Since co-founding Roc-A-Fella with Jay-Z in 1996, Harlem-born orphan Damon Dash has been lurking around the fringes of Hova's career. While it's not always immediately clear what he actually does - he tends to go under the guise of 'executive producer', a nebulous title commonly bestowed upon a wide variety of rap hangers-on - he has aggressively promoted himself into the limelight.
In one sense, Dash is simply taking his place in a long line of hucksters and Svengalis (Russell Simmons, Suge Knight, Puffy)who have become as famous as the charges whose careers they oversaw.
However, this is a two-edged sword: when one party is clearly the creative talent of the operation, the perception is that the businessman is doing little more than riding their coat-tails. For example, Puffy's decidedly mediocre talents were placed in an even less forgiving light while the supremely talented Biggie Smalls was alive.
It was only with Biggie's death in 1996 that Puffy managed to gain some kudos independently (by contrast, Suge Knight avoided this problem by building Death Row Records' image around the charmless, overrated rapist Tupac Shakur).
A further problem for Dash is that his golden goose - Jay-Z - does not fit the stereotype of a talented but reticent star who needs a Svengali in the way that Biggie did. Rather, Jay-Z comes across as not only a preternaturally gifted rapper, but also a razor-sharp business brain (the career path he has steered between almost unbearably jiggy chart pop, credible club hits and dark street rhymes has been exemplary).
Indeed much recent industry gossip suggests Jay-Z is tiring of Dash's flashy, hustling antics and questionable business decisions. An 'industry source' recently told the New York Daily News that "Damon wants to be a baby Puffy. He's spending aimlessly on the company. He signed ODB against Jay-Z's consent [ODB recently came out of jail and while much loved by fans, has well-documented drug and psychiatric problems]. This has been brewing for years. Jay is reserved and cool, Damon is flashy. He's had liposuction twice."
And while Dash stressed to The Source that "We are a team and there is no beef between me and Jay," their current divergent paths - Hova releasing the rapturously received Black Album, Dash palling up with the odious Victoria Beckham - suggests their differences may be irreconcilable.
Despite his claims to "have money for an urban kid but I don't have real money for a real individual", Dash has helped push Roc-A-Fella into a £200m concern. His speculative attempts to branch into films have been patchy, and the main risk for him is that, even with Jay-Z at his side, no one's entirely sure how much he has actually done for the company.
The risk is that if and when Jigga goes solo, Dash might look decidedly redundant. His recent spat with irrelevant pop label Telstar over Beckham - boasting "I'm going to open Roc-a-Fella Records in London. Now you're going to see a labels war. These guys are going to get their careers ended" - suggests a man somewhat adrift.
It's hard to imagine Master P, or Russell Simmons or Timbaland getting so animated over such a trifling concern. The man really should have bigger fish to fry.
