Dame Dash was at Joe's Pub last night filming an episode of his Ultimate Hustler reality show for BET - kinna like The Apprentice except when it's time to be “fired” Dame just snatches your chain. In true Dash-ian fashion, not a single opportunity for cross promotion went unexploited throughout the evening (massive bottles of Army and patent leather Pro Keds everywhere, natch) as all the ex-Roc stars still left on the Dame Dash Music Group label performed: Rell, Grafh, and the Em Dot Oh Dot P. Put 'em in the air!
Wait, did we just say M.O.P.? Yep. No word yet whether the duo are G-Unit or G-U-Not, but after Brownsville's finest performed their newly leaked street single with 50 Cent on the hook (“Big Boy Game”) while clad head to toe in Gorilla Unit gear, it didn't look too good for ol' Dame releasing an M.O.P. record any time soon - printing up posters and wrapping a Chevy Suburban in promo art don't guarantee shit. But before we could ask anybody to see what's up, Billy Danze chucked his mic across the room and the group stormed offstage, pouring water on the turntables and generally being surly. Reality TV, kids!
While we only got two or three songs out of M.O.P., it was cool to see Sizzla (who Dame promises to “do big things for”) in the crowd, and Swizz Beats, who got on stage to do a track with Grafh - whose hypeman had a starring role in FADER Films' On The Outs!
(On the subject of Grafh, our favorite major label rapper with an online diary on hiphopgame.com, it's important to mention that he started his set with a white dude onstage holding a homemade “Welcome To Da Hood” sign - blatantly sharpied on the back of one of the zillion promotional Rell posters taped throughout the bar - and then came out chugging Quarter Waters.)