Damon Dash is giving details on the auction of his stake in Roc-A-Fella Records. No one showed up for the auction, and the state of New York ended up making the bid for $1,000,000. But there was a potential buyer: Drake.
Drake has been buying up hip-hop history for a while and has focused on the third of the Roc. Dash stated that at one point, Drake bid for $6 million. “Drake put in a bid for $6 million, but then he disappeared.”
You can hear it from Dash below.
“Drake put in a bid for $6 million, but then he disappeared.”
Dame Dash reveals nobody showed up to the auction to buy his one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella Records, which includes rights to Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, and says Jay-Z portrays himself to be bigger than what he really… pic.twitter.com/PiHd8dMfh6
Dame Dash has been trying for a while to sell his one-third share of Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, and it seems like he’s finally on the other side of that hurdle. Moreover, according to the New York Post, the state government of New York purchased it for $1 million at a federal auction in Manhattan on Thursday (November 14). This is so the state can mitigate the record executive’s back taxes debt of $8.7 million, and an anonymous Albany representative emerged with the winning bid with hopes to flip it into a cash heavy solution to these monetary problems. However, it’s unclear how or when the state of New York will flip this purchase through a sale.
For those unaware, the government of New York City previously criticized Jay-Z for how he handled these Dame Dash shares and their sale. “Jay-Z has issued widely publicized statements warning potential bidders that copyright ownership will revert back to him in 2031,” NYC attorney Gerald E. Singleton wrote in a letter. “Those statements are false and extremely damaging to the City’s interests in ensuring that the auction will generate sufficient funds to satisfy all existing child support arrearages and secure future child support payments. […] The auction should be conducted in a manner that will bring the highest price for the benefit of affected judgment creditors.”
As for Dame Dash’s situation, he also wanted to sell his Roc-A-Fella shares to pay off a judgement against him stemming from a lawsuit involving film producer Josh Webber. Maybe this will start to close this chapter, but he still has a lot of other narratives to handle. For example, Dame is currently in a back-and-forth Internet beef with 50 Cent, and we all know how ruthless and relentless he can be with his trolling.
Nevertheless, it seems like this battle concerning Dame Dash’s one-third share in Roc-A-Fella just got its first big resolution, with a final flip still on the way. It was a long road, but perhaps one that will end in a relatively solid place for everyone involved. Of course, this could all become moot within a few days, weeks, months, or years, as many legal battles have long consequences.
Dame Dash and 50 Cent are still at odds, and two rap moguls bickering over Internet antics and back-and-forth trolls is jsut as overblown as you would expect. As for the most recent development, the former recently sat down for an interview on his America Nu Network on Monday (November 4), speaking on a clip of 50 and Cam’ron meeting at Steve Stoute’s SelectCon shindig in New York last month. Specifically, the Roc-A-Fella executive questioned how the G-Unit mogul seemingly tapped Killa Cam’s behind, or at least the hip area. Why is this so relevant? Well, we don’t know for sure, but here’s Dame’s explanation.
“Yo, why you smacking Cam on his a** like that?” Dame Dash asked about 50 Cent. “Pause! Like what? In this environment, in a tight-a** suit? […] What do you do when a strong-a** n***a with a tight suit smacks you on the a**? You got to say stop. No pat-pat. We not in the pat-pat club. […] Harlem n***as don’t do the pat-pat club. When you see n***as from Harlem just give them a pound. Once you get to a certain level, don’t mean you start patting n***as on they hips. Especially not Cam’ron. No pat-pat club.” Check out the full interview by clicking here or see an excerpt down below.
Of course, 50 Cent already seems to have clapped back at Dame Dash speaking on his behavior, and for other reasons. This week, he trolled Dame for how his grills fell out while calling him out for his shade online, using this to mount onto new criticism. “So let me get this straight,” the Queens MC captioned his Instagram post responding to how Dash wanted people to talk about his dental mishap. “@Dame dash you was praying your teeth fell out, so people would talk about it. yeah you broke for real, this is a new low ! keep my name out your mouth, and your teeth in ok ? LOL.”
It’s funny that said dental mishap was such a big deal for Dame Dash, even if 50 Cent took full advantage of the optics. We’ll see what else these two clash over…
Dame Dash is taking care of a lot of family matters these days. For example, he recently revealed why he waited longer than others would’ve to evacuate Florida with his family due to the passage of Hurricane Milton. Now, the Roc-A-Fella executive divided fans with his hot take about parenting. Basically, he doesn’t want his son to be more influenced by his mother’s “feminine” sensibilities, although his overall point isn’t as hot-button as this specific statement.
