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Despite being sued by Jay-Z and despite a court order placing limits on what he is allowed to sell, Damon Dash did what he said he was going to do in an interview. with Variety: He officially launched an auction for his third Roc-A-Fella Inc. – and his only asset, Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” album – with a starting bid of $ 10 million.
What Jay-Z will attempt to do to stop this auction, as he and his lawyers did in June when Dash first attempted to sell his share, remains to be seen.
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As he had promised in June, Dash is including an NFT in the auction, titled “C’est le Roc”, “representing the certificate of ownership” of the third of the stock. There are two different closing dates listed for the auction: July 23 at 5 p.m. PT, depending on its site’s main page, or July 26 at midnight, if you look at the auction page itself.
In the often confusing legal disputes that led to this latest development, a judge previously said Dash had the right to sell his third of the shares of Roc-A-Fella Inc., but no right to sell any part of the “Reasonable L” album “Doubt”. However, the language on the auction site refers to the company and the album interchangeably, reflecting Dash’s belief that Rock-A-Fella Inc. (a long dormant company not to be confused with the Jay-Z’s future Rock-A-Fella LLC) has only one trump card.
“Damon Dash is auctioning off his 1/3 stake in Roc-A-Fella Inc, which owns ‘Reasonable Doubt’, Jay-Z’s debut album,” the auction site read. “Own a time when ‘Reasonable Doubt’ changed hip-hop culture. The album that has influenced and touched so many lives.
In a promotional video that preceded the auction’s start, Dash said that “’Reasonable Doubt’ has charted the course for Roc-A-Fella’s future, is everything we are doing right now. It was our voice. It’s still one of my favorite albums of all time. Dash never mentions Jay-Z by name in the video.
By touting the other galleries he has opened, as well as the spirit of independence inspired by Roc-A-Fella’s early days, Dash also evokes the fiduciary charms of an artist’s involvement in the NFT format (” An artist still has some work to do when he sells; you don’t need to talk to a third party to collect ”), and that this NFT auction is the first in a long series in which he will participate.
In June, the opinion of Manhattan judge John Cronan was that “Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash converted a corporate asset and breached its fiduciary obligations. Yet the CEO of Roc-A-Fella Inc. maintains that his “reasonable doubt” NFT, which he says is the only asset of Roc-A-Fella Inc., would be auctioned off to the highest bidder, the sooner possible, due to shortcomings in the original 1995 Roc-A-Fella contract which did not identify the necessary regulations and restrictions.
Along with this action, on July 13, Dash attorneys filed a subpoena in the New York Supreme Court claiming that Jay-Z had transferred all rights to broadcast “Reasonable Doubt” to S. Carter Enterprises LLC without authorization or agreement between Roc-A-Fella Inc.. the partners. Dash has alleged a breach of fiduciary duty, among other charges in the lawsuit, and wants at least $ 1 million in damages.
In his recent question-and-answer session with Variety, Dash said: “I don’t know why you are so mad at me for wanting to sell my third that you are lying to me in court. I didn’t get caught selling my third before that because I didn’t try to sell my third before that. I’m not trying to sell everyone’s third. Only mine. … I will sell it without anyone disturbing me.
Whether Jay-Z’s lawyers got rid of their system the first time they went to court will soon become apparent.
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