One year after Roc-A-Fella filed a lawsuit against him for attempting to auction Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt album as an NFT, Dame Dash has reached a settlement with the record label.
As first reported by TMZ, per court documents reviewed by Complex, Dash has been prohibited from selling Jay-Z’s 1996 debut album as an NFT, as Roc-A-Fella owns all rights to the LP.
“Unless duly authorized by RAF, Inc., no shareholder or member of RAF, Inc. may alter in any way, sell, assign, pledge, encumber, contract with regard to, or in any way dispose of any property interest in Reasonable Doubt, including its copyright and including through any means such as auctioning a non-fungible token reflecting, referring, or directing to such interest,” the legal docs state.
Under the agreement, Dash can sell his one-third ownership stake in Roc-A-Fella, but he is not allowed “in any way dispose of any property interest in Reasonable Doubt.”
“Nothing in this Judgment shall prevent any shareholder or member of RAF, Inc. from selling, assigning, pledging, encumbering, contracting with regard to, or in any way disposing of their one-third (1/3rd) ownership interest in RAF, Inc.,” the agreement reads.
The news arrives nearly a year after Roc-A-Fella filed a lawsuit against Dash over his alleged attempt to mint and sell Reasonable Doubt album as a non-fungible token. Roc-A-Fella claimed Dash intended to sell the NFT in a canceled auction.
“The sale of this irreplaceable asset must be stopped before it is too late, and Dash must be held accountable for his theft,” the June 2021 lawsuit stated. “The bottom line is simple: Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own.”
Days after the lawsuit was initially reported, Dash told TMZ that Roc-A-Fella’s lawsuit was inaccurate, and that he was not attempting to sell Jay-Z’s album, but his share of Roc-A-Fella.
Dash claimed that in March 2021, Jay-Z tried to buy his one-third share of Roc-A-Fella at “a price I deemed unacceptable.”
“Under the terms of the deal with a potential buyer, the buyer would buy my share of Roc a Fella Records and Jay-Z will have exclusive administration rights,” Dash told TMZ last June.
As reported this past March, Jay’s attorney Alex Spiro said in a filing in Manhattan federal court that both sides were “in the process of meeting and conferring to determine whether they can reach a settlement agreement that would resolve this case.”
However, Dame subsequently took to Instagram to dispute Spiro’s claims.
“Please don’t believe this hype we are no where near a settlement,” he wrote. “They accused me of doing something i did not do and now they have to prove it…and i can sell my share anytime I want #askthejudge and #jayz and @biggsburke if you wanna settle this holla at me…we use to hustle together…court is corny…let’s talk like men for the culture…I dare y’all to respond #doitfortheculture.”
