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In the first episode of the Rare Knomads podcast, Black Ink Crew founder Ceaser Emanuel joined entertainment personalities, Jim’s World and Rap Is A Martial Art for a conversation on women, relationships, and their growth as Black men trying to make a name for themselves.
During the conversation, Ceaser mentioned that losing his former fiancée, Dutchess Lattimore was the “most defining loss” of his life.
Only referring to Dutchess as “my fiancée,” Ceaser explained that losing her wasn’t necessarily a pivotal moment in his life because the couple broke up, but because he no longer had anyone he could talk to about the details of his business.
“My most defining loss of my life…d–n,” he began. “You know the funny thing is, I never really thought about that sh-t until you really said that sh-t but my most defining loss of my life I have to say was is when I lost my fianceé. Because you know…it’s not the fact that, you know what I mean, me and her split and all that sh-t. It was the fact that, knowing when you had somebody who like…Jim knows, we from the hood. There’s a lot of things we didn’t grow up knowing like logistics of business and sh-t like that.”
“So when she left, I had to start second-guessing everything you feel me? Because I didn’t know business,” he added. “I had two shops at the time, and I’m just still trying to figure it out. But that loss made me who I am right now because I was forced to figure it out. I didn’t have to rely on someone like, ‘Yo, could you do this for me? Could you do this for me so I could succeed?'”
Continuing to discuss how Dutchess leaving affected him as a man, Ceaser mentioned that their split actually gave him the drive to grow his business and take it to the next level.
“Now it’s like God put me in a position that basically, ‘N—a, don’t ever rely on nobody. You got this sh*t,'” he said. “And at that point is when I started expanding. As soon as she left, three months later I opened up Black Ink Atlanta. And then from then, I haven’t stopped opening up shops. That’s why it bummed me out you asked me that question because I really never ever thought about that sh-t until right now because that loss in itself helped propel me to the man I am right now.”
Dutchess shared a bit of her own perspective not too long ago about dealing with Ceasar, Black Ink and the show. Even though she’s mostly stayed out of the limelight since leaving the series back in 2018, in an interview she did on the Talk of the Town Unfiltered podcast late last year, she shared details on just how toxic her experience on Black Ink Crew really was.
“When I left the show, I went through therapy,” she said. “It was necessary. I tried to kill myself seven times. I went through so much bullsh-t. I lost my grandma while I was on the show. I felt so f–ked up because I literally hadn’t gone home in damn near a year. These muthaf–kas was telling me I couldn’t go to my own grandma funeral ’cause I had to film, y’all.”
Speaking on Ceaser’s involvement in the incident, Dutchess said the producers of the show gave him an ultimatum.
“They didn’t even let Cease go with me to the funeral,” she said. “That ni—a was like, ‘they telling me if I go, I’m a have to forfeit a check.’ I’m like, ‘y’all can keep that f–king check. I’m going to see my grandma.'”
If you watched the early seasons of Black Ink Crew, you definitely remember the ups and downs Ceaser and Dutchess went through. Even though they got engaged back in 2015, the couple decided to call it quits due to cheating rumors swirling their relationship in 2016.
To hear Ceaser say that he was more disappointed in losing his business confidant rather than his potential life partner is disappointing but unfortunately not surprising. Since Dutchess was able to open up her own tattoo shop called Pretty N Ink in North Carolina and has had a lot of success with it since leaving the show, hopefully, the two can continue growing in separate ways with their separate businesses.
