Dame Dash’s disputes with his Roc-A-Fella Records co-founders are nowhere near resolved, as disagreements over ownership of the legendary label continue to persist.
During an interview on The GAUDS Show that premiered last week, the 52-year-old mogul talked about regaining control of the Hip Hop empire he helped build. He also discussed being ousted from it by the same people he kickstarted it with, namely JAY-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke.
I’m taking back Roc-A-Fella; I don’t need no paperwork,” he said. “Roc-A-Fella never dies. It’s not dead; I just fuckin’ took a vacation. I’m the CEO of Roc-A-Fella Inc. and JAY-Z knows it, and so does Biggs. Not Roc-A-Fella LLC — we sold that; Roc-A-Fella Inc. — I’m still the CEO.”
Last year, Dash was sued by his former business partners over an alleged NFT auction of Hov’s 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt. Just months later, they reached a settlement that took away his legal right to sell his portion of the record as any token.
They took me to court saying I tried to sell all their interests, knowing I didn’t,” he explained. “I was only trying to sell mine, but they did that to fuck my sale up […] We don’t go to court. You call me, and then you wanna lie on me? That was last year. I’m bothered about it.”
Just a few months back, Dash said he’s ready to have a sit-down with JAY-Z to discuss their falling out, but not before his conditions are met. During a mid-October interview on The CEO Show, he talked about his former Roc-A-Fella partner and said that he’d be willing to “have a conversation” to hash out their differences.
He did, however, make it clear that he would only be open to it if the rap superstar agrees to “talk about the people that didn’t make the money, and try to help.” Those people, while not named explicitly, are most likely former Roc-A-Fella artists, given the context of the conversation.
He added: “Who got the most bread? You have to remember, I was in the crew. During Roc-A-Fella, I never looked at another crew and thought they were having more fun than me. I’m 52. We talking about 25 years ago. I haven’t even touched Roc-A-Fella, pause, in 20 years and they still talk about it like it was yesterday. I gotta be the best that ever did it!”
Math Hoffa then explained to Dash that there were brackets created that paired greatest rap crews of all time against each other and he had to pick one or the other. When Hoffa asked who Dame Dash would pick between Wu-Tang Clan and Ruff Ryders, he refused to give an answer.
No, I’m not doing that,” the Harlem mogul said. “They both my brothers, bro. It’s 50 years later. If you were to ask me back then, I’d have been like, ‘Roc-A-Fella.’ We battled these n-ggas, you feel me? But these are my brothers. You don’t judge your brothers.
“Like, I’m not gon’ say, ‘Yo, who is the best hustler? Me, Lou, or Daniel?’ N-gga, we still friends so we all the best hustlers. We fought a war and we still friends. They both my friends. I just did Block Talk with Dee and Waah.”
