Roc-A-Fella sues Dame Dash over ‘Reasonable Doubt’ NFT
Fans hoping for a proper Roc-A-Fella Records reunion may be disappointed by the news.
Hip hop mogul Damon Dash is reportedly being sued by his former label.
Page Six reports that Dash, who co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1995 with JAY-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, attempted to sell JAY’s debut album Reasonable Doubt as a non-fungible token (NFT). The outlet states the lawsuit was filed Friday (June 18) in New York’s Southern District Court by Hov’s attorney Alex Spiro.
Within the documents, Spiro alleges, “Dash had planned to sell at a SuperFarm Foundation online auction on Jun. 23… the copyright to JAY-Z’s album Reasonable Doubt, recognized as one of the greatest recordings in history. That auction was cancelled and Dash is frantically scouting for another venue to make the sale… The sale of this irreplaceable asset must be stopped before it is too late, and Dash must be held accountable for his theft.”
The suit also claims, “Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties. The court should stop Dash….and hold him accountable for his brazen theft.”
Dash is currently the owner of his own streaming platform, respectively titled Dame Dash Studios. The NFT auction of Reasonable Doubt was reportedly set to take place on the NFT marketplace SuperFarm. The listing for the NFT, which likely would have drawn a large amount of interest and extremely high bids, was cancelled after Spiro sent a letter to SuperFarm.
The auction announcement via SuperFarm was included in the suit. It reads, “This marks a new milestone in the history of NFTs, entitling the new owner to future revenue generated by the unique asset….The newly minted NFT will prove ownership of the album’s copyright, transferring the rights to all future revenue generated by the album from Damon Dash to the auction winner.”
The documents also claim Dash “merely owns a 1/3 equity interest in Roc-A-Fella Inc., he does not own the copyright….and therefore has no right to sell the copyright or any individual ownership interests in Reasonable Doubt.”
Fans hoping for a proper Roc-A-Fella Records reunion may be disappointed by the news. JAY, Biggs and Dame have yet to comment on the matter publicly.