Jay-Z and Dame Dash settled a lawsuit over Hov’s classic debut Reasonable Doubt.
According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, the two agreed no individual shareholder of Roc-A-Fella Records can mint a non-fungible token of the album. TMZ first reported on the settlement.
Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella sued Dame Dash in 2021, accusing him of trying to sell a Reasonable Doubt NFT. The settlement clarified Dame Dash’s rights as a co-founder of the label.
“Unless duly authorized by RAF, Inc., no shareholder or member of RAF, Inc. may alter in any way, sell, assign, pledge, encumber, contract with regard to, or in any way dispose of any property interest in Reasonable Doubt, including its copyright and including through any means such as auctioning a non-fungible token reflecting, referring, or directing to such interest,” the joint stipulation read. “Provided, however, that nothing in this Judgment shall prevent any shareholder or member of RAF, Inc. from selling, assigning, pledging, encumbering, contracting with regard to, or in any way disposing of their one-third (1/3rd) ownership interest in RAF, Inc.”
Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella dismissed all of its claims against Dame Dash without prejudice in the settlement. Both sides agreed to cover their own costs, such as attorneys’ fees.
Earlier this year, Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro informed the court about settlement discussions. Dame Dash denied any such talks in an Instagram post.
“Please don’t believe this hype we are no where near a settlement,” he wrote in March. “they accused me of doing something i did not do and now they have to prove it…and i can sell my share anytime I want #askthejudge and #jayz and @biggsburke if you wanna settle this holla at me…we use to hustle together…court is corny…let’s talk like men for the culture… I dare y’all to respond.”
The case appeared to reach an impasse in May. But a month later, Jay-Z and his old business partner put an end to their legal dispute.