Damon Dash has been known as hip-hop’s dealmaker. Through his deal-making, he and his partners of 15 years — Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke — were able to turn Roc-A-Fella Records into a top music label and then Rocawear into a major player in urban fashion. But that all changed when Jay-Z decided to sell Rocawear to Iconix for $200 million in a deal that Dash now claims shortchanged him and caught him off guard.
Dash says he was left broke. He owes money all around town, from lost lawsuits to child support (for which he got arrested in 2019) to failed business ideas such as social media site Blocksavvy.
“We have fundamental differences. I’m about making other people famous and rich and equal, that’s what I wanted with Roc-A-Fella. And he wanted to be the boss and have people work for him for 25 years straight, which is what happened. I actually feel sorry for my fallen angels, because I’ve taught people to share…I make kings, I don’t make slaves,” Dash said in a 2019 interview on a popular syndicated LA radio show with Big Boy on 92.3.
“I don’t wanna talk about Jay-Z. You know why it’s not fair? ‘Cause he doesn’t talk about it,” Dash said in a Rolling Out report. “No matter what, I feel he robbed me. Period. And no matter what, I’m always gonna feel that way. If I hit somebody with some work and they run off, I forgive it. It don’t bother me, but if you asked me about that person, I’m like, ‘Nah, he ran off.’”
Dash told TMZ in 2019, “My income streams have all been garnished…and it is very difficult to address the mounting bills until I receive some relief from the courts.” He also said he made just over $56,000 that year — a lot less that the hundreds of thousands he was used to raking in.
