JUNE 22, 2021 1:30PM ET
Dame Dash Prohibited From Selling Jay-Zâs âReasonable Doubtâ as NFT Following Roc-A-Fella Lawsuit
Judge sides with label, but Dash claims he wasnât trying to mint and sell the album as an NFT, but rather his entire stake in Roc-A-Fella Records

UPDATE (6/22): A judge has ruled in favor of Roc-A-Fella Records and prohibited Damon Dash from minting and selling Jay-Zâs Reasonable Doubtas a non-fungible token, Rolling Stone has confirmed (TMZ first reported the news). Representatives for Roc-A-Fella and Dash did not immediately return requests for comment.
Roc-A-Fella Records has sued its co-founder, Damon Dash, for allegedly trying to mint and sell the copyright for Jay-Zâs Reasonable Doubt as a non-fungible token.
According to the complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, Dash planned to sell an NFT of the Reasonable Doubt copyright at an auction on the platform SuperFarm, which was set to take place June 23rd through 25th. Roc-A-Fella claimed it sent letters to SuperFarm and Dash stating the sale was âimproperâ and requesting the auction be canceled. While SuperFarm did cancel the sale, the label maintains that Dash is âin the process of finding another venue to consummate this improper transaction.â
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Speaking with Rolling Stone, Dash slammed the lawsuit and claimed it was full of inaccuracies. Dash said he wasnât trying to sell an NFT of Reasonable Doubt , but rather his stake in Roc-A-Fella Records after the label supposedly tried to purchase it at a low price.
âWhen another black man calls another black man a thief, just to make him look bad, and so that they can devalue an asset that that other man owns, just because he wonât sell it to him at a low price â I donât think the culture needs that,â Dash said. He added: âI just think itâs disappointing to also have a white lawyer calling me a thief on Juneteenth. Itâs very representative of what they do to someone when they try to make a good guy look like a bad guy, just because heâs doing good business.â (The lawsuit was filed, and first reported on by TMZ, on June 18th.)
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Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Roc-A-Fella, directed Rolling Stone to the lawsuit and declined to comment further.
Jay-Z, Dash, and Kareem Burke co-founded Roc-A-Fella, and while Dash and Jay notably cut business ties in 2005, each of the three founders retains a one-third share in RAF, Inc. As Roc-A-Fellaâs new lawsuit notes, however, Jay-Zâs original deal with his label stipulated that RAF, Inc. would be the sole owner of the rights to his albums, including Reasonable Doubt.
Despite RAF owning the copyright to Reasonable Doubt, the suit states that Dash intimated that he was the owner in the announcement for the NFT auction on SuperFarm. The lawsuit quotes the announcement, which begins: âSuperFarm is proud to announce, in collaboration with Damon Dash, the auction of Damonâs ownership of the copyright to Jay-Zâs first album Reasonable Doubt. This marks a new milestone in the history of NFTâs, entitling the new owner to future revenue generated by the unique asset⊠Selling the copyright to Jay-Zâs Reasonable Doubt as an NFT is a groundbreaking landmark â both for the crypto space and the broader music industry. The newly minted NFT will prove ownership of the albumâs copyright, transferring the rights to all future revenue generated by the album from Damon Dash to the auction winner.â
In turn, the Roc-A-Fella lawsuit retorts: âThe bottom line is simple: Dash canât sell what he doesnât own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties. His planned auction of Reasonable Doubt would result in irreparable harm. The Court should stop Dash from attempting to sell the copyright to Reasonable Doubt, require Dash to return the NFT of Reasonable Doubt to RAF, Inc., and hold him accountable for this brazen theft of RAF, Inc.âs most prized asset.â
While Dame confirmed that he was trying to sell his stake in Roc-A-Fella, he called the accusations surrounding the Reasonable Doubt NFT sale âfalse.â When asked about the SuperFarm auction details cited in the lawsuit, Dash replied: âThere hasnât been an announcement. There wasnât an announcement at all. Donât you think that if I made an announcement that Iâm selling Reasonable Doubt you wouldâve heard about it? What theyâre accusing me of is minting a whole album. So if itâs already minted, itâs already on the blockchain, that means itâs already there. It never happened, and they know it never happened.â (A representative for SuperFarm did not immediately return Rolling Stoneâs request for comment regarding the auction.)
He continued: âSo thereâs been no announcement, itâs not minted, none of that. No auction was shut down, you never heard of an announcement. You know this game. They did it on a Friday so it could just run the whole weekend to devalue my auction⊠Itâs not fair to accuse somebody of being a thief publicly thatâs not. Thatâs a really fucked up allegation to put on a man.â
In This Article: Jay-Z, Roc-A-Fella