I think we can all agree that Dame is abrasive and his message isn't packaged well, whether it be his wording or his defensive attitude and offensive remarks. And obviously you need capital to start a business and it won't just materialize out of thin air. Grown men get it, no you can't flip your way to a million (legally) unless you're an extremely rare case. And of course, you should save money for a rainy day.
But let's break down what couldn't be articulated and what he was trying to say.
I'm not a financial analyst, but aren't you losing money when the rate of inflation from one year to the next is greater than the interest earned on a savings account? If that money makes money (greater than the % you get from savings) instead, aren't you coming out ahead?
Of course you can't go make a t-shirt from scratch and then flip those until you see millions, but the artists that he was directly speaking to (Envy is a DJ and CTG is a comedian and probably a writer) CAN create their own intellectual property and sell it directly to their audience. Can everyone? That's debatable, but the point is why get a cut when you can at the very least share the pie and leave part of it to your family after you're gone?
Should any man be ashamed of working a 9-5? No. I work one and took no offense from what Dame said. I'm in sales and duck 1099 gigs like the plague because there's no safety net in those. There's no benefits package or paid sick days either. And to be out there solo to sell someone else's product with the drive it takes EVERY DAY is tough when realistically, I know I have an "off" day every once in a while. HOWEVER, I do kill what I eat and I am an artist and have worked professionally as one before so I can take some of what Dame said and apply it to myself.
I don't think anyone in their right mind hears Dame and thinks he has ALL of the answers, but did anyone who helped you in life? He's on to something when he asks why aren't we the main ones profitting from our culture? Why are we being told what to do when the culture depends on our input for success? And no, music sales aren't gonna make millionaires today, but is Hip Hop only music? Isnt it more the style in which something presented? Anybody can rap, dance, DJ or paint, but the way it is done by us and that style that has evolved over time is OUR input and we give it away.
Ryan Leslie and Childish Gambino also touched on similar themes in their interviews and I don't agree with everything they said either, but if you can read between the lines, there is a lot of truth to that theme.
Can a man who wants to be a cop go start his own PD? Nah. It's silly to even think Dame's message applies to situations like that. And there's NOTHING wrong with making an honest living, getting a steady check and being comfortable taking a cut of the collective work of a group. But if you can teach your child to not have to go that route if that child has that spark to be his/her own boss, why not encourage that drive and tell him or her there's nothing wrong with that either?