“How can I let him hang out with somebody but his dad?” Dame Dash said on Instagram Live with his son alongside him. “Don’t let another man be his influence. Or even let, you know, his mother be the one that is his strongest influence and have him doing feminine stuff. You know what I mean? We a man right here, right? Give me five. We know how to take – don’t leave me hanging, give me five. Alright, then. We know our job, you know what I mean? You know, I have to lead by example in front of him.” Check out reactions to Dame’s take in the comments section of the Instagram post below.
“It’s important because I’m the source of, like, inspiration, or at least, you know, his definition of what a man is and what he sees,” Dame Dash continued. “So I got to make sure he sees the right stuff, and that he gets the nice swag. I don’t tell him to wear a bucket. He makes me wear a bucket hat, right? And you like your Hot Wheels and all that, your cars? You like the country club life? He picked all that, not us. He swims he does all that. So I’m having a ball, I’m not going to hold you. And I want to lead by example. I want to show y’all.”
Elsewhere, Dame Dash is also dealing with issues with his former chosen family. If you haven’t heard by now, his auction of his Reasonable Doubt shares from Roc-A-Fella as a result of a court-ordered judgement collection is still in limbo. This is due to a legal dispute involving the state of New York and Jay-Z and his team, and there’s no telling where it will end up. Let us know what you think about this parenting take in the comments section down below.
The Diddy scandal has caused a lot of celebrity conspiracy theories to re-emerge, including some harrowing rumors about Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and Aaliyah. Moreover, Dame Dash recently explained why he didn’t want to be involved in Jay and Kelly’s 2002 collab album, Best Of Both Worlds, due to the latter’s alleged sexual assault of Aaliyah. As Dame alleges below, Hov allegedly moved forward with this decision despite some conversations within the Roc that warned against it. Furthermore, it seems like they were all able to settle their disagreements by working out how they would handle the money from the project.
“When it came down to R. Kelly, there was a conversation had about the morals,” Dame Dash remarked. “Like, it’s morally wrong to do a project with someone that we know r**ed my girl or r**ed anybody, for that matter. So I do know that that conversation was had, and I was really surprised that he moved forward with that relationship. I don’t know Epstein, so I never had the chance to walk away from him.
“But I do know that when that project did come out, I didn’t want any part of that project,” Dame Dash continued about Jay-Z. “I didn’t want any of the money to go to Roc-A-Fella or me. When it came to Roc-A-Fella, it was around the time that Jay was trying to kind of separate himself from us. And he was saying that he didn’t want to be a part anymore. We resolved that issue with – look. Because he wanted me to dilute, and he wanted Biggs to dilute. And I wasn’t diluting, because I know what I mean and what I do for business, and Biggs was ready to dilute.
“But our OG, Deuce from St. Croix, kind of stepped in and was like, ‘That’s not right,’” Dame Dash concluded. “And that’s how we resolved it. The way we resolved it was, ‘Yo, you keep all the money from that project. I don’t want no parts of it,’ being Best Of Both Worlds. So again, I mean, that is true. But… you know, I just think that… I guess I think homie has to answer some questions right now.”
The New York City Department of Social Services (NYCDSS) has called out Jay-Z in a federal court filing, accusing him of making “false” claims that have “poisoned” the upcoming auction of Damon Dash’s one-third share of Roc-A-Fella Records, which Dash planned to pay his substantial debts, including unpaid child support to two women.
In 1994, Roc-A-Fella Records was founded by Jay-Z, Damon Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke. With an $823,000 judgment against him in federal court and $ 145,096 in unpaid child support, and an unpaid New York state tax bill of $8.7 million, Dash recently announced that he would auction off his one-third share in Roc-A-Fella. Although the auction is being held as part of the federal court proceeding, NYCDSS has priority to recover the unpaid child support amounts. Roc-A-Fella’s primary asset is Jay-Z’s album “Reasonable Doubt,” other entities now own the rest of the music initially released by Roc-A-Fella and not part of this dispute.
Jay-Z and Burke previously sought to derail the auction by intervening in the federal lawsuit and attempting to block the auction by arguing that changes to Roc-A-Fella Inc.’s bylaws required their approval of any sale. The court rejected their arguments, ruling that the changes to the bylaws were unenforceable because they had been made without Dash’s input and suggesting that Jay-Z and Burke participate in the auction and place their own bid.
Thereafter, Jay-Z made public statements claiming that he personally has a “termination right” under copyright law to take back ownership of the copyright in the album in seven years, so any purchaser’s rights would be strictly limited to that period.
