JAY-Z and Damon Dash‘s legal battle over Reasonable Doubt appeared to reach a breakthrough on Wednesday (March 15) when it was reported the former business partners were involved in settlement talks. Less than 24 hours later, however, that notion has been rubbished by Dash.
The Harlem-bred mogul jumped on Instagram on Thursday morning (March 17) to set the record straight on his dispute with Hov, who is suing him over an alleged NFT auction of his 1996 debut album, which he argues Dame has no legal right to sell.
“Please don’t believe this hype we are no where near a settlement,” Dash declared while sharing a screenshot of an article on the so-called settlement talks. “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.”
Damon Dash Explains Why JAY-Z & Roc-A-Fella Records Lawsuit Is 'Corny & Embarrassing'
He then urged JAY-Z and their fellow Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Kareem “Biggs” Burke to settle the matter out of court while daring them to respond to his Instagram post.
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“#jayz and @biggsburke if you wanna settle this holla at me,” he added. “we use to hustle together…court is corny…let’s talk like men for the culture… I dare y’all to respond #doitfortheculture.”
JAY-Z and his attorney Alex Spiro filed a lawsuit against Dame Dash in June 2021, accusing him of attempting to auction off Reasonable Doubt as an NFT without permission. The auction never took place, but they accused Dame of “frantically scouting for another venue to make the sale.”
Dash refuted the allegations and instead claimed he was simply trying to sell his entire one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella Records. He later countersued JAY-Z and Roc-A-Fella for $1 million, accusing Hov of wrongfully claiming streaming rights to Reasonable Doubt for himself.
In a filing in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday (March 15), Spiro said that JAY-Z and Dame Dash are “in the process of meeting and conferring to determine whether they can reach a settlement agreement that would resolve this case.”
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If a settlement is not reached, he said Hov will file a separate motion to permanently ban Dash from selling any portion of Reasonable Double. A judge temporarily prohibited Dash from minting the album as an NFT last June.
Despite the legal drama, JAY-Z and Dame Dash’s relationship hasn’t been entirely turbulent in recent months. During his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech last October, Hov took a moment to salute his former Roc-A-Fella partner.
“We was like, we gonna create our own company, you know?” he said. “That’s Hip Hop. And we created this company called Roc-A-Fella Records. Shout out to Dame [Dash]; I know we don’t see eye to eye, but I can never erase your accomplishments, and I appreciate you and thank you for that.”
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Days later, Dame Dash reciprocated the love and signaled his intention to quash their long-running feud. “It was beautiful,” he told Page Six. “I’m glad he said it for the culture. We need to squash everything. So hopefully if that was an extended [olive branch], I’ll spin one back.”
He added, “I have no beef with [him] if [he has] no beef with me. Let’s get the lawyers out of it then. Let’s talk like men, but I definitely appreciate it.”
