The 50-year-old record executive claims that the 'Empire State of Mind' rapper tried to buy his one-third share of Roc-A-Fella at a 'price [he] deemed unacceptable.'
- Jun 21, 2021
AceShowbiz - Dame Dash is not afraid of having litigation with Roc-A-Fella. Having been sued by the label he co-founded for allegedly attempting to sell Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt" as a non-fungible token (NFT), the record executive fired back at the lawsuit and objected to the company's claims.
Dash insisted that he is trying to sell his entire stake in Roc-A-Fella instead of selling Jay-Z's debut album. The 50-year-old music mogul also told TMZ that the "Empire State of Mind" rapper wanted to buy one-third of his share at the label back in March, but the latter offered a "price [he] deemed unacceptable."
Dash further spilled, "Under the terms of the deal with a potential buyer, the buyer would buy my share of Roc a Fella Record. Jay-Z will have exclusive administration rights." Dash also made it clear that the lawsuit cannot stop him from selling his shares because he has the right to do so.
Roc-A-Fella filed the lawsuit on Friday, June 18. In the docs, the label argued that Dash couldn't sell the "Reasonable Doubt" NFT because it owned the album. Aside from asking the court to prevent him from selling the NFT, the company also requested that Dash "turn over any NFTs of 'Reasonable Doubt' he may have already minted."
This came after Jay-Z launched legal action against "Reasonable Doubt" album cover photographer, Jonathan Mannion. The husband of Beyonce Knowles accused Mannion of "exploiting" his name and images without his consent.
"Mannion has developed a highly-profitable business by selling copies of photographs of JAY-Z on Mannion's website and retail store, and by selling licenses to others to use JAY-Z's image," so read the legal docs. "Mannion has done so on the arrogant assumption that because he took those photographs, he can do with them as he pleases."
"JAY-Z never gave Mannion the right to use his likeness for these or any other purposes. And without that permission, Mannion has no legal right to do so. JAY-Z has asked Mannion to stop, but he refuses to do so," the complaint added. The MC also claimed that Mannion asked him to pay "tens of millions of dollars" if he wanted him to stop using his likeness.
Responding to the lawsuit, Mannion's representative said in a statement, "Mr. Mannion has created iconic images of Mr. Carter over the years, and is proud that these images have helped to define the artist that Jay-Z is today."
"Mr. Mannion has the utmost respect for Mr. Carter and his body of work, and expects that Mr. Carter would similarly respect the rights of artists and creators who have helped him achieve the heights to which he has ascended," the rep continued. "We are confident that the First Amendment protects Mr. Mannion's right to sell fine art prints of his copyrighted works, and will review the complaint and respond in due course."