On September 20, counsel for NYCDSS filed a motion in the federal court proceeding, writing that:
Jay-Z’s statements to the press have poisoned the environment for the auction. He has claimed that he has a termination right under the Copyright Act and that the rights to Reasonable Doubt will revert to him in six years. In fact, he has no such termination right and [Roc-A-Fella] is entitled to the renewal term, which is now 67 years, meaning it will own the copyright rights until the year 2098. In other words, the highest possible auction price could be more than ten times higher than is likely now, given Jay-Z’s and [Roc-A-Fella’s] actions.
The motion further characterized Jay-Z’s statements as “false and extremely damaging to the City’s interests in ensuring that the auction will generate sufficient funds to satisfy all existing child support arrearages and secure future child support payments.” NYCDSS attached to its motion a copy of Jay-Z’s 1995 recording agreement, pointing to language that it claims to expressly contradict his claim of a “termination right” under copyright law.
NYCDSS’s motion seeks a court order staying the auction until the Court issues a ruling on whether Jay-Z possesses any termination right and ordering Roc-A-Fella to provide royalty records for the “Reasonable Doubt” album and to produce a witness for a deposition. The City of New York appears to have had enough of Jay-Z’s campaign to devalue Dash’s share of Roc-A-Fella before the auction, at the expense of all those to whom Dash owes money, including the mothers of his children, the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, and the beneficiaries of Dash’s many millions owed in tax revenues.
Like many other of his hip-hop relationships, Drake shares a pretty rocky history with Jay-Z. They’ve sent supposed subliminals at each other, collaborated, and gone back and forth on this dynamic at least twice now. Moreover, many folks think that Kendrick Lamar performing at the Super Bowl halftime show over Lil Wayne is Hov’s way of slighting Young Money (and by extension, the 6ix God) through his NFL partnership. Some folks think that Jay offered it to Drizzy in the past to no avail. But Dame Dash recently threw another wrench into this history, as he claimed that The Boy reached out to him to respond to Dame’s sale offers for his one-third share of Reasonable Doubt.
“As for battle rap, there’s never been a battle rap where, you know, the record becomes a hit, puts another artist in a very uncomfortable position – pause – and then they get to perform it at the Super Bowl,” Dame Dash said of the Toronto superstar’s Kendrick battle and the Super Bowl debate. “I’m thinking, like, what I would do if I was Drake. I’d be like, ‘Well, a big W would be to come to the Super Bowl with one of these Roc-A-Fella chains.’ Drake hollered at me through a DM and made and offer. I’m not quite sure what happened. But I thought that he had got with Jay on something, but I don’t know.
“But it would be a good time to close if you got it,” Dame Dash continued. “You know, I wouldn’t do it if you don’t got it. If you want to own Reasonable Doubt, if you want to own a third of it, have a say at the board meeting for at least the next seven years and make money off of it, I would get these chains. Or one, you get one. And I’ma make it even better. I spoke to Alligator Jesus and I was like, ‘Yo, if somebody does buy it for this price, now I got to give some Roc-A-Fella grills.’ So I guess I’ll put up some Roc-A-Fella grills as well if you have the bread.”
Meanwhile, one of the producers for the Super Bowl halftime show, Jesse Collins, recently claimed to Variety that Jay-Z is the one who picks its artists. “It’s a decision that Jay makes,” he remarked regarding the decision-making that goes on behind the scenes. “Since we’ve been on board with that show, he’s made it every year, and it’s been amazing. He’s always picked right!
Dame Dash had a hilarious viral moment recently that came about during his latest rant against 50 Cent. For those unaware, he was ranting on Instagram Live against the G-Unit mogul’s disparaging comments about him on Million Dollaz Worth Of Game with Gillie and Wallo. While Dash spoke about wanting to see if Fif was “the real deal,” his grills and dental implants came out of his mouth, which 50 was obviously very quick to clown. But it turns out that this won’t be a sore spot in their spat: just a funny moment. Furthermore, the Roc-A-Fella affiliate took to social media once again to explain what happened in this viral clip.
