Dame Dash Cites Court Filing Saying Jay-Z ‘Poisoning’ Fed Auction

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Dame Dash cites a court filing claiming Jay-Z is “poisoning” Dame’s upcoming federal auction for Dame’s stake in Hov’s Reasonable Doubt album.

Dame Dash Speaks Out After New York Filing

On Sunday (Sept. 22), Dame hopped on Instagram to speak on a new filing from New York state that delayed Dame’s upcoming federal auction from its Sept. 21 date. The auction was meant for Dame to sell off his 33 percent share in Roc-A-Fella Records to satisfy a lawsuit judgment. Dame quoted the supposed filing on IG, which alleges that Hov’s team’s comments about Reasonable Doubt‘s rights weren’t accurate. Hov’s attorneys had said the rights to the album, which is part of the auction, would be entirely transferred to Jay-Z in 2031.

“The State of NY has stepped in and filed the following to the courts,” Dame wrote in the caption. “Jay-Z’s statements to the press have poisoned the environment for the auction. He has claimed that he has a termination right under the Copyright Act and that the rights to Reasonable Doubt will revert to him in six years. In fact, he has no such termination right and RAF is entitled to the renewal term, which is now 67 years, meaning it will own the copyright rights until the year 2098.”

Dame continued by calling out the Earn Your Leisure podcast, TMZ and The Breakfast Club over their reporting on the Reasonable Doubt drama so far. “In other words, the highest possible auction price could be more than ten times higher than is likely now, given Jay-Z’s and RAF actions,” he wrote. “RAF is complicit by its inaction in pushing back against such false statements. Let’s see if y’all talk about that @tmz_tv @earnyourleisure @breakfastclubam.”

Dame then posted a “part 2” going at label executive Steve Stoute over comments he made about the former while appearing on The Pivot Podcast last week. Stoute spoke about running into Dame on the street after an “altercation” had occurred at Dame’s office. Stoute claimed the Roc-A-Fella co-founder “pushed a girl” he was with before taking off running. The girl allegedly fell and sued Stoute for her injuries.

“This dude Steve Stoute is lying through his teeth,” Dame continued. “Talking about I might have ran from his punk a*s, which is hilarious to me, in front of my girl Raquel and that, you know, I smacked the sh*t out of him but I was around 10 other people but that was a lie. Jay-Z was in the room and Jay-Z couldn’t do sh*t about it. Ask about that, Steve Stoute stop lying.”

Per AllHipHop, the filing to United States Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger pushed back on Hov’s assertions Reasonable Doubt would come under his ownership in seven years.

“JAY-Z has issued widely publicized statements warning potential bidders that copyright ownership will revert back to him in 2031,” the City’s attorney Gerald E. Singleton allegedly wrote in the letter to Judge Lehrburger. “Those statements are false and extremely damaging to the City’s interests in ensuring that the auction will generate sufficient funds to satisfy all existing child support arrearages and secure future child support payments.”

Jay-Z’s attorneys had previously filed new documents staking claim to the master recordings of Hov’s classic 1996 album, Reasonable Doubt. The filing came as Dame’s 33 percent share in Roc-A-Fella Records was set to hit the auction block near the end of August. The auction was ultimately delayed to Sept. 21 before being delayed again due to this latest filing. It remains unclear when the auction will occur.

Jay-Z’s Team Says Reasonable Doubt Rights Will Go to Him

Currently, Roc-A-Fella owns the copyright to Reasonable Doubt and all of its songs. Jay-Z’s lawyers previously filed a notice claiming these rights would revert back to their original owner, Shawn Carter (a.k.a. Jay-Z), in the year 2031. After the news broke, Dame hopped on Instagram to try and sweeten the deal. He said whoever made a $10 million bid on his shares of Roc-A-Fella Records would also receive a Roc-A-Fella chain.

Dame’s upcoming auction is a result of a legal filing from director Josh Webber. He filed a suit against Dame for copyright infringement back in 2019 and won more than $800,000 in a civil judgment against the music executive. Webber had claimed Dame promoted the 2019 film Dear Frank as his own despite being removed from the project’s production.