="1472234"]"Posh Spice Records Tracks With Cam'ron, M.O.P; Ol' Dirty's Next"[/article]). I personally produced about three or four. She paid homage to hip-hop; she worked hard. The first record I premiered was with M.O.P. Who else could bring [together] Posh Spice and M.O.P.? We gonna do it real big. We gonna take over pop, rock and everything."

Victoria's collaboration with the Brownsville, Brooklyn, firing squad is called "It's That Simple" and it takes from M.O.P.'s underground song of the same title. On it, Victoria tells a man, "You're not the only one knocking down my door, it's that simple/ I know that we had this conversation before, it's that simple/ Baby, if you want me, let me know/ It's that simple."

The duo of Lil' Fame and Billy Danze bring their signature loud malevolence, warning that they will get as gangsta as they have to be.

In addition to his continued foray into musicmaking, Dash will continue producing and directing films. He's hoping to ink deals with Don Cheadle and Kurt Russell to star with Annette Bening in a flick called "Deepers." He also just funded another movie, "The Woodsman," starring Eve, Mos Def (see [article id="1477107"]"Mos Def's New Album Not Due Anytime Soon"[/article]), Kevin Bacon and Benjamin Bratt.

"It's about a pedophile. ... It's not a very urban subject, but [the movie] is colorless and the check was cut by an urban individual," Dame explained of "The Woodsman," which was shot in Philadelphia. "I'm doing urban flicks, suburban flicks, horrors. I want all the money."

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