Dame Dash Explains Why He’s ‘100%’ Taking the Vaccine, How He Manages Diabetes During the Pandemic

Dame Dash was only 15 years old when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, which is the same year he lost his mother to an asthma attack.

He recalled when he began exhibiting the symptoms and thought he contracted HIV. “I started to lose weight. I lost my appetite, I started urinating a lot. I lost a lot of weight, I started feeling terrible,” he recalls in an exclusive interview with theGrio. “I thought I had HIV. This was back when Magic had first announced that he had it. I just got sexually active. I really thought I was going to die for a good month or so.”

The mogul was relieved to find out that it wasn’t HIV, but it was diabetes. “They told me I had diabetes, and that all I had to do was give myself a shot and I could be better. I celebrated and I’ve been celebrating ever since.” 

Dame looked at this moment as a second chance. “God was like, I’m gonna give you a second chance and just make it something you could deal with. I counted (it) more positive in my perspective than negative. Everything that I’ve done great I’ve done while I was diabetic.” 

The Roc-a-Fella co-founder stayed safe throughout the quarantine by keeping up with his diet and medication, but he plans to take the extra step and get vaccinated.

“You know, I don’t trust anything, but I will take that vaccine,” Dame Dash says. “I don’t want to be like, in the hospital saying, I should have took that vaccine. And a lot of people depend on me.”