It is official: Damon Dash’s one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella Records will hit the auction block on November 14, 2024, following a decision by the United States Marshal to set the authorized date.
Dash, the co-founder of the pioneering independent Hip-Hop label, is selling his shares as part of an ongoing legal dispute centered around child support, back taxes, and other financial obligations.
According to legal documents, the minimum bid for Dash’s stake has been set at $3.2 million.
Proceeds from the auction will be allocated to numerous creditors, including $193,000 earmarked for child support and over $1.7 million for unpaid state taxes.
Additional payments will go to civil litigants, including film executive Josh Webber, who is expected to receive $823,000.
Photographer Monique Bunn has a $12,000 claim, and further payments will be directed to cover Dash’s outstanding state tax liabilities, which exceed $7 million overall.
The auction comes amid persistent tensions with JAY-Z, one of Dash’s former business partners.
The pair have been embroiled in a separate dispute over control of the 1996 album Reasonable Doubt – Roc-A-Fella’s most valuable – and only asset.
In the lead-up to the sale, Damon Dash accused JAY-Z of undermining potential bids by asserting that, beginning in six years, rights to Reasonable Doubt would revert solely to JAY-Z, which could ultimately decrease the value of Roc-A-Fella.
Despite the disputes, the auction was cleared to proceed after U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lehrburger declined to intervene in the arguments regarding the future of the Reasonable Doubt copyright.
Dash, who helped establish Roc-A-Fella in the mid-90s alongside JAY-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, reportedly hopes to secure at least $10 million from the sale of his portion of the once-celebrated Hip-Hop empire.
