Damon Dash is in town for 24 hours. He's flown in on a private jet with an entourage that includes personal assistants, publicist, valet, cameramen, laptop geeks and sundry "friends". With this crew he'll work, party a little and then be back in New York in time to take the kids out the following evening. As you might expect from the man who admits he's the walking embodiment of his own multi-faceted, money-printing urban lifestyle brand, Dash doesn't do things on the cheap. Despite meeting in a luxurious suite at London's fashionable Soho Hotel he still insists on having his food prepared by his own chef.
Just like every other day in Damon's existence, today is scheduled around business, and the first item on the agenda appears to be putting the record straight on his doomed collaboration with Victoria Beckham. What he admits now was a strategic alliance to help launch him in the British market only left him feeling we didn't "get" what he was all about. "I don't think that got covered correctly," he argues. "All that was being spoken of at the time was 'Victoria's friend Damon Dash'. How could you not say in the same sentence that this man was CEO and founder of Roc-A-Fella Records which had Jay-Z and Kanye West; who started Rocawear clothing; who was owner of Armadale vodka and America magazine; a man who bought Pro-Keds sneakers and who makes movies; a man who does a lot of things and does them well?" Answer: because most people would run out of breath.
Clearly, Dash is keen for Britain to get him this time, even if it is through the medium of a serious movie about a serious subject - paedophilia. "I figured it was a no-brainer," explains Dash in typical bottom-line business speak. "I also figured it would validate me in the movie business as a person who could appreciate quality, as opposed to someone from the hip-hop community who could only make urban films. I knew that it would break that stereotype perception-wise. And because I knew it was a good movie, more than likely it would end up profitable and gaining acknowledgment. Altogether, it's good for my brand."
It's hard to imagine a project further removed from the hip-hop mainstream than executive-producing The Woodsman, an art-house film that confronts the taboo of paedophilia head-on. "Where I'm from a paedophile is considered to be the scum of the earth and even if he goes to jail he's gonna get his ass kicked. It's heinous, you know what I'm saying? But when I was presented with the script I was curious to see how I could have compassion for a paedophile. I read the script and I did feel compassion, so I felt enlightened to a degree."
Dash is under no illusion as to why he's not made the same impact in the UK that he has in the States, where an empire built on the back of Roc-A-Fella Records, started with Jay-Z and his long-time business partner Kareem "Biggs" Burke just 10 years ago, is now reported to be worth in excess of $500m. "The urban culture here hasn't been as profitable as I think it will one day," he shrugs. "Once it becomes profitable the major corporations and the bigger venues will acknowledge it, and it will get the recognition it deserves and a lot of money will be made from it. In America, hip-hop appeals to the buyer's market, the kids, and the kids want to spend a lot of money."
The 33-year-old thinks about money a lot. He grew up telling his childhood friends in Harlem that he would one day make it big and winning a scholarship to a leading private school meant he got to study wealth at close quarters. "I'm comfortable in very extreme situations," he says. "I can go into the depths of the 'hood with the roughest type of guys and feel 100% comfortable because I lived through it, survived it and felt comfortable with it. I'm also confident I can go into the boardroom with non-urban people and feel 100% comfortable because I have lived the non-urban life at times and I survived it. I can relate and I can also translate."
This ability comes in handy when it comes to dealing with what he describes as "square businesses". "Some people have a serious disconnect with the culture of people they are trying to sell to," explains the self-proclaimed marketing manager for the street. "I don't want to talk about exploitation but business is business and if you want to sell to a certain demographic, you have to understand it. The majority of big corporations don't. They haven't any experience of struggle and they don't know what's cool. They're kinda nerdy actually."
Yet for all the ultra-bling diamond-encrusted watches, über A-list dinner-party guests and membership of the hip-hop aristocracy, there is something strangely nerdy about Damon Dash. Perhaps it's his easy fluency in marketing spiel or the towels and trainers discarded after a single use. Or maybe it's because becoming part of his entourage requires passing out of what he happily describes as "boot camp".
"When I want to employ somebody I try to build them from A-Z," explains Dash. "Before I put you in the field with one of my businesses, I would spend very intensive time with you to put you through the shit work so you appreciate the move up. You got to watch how I work and see what I expect from people. If you pass through boot camp, you can move on and get into my company."
Once there, he says, you're unlikely to leave. "I like to empower people and give them their own businesses so they can go ahead and run them. They can then run those parts of the world that I can't." The recent parting of the ways with Jay-Z has allowed Dash to put these theories into practice. The new Damon Dash Music Group gives individual artists their own labels under one umbrella, while Dash Dibella Promotions, a co-venture with wizened fight promoter Lou Dibella, aims to "empower" its stable of boxers.
He calls his personal assistant Sophia into the room. It's her birthday. "She is actually two years old," smiles Dash, "because I have been personally raising her for the last two years. She came and got into boot camp and I had her doing all kinda stuff. Crying was involved but she passed so I put her in the field. She's 23 years old. Imagine what she's going to be like when she's 30 after seven years of being around me and learning from me in an intensive way?"
By coincidence it is my birthday too and as well as a rudimentary lesson in the practice of "gangster business" ("you live by the same rules of the street - honesty, integrity, no cheating"), I am given a Roc bag containing a bottle of Armadale vodka, a copy of America magazine and some expensively produced Roc promotional material. I am also given good reason to reconsider my views about the need for having a paid member of staff on hand to film your every move. It transpires that as well as wanting to be number one in his many and varied fields, from vodka to electronics, and making lots of money in the process of achieving global domination, Dash has plans for television.
"It will be like hip-hop VH1," he says, "and it's going to be on here in March. I have so much content because I have a camera crew with me at all times. I have the whole Victoria Beckham thing - the whole, entire thing - recorded on tape. From me arguing with the record company, to her being in my environment and me in hers, and David is in there. It's going to be shown if she approves it."
Whether it's through his music, fashion labels or thought-provoking films, or the fast-track formula of reality TV, featuring a cast of stellar names, you suspect that Dash will not be satisfied until Britain finally gets it - or him. "What should be talked about," he insists, "is my independent spirit as an entrepreneur. In London they appreciate people who walk it like they talk it. They appreciate quality and despite what I'm perceived to be, if I do something well out here it will be acknowledged. I like that."
· The Woodsman is out on Friday
