by iSpit
Photo By Alexander Richter
After I read Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse’s reflection piece on working for Dame Dash, I immediately became interested in the stories this O.G in the game had to share. Working with Dame for several days on the Complex cover story I did with Jim Jones last year, I got to witness the dice-throwing Dash personality first-hand and it’s an experience that I’ll never forget. But this isn’t about me.
I wanted to learn more about the Dame of the past, and after I hit up CJ for an interview, I got all that and a whole lot more [II]. Combat has had a long tenure within the rap industry, first cutting his teeth in the legal department of Def Jam, and then going to work for Hip Hop legends like Chuck D, Flavor Flav, LL Cool J all while rubbing elbows with Russell Simmons and a young Lyor Cohen. Nowadays, Combat is taking the blogosphere by storm (yeah, he can write too, pick-up his book “Bling: The Hip Hop Jewelry Book”), both with his flagship site Daily Math and as a regular blogger on XXL. In this interview, Combat and I talk about the behind the scenes story of what it was like shopping a deal for Jay-Z, the gift and the curse that is working with Dame Dash, and Combat’s beef with hot 97 personality Peter Rosenberg.
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