Memphis Bleek admits on The Breakfast Club that it was necessary for Jay-Z to separate himself from Roc-A-Fella in order to become the person he is today.
Speaking for himself, Bleek acknowledges he was a “liability” for Jay, who could not jeopardize his business ventures by associating with those tied to the label.
“I knew he had to,” he said at the 28:55 mark. “For Jay to be where he at, he couldn’t be around us everyday. I’m a liability. Me now, being married, being a businessman, of course, things have changed. But the reckless Bleek, you couldn’t be around us.”
“Anything could happen, and then it spills right back to you,” Bleek continued. “So once Jay started to do these billionaire deals, basketball teams, moving teams from here to Brooklyn, you automatically knew the distance was warranted. It’s not that he don’t rock with you, or don’t rock with us.”
Bleek revisited his stance that he knew Jay’s departure was the beginning of the end for Roc-A-Fella. He tried to warn his labelmates, but it was ignored.
“Y’all better hope y’all got a retirement plan,” Bleek recalled in his 2023 appearance on Drink Champs. “Put this shit together. You see him [Jay-Z], he getting out of here. He telling y’all, Black Album, fade to black, it’s over.”
While he argues that people have an image to uphold in the public eye, Bleek claims that if they were honest about the situation, they would say that he did warn them that the end of Roc-A-Fella was near.
