Jay-Z will finally own Dame Dash‘s share in Roc-A-Fella Records in seven years despite it going to auction.
Jay-Z Will Secure Reasonable Doubt Shares in Seven Years
According to a TMZ report, published on Saturday (Aug. 10), Jay-Z’s attorneys have filed new documents staking claim to the master recordings of Hov’s classic 1996 album, Reasonable Doubt. This comes as Dame’s 33 percent share in Roc-A-Fella Records will hit the auction block near the end of August.
Currently, Roc-A-Fella owns the copyright to the album and all of its songs. However, Jay-Z’s lawyers have filed a notice that these rights will revert back to their original owner, Shawn Carter (aka Jay-Z), in the year 2031.
That means whoever purchases Dame’s share at auction, they will have seven years of ownership before Hov owns it in perpetuity.
As TMZ suggests, the legal move isn’t personal, just business. Legally, the copyrights would have gone back to Jay-Z 35 years after the album was released. The Roc Nation founder’s attorneys simply initiated the necessary paperwork to make it official.
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Dame Dash’s Roc-A-Fella Share Set for the Auction Block
According to documents obtained by XXL, Dame Dash’s 33.3 percent stake in Roc-A-Fella Records, which he co-founded with Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, will be auctioned off by U.S. Marshals on Aug. 29 in New York City. The minimum bid for the stake is $1.2 million and the bidder must be able to deposit $240,000 at the time of sale.
The auction is the result of a judgment that Dame lost in court. Film director Josh Webber sued Dame for copyright infringement back in 2019 and won over $800,000 in a civil judgment against the former music mogul. The suit centers on the 2019 film Dear Frank, which Webber alleges that Dame, after being removed from the production, continued to promote the film as if it were solely his own creation.
According to docs obtained by XXL, both Jay-Z and Burke, who own the other two-thirds of Roc-A-Fella, have pushed back against the sale.