“Yo, obviously I feel like I need to address the teeth,” Dame Dash began his message on social media with a laugh. “First of all, s**ts is not dentures. These are my grills, right? And what happened was, I have to go get implants put in, so I have implants. And I got them 20 years ago, and every 20 years, you got to switch them out. So I have to do a surgery – pause – oral and the f***ed up s**t is, once they do it…”
At this point in the clip below, the footage starts to cut out presumably due to poor connection on the music executive’s end. Eventually, things got back in order. “I’ma show y’all, look.” Then, Dame Dash removed the top part of his implant-supported dentures to show fans how they normally come off. “So that’s what happened, the fronts. But, you know, I thought it was hilarious. I ain’t try to edit it, I think it’s good for jokes and s**t. But yeah, they’re not dentures, and I think it’s hilarious.”
Meanwhile, Dame Dash still has a lot of other issues to deal with if he wants 50 Cent to stop clowning his financial status. These include a lot of tax and child support debt, something that impacted his Roc auction. We’ll see what else develops in this saga, and whether or not there will be other hilarious moments that both parties can laugh at together. It might be at the expense of the other, but if it’s all in good fun, maybe that can lead them to a peace arrangement.
It looks like Dame Dash will finally fulfill his years-long mission to sell off his shares in Roc-A-Fella… but not on his own terms. Moreover, TMZ Hip Hop reports that the U.S. Marshall will publicly auction off his 33.3% interest in the company he co-founded with Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke at an August 29 Manhattan event, according to supposed legal documents reportedly obtained by the publication. Apparently, hopefuls will have to email attorney Christopher Brown in order to register to appear at the auction. Brown represents Josh Webber, a film director who won an $800K-plus civil judgement against the music executive two years ago over copyright infringement and defamation.
Along with Muddy Waters Pictures, Webber produced the film Dear Frank and sued Dame Dash for allegedly falsely claiming to folks that he owned the rights to the film even after the project dropped him. According to TMZ, the court documents specify that this auction for the Roc-A-Fella shares is to cover this judgement, and that Hov’s Reasonable Doubt is the Roc’s biggest asset. The minimum bid for Dash’s shares must be at least $1.2 million at the auction. We’ll see who ends up with this historically contentious and now infamous stake.
Furthermore, this comes after Dame Dash tried to sell his Roc-A-Fella shares, including Reasonable Doubt, on multiple occasions, none of which had proved successful. However, Lupe Fiasco had an interesting proposal regarding this, as he asked Drake to buy Dame’s shares.
“@champagnepapi will keep it safe for generations to come,” the Chicago MC expressed on social meida. “This is grail and influenced an innumerable amount of rappers to see it peddle such a lack of grace genuinely hurts my feelings a little bit. But also on savages s**t f**k it…either donate it to a museums for safekeeping or seriously let Drake make an offer so he can put in where it needs to be. Or just keep the s**t OG you should be infinitely proud of this. Without it there is no me as I am and I’m sure other MC’s will agree.” We’ll se whether Aubrey Graham will hit up the Big Apple on August 29.
Dame Dash has apparently been trying to get out of Roc-A-Fella for a while now, most recently reaching out to Kendrick Lamar with an offer to sell his one-third share in the company to him. But his most recent Instagram post has some fans scratching their heads, as he included the cover art for Jay-Z’s album Reasonable Doubt and the following caption: “This s**t is for sale 1/3 … only real inquiries only.” Moreover, it’s unclear if Dame wants to sell his partial ownership of the rights to the 1996 album or is talking about his one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella as a whole. Probably both, but history tells us that this could be a complicated process.
Furthermore, as we alluded to before, this is far from the first time that Dame Dash has tried to sell off his role in the Roc and move on. But when he tried to sell his share of Reasonable Doubt, the record company and Jay-Z himself were quick to respond with their best efforts to prevent this from happening. From the looks of it, they resolved the issue and agreed that Dame can eventually sell his shares in Roc-A-Fella, but not anything related to an album, since the actual ownership behind it is much more complicated. The crux of the Roc’s legal team was this: Dame can’t sell something he doesn’t own, and it held up.
Elsewhere, this comes amid Dame Dash, multiple other reflections on the Roc-A-Fella days and how he looks back at that era today. “In that moment, Roc-A-Fella was in trouble and if that ‘Big Pimpin” didn’t work, I was gon’ start rapping,” he told the Moguls In The Making podcast. “[I don’t got bars, but] I would have just did it for the company.” “Everything Jay said, he was pretending to be me,” Dame added about the smash hit.
Meanwhile, Dame Dash also recently commented on the horrifying nature of the Diddy situation. “If that were something I see happened to my daughters, Puff… he’s dead,” he remarked to Choppin It Up concerning the Cassie video. “I’d go do the time or I’d try to figure out how not to have to go do the time. I don’t think I could handle watching any many touching or doing any kind of violence to my daughters.”
