Dame Dash Says R. Kelly 'Belongs' In Prison: 'I Know What He Did [To Aaliyah]'

Dame Dash has no doubts about the allegations against R. Kelly about grooming an underaged Aaliyah during her brief life.

On Wednesday (July 19), the 52-year-old entrepreneur made an appearance on the That’s F***ed Up Podcast. Over the course of their conversation, he was asked about Kelly’s relationship with Aaliyah and whether or not he should be in prison.

“I think he’s where he belongs,” Dame said without hesitation. “I know Aaliyah, so I know what he did.”

Because he dated the late singer, he also added: “I can’t be objective about that, you know what I’m saying? But he definitely seemed like he needed some help.”

About getting involved in his ex’s ordeal with Kelly, Dame said Aaliyah asked him to “leave it alone.” However, he was deeply upset that JAY-Z — who he founded Roc-A-Fella Records with — released collaborative projects with the disgraced R&B singer, regardless of what he knew.

“I couldn’t believe he did a project with R. Kelly knowing that he had raped my girl,” he said about one of the reasons he had a falling out with Hov.

He continued: “I was like, ‘Just don’t put my name on that, I don’t want no money from that. If it is, put it to Aaliyah foundation’ … like they did this shit twice.”

R. Kelly is often credited for jumpstarting Aaliyah’s career, but their relationship was shrouded in controversy. Kelly and Aaliyah were rumored to have gotten married when she was just 15 years old, and allegedly had documents drawn up to falsely show Aaliyah was 18.

Kelly’s former personal assistant Demetrius Smith, who claimed he was at the wedding, admits he helped obtain those documents. He also believes Aaliyah was pregnant at the time.

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Ultimately, the marriage was annulled. While Aaliyah’s career continued to soar, her life was tragically cut short in 2001 when she was killed in a plane crash at just 22 years old.

Kelly is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for child sex crimes and other offenses including racketeering and sex trafficking.