Damon Dash’s dispute with Jay-Z over the rapper’s “Reasonable Doubt” album continues with more allegations. Dame now claims that his former business partner wrongfully took his portion of the album’s streaming rights, licensed to platforms such as Spotify, Apple, and others.
It’s the latest in a legal battle that started around mid-June after Jay and Roc-A-Fella sued Dame for allegedly trying to sell the copyright from the 1996 album as a non-fungible token, also known as an NFT.
According to documents obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, filed on Tuesday, July 13, in the New York Supreme Court, the music executive claimed Jay, whose real name is Shawn Carter, transferred “Reasonable Doubt” streaming rights without the authorization from Roc-A-Fella to S. Carter Enterprises LLC. The media outlet reported that there isn’t much detail surrounding the suit, but more is expected to come in later weeks. However, Dame is seeking unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, replevin, and conversion. In addition, the Harlem native is also looking to be compensated to the tune of $1 million in damages.
As previously reported, on Friday, June 18, Jay’s attorney Alex Spiro filed a lawsuit in New York’s Southern District Court claiming that Dame “had planned to sell at a SuperFarm Foundation online auction on June 23, the copyright to JAY-Z’s album ‘Reasonable Doubt,’ recognized as one of the greatest recordings in history.” The document continued, “That auction was canceled, 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.”
Ultimately a judge did honor that request, and the NFT auction was stopped. However, Dame denied ever trying to sell the copyright, claiming he was instead was trying to sell only his share of Roc-A-Fella, in which he says he holds a one third interest.
In a statement to Page Six, Dame called his former friend a “liar” and clarified his intentions surrounding the NFT auction. “I’m not running around to different places trying to auction off ‘Reasonable Doubt.’ I’ve been working with one platform, and that’s SuperFarm. And the thing is I own a third of Roc-A-Fella Records, and I can sell my third if I feel like it.”
The 50-year-old called Jay controlling, claiming, “He’s got ‘only one man to eat’ syndrome and ‘everybody else got to work for him’ syndrome and ‘kiss the ring,’ and ‘we’re gonna mess up his reputation’ syndrome if you look under the hood. It continues to happen.”
Elsewhere, Dame is looking to sell his third of Roc-A-Fell of which he, Jay, and their business partner Kareem Burke founded in 1995. Furthermore, he is furious over other business matters he’s involved in with Roc-A-Fella and wants to disqualify its lawyers at Quinn Emanuel from representation and is challenging its authority to bring suit against him.
Jay nor his camp has addressed the latest development.
