The entertainment executive and producer has been instructed to auction his shares of Roc-A-Fella Records to satisfy an $823,000 judgment from his 2022 legal clash with Josh Webber, producer of Muddy Waters Pictures, as reported by Radar Online.
AFROTECH had previously mentioned that the dispute between Damon Dash and Webber began in 2016 after Dash was fired as the director of the producer’s crime thriller, “Dear Frank.” At the core of the dispute were the allegations that Dash was unfit for his position. Weber claimed in a since-deleted Instagram post that Dash was verbally abusive to staff and often high on set.
Dash countered that Weber was “trying to take credit for a Black man’s work” and attempted to sell the film independently under the new title, “The List,” which prompted the copyright infringement and defamation lawsuit. In 2022, Muddy Waters Pictures was granted a judgment, but Dash has yet to comply with the court’s demand for payment, per Radar Online.
To pursue payment, Webber’s team targeted Roc-A-Fella Records and Dash’s shares of the music label. In response, the label’s co-founders, rapperJay-Z and record executive Kareem “Biggs” Burke, objected to the move, stating company bylaws require board approval of all major sell-offs.
However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger admonished the label for adopting the clause during a 2021 board meeting where Dash was not in attendance and did not vote in favor of the rule. The court then ordered Roc-A-Fella to deliver Dash’s stock certification to the U.S. Marshal’s Service within 180 days, the outlet reports.
“The question at the core of the instant dispute is whether the RAF (Roc-A-Fella) By Laws’ prohibition on transfer and sale of Dash’s one-third ownership interest in shares of RAF without the consent of RAF’s board of directors legally prevents the sale of Dash’s interest in RAF to satisfy the Judgment,” Leherburger wrote, per the outlet. “The answer indisputably is no.”
A lot is at play with the forfeiture of Dash’s stake in the company, especially regarding money and intellectual property.
Established in 1995, Roc-A-Fella Records became a household name. Artists have included Kanye West, Jadakiss, Juelz Santana, and Cam’ron, with many albums released under the label’s banner over the last two decades.
Def Jam had purchased half of the label in 1997 for $1.5 million, according to MTV. Then in 2004, the music company bought the remaining 50% for a reported $10 million, with Jay-Z, Kareem “Biggs” Burke, and Dash retaining 50% ownership, per Vibe.
Considering what’s at stake, Roc-A-Fella’s co-owners also expressed concerns about how an outside buyer might treat intellectual property when purchasing Dash’s stake.
In light of this, the judge stated that Jay-Z and Burke would have an equal opportunity to purchase the shares, Vibe reports. This means it’s still possible for Roc-A-Fella to remain under the leadership of at least two of its core founders — though Dash will most likely be out.
His relationship with Jay-Z remains strained. Per AFROTECH, in 2021, the two settled a dispute following Dash’s unauthorized attempt to auction off Jay-Z’s debut album, “Reasonable Doubt,” as a non-fungible token (NFT). After the agreement, Dash revealed that Jay-Z offered him a “disrespectful” amount of money to buy his shares in Roc-A-Fella, furthering the years-long feud.
During an October 2023 interview on “The CEO Show,” Dash discussed his co-founder, stating, “When I look at what happened between me and Jay, it’s like I blame Jay for letting it happen, but all the people that really made it happen are the ones that are…benefitting from him the most now. I was stopping them from getting money. My friendship comes before the business. Either way, unless [Jay-Z] was down with it, then it wouldn’t [have] happened.”
With the auction of Dash’s shares in the company, particularly given his claims of being continuously shut out of important decisions, the division between the two could be exacerbated by this latest ruling.
