Dame Dash’s OG Stories Brings Harlem’s Untold Legends to BET

Dame Dash says OG Stories isn’t about celebrity, it’s about preserving the real architects of Hip-Hop culture.

Dame Dash has returned to television with a new mission. Instead of revisiting old Roc-A-Fella lore, the entrepreneur is using BET‘s new docuseries, OG Stories, to spotlight people he believes helped shape the culture from behind the scenes.

The five-episode series premiered June 17 as the first chapter of Dash’s broader My Paid in Full franchise. Hosted and directed by Dash, OG Stories features long-form conversations with figures whose stories often exist outside the spotlight, beginning with Harlem businesswoman and community leader Michelle Smalls. 

During an interview with AllHipHop’s Quierra Luck, Dash said authenticity, not celebrity, is what separates the project from traditional documentaries.

“These are actually my friends. These are people that sleep in my house, people that argue with me. These aren’t people that I don’t know.”

Dash explained that OG Stories grew out of years of conversations with Smalls, whom he encouraged to document her remarkable life.

“I was like, ‘You got to write a book. We’re going to do a TV show.’ She took me serious. She wrote the book.”

Rather than treating BET as the owner of the project, Dash emphasized that the network is serving as a distribution partner.

“We’re using BET as a platform… We own it. This is licensing,” he said from BET’s New York City offices.

That philosophy mirrors a theme Dash has preached for decades: ownership.

During the interview, he said his business strategy has evolved beyond music and film into real estate, describing entertainment as merely the tenant.

“My new business model is make the music and the entertainment the tenant, but I got to be the landlord where all that is going on.”

According to BET’, OG Stories follows self-made entrepreneurs and figures through candid, raw conversations about survival, business, legacy and more. Future episodes feature celebrity attorney Dawn Florio and Dash’s longtime friend and collaborator Steve Mack. 

For Smalls, whose episode anchors the series, the message extends beyond Harlem.

“No matter what you go through, you could definitely get through it. Don’t let nobody judge you on your mishaps or the things that you did wrong.”

Dash believes those intimate stories are overlooked in favor of sensational headlines.

“We’re showcasing the great, godly part of this woman and my friends—not the devil perspective,” he said.

Throughout the conversation, unpredictable at times, Smalls balanced Dash’s larger-than-life personality with reflections on family, faith and community service.

She credited her grandmother with teaching her the importance of giving back, recalling how neighbors always found food and support at her family’s home despite limited means.

The series arrives as BET looks to expand its slate of original unscripted programming with creator-driven projects rooted in Black culture.

OG Stories airs Wednesdays at 11 p.m. on BET and spotlights influential figures whose life experiences helped shape their communities, careers and culture. Dame Dash says the series is intended to serve as a launching pad for larger projects centered around the lives and legacies of the featured subjects. 

Related