JAY-Z and Kareem "Biggs" Burke are suing Dame Dash for an alleged NFT auction of Hov's 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt.
Though the auction did not take place, the lawsuit proceeded. In an Instagram post earlier this week, Dash disputed claims that he was in settlement talks with his former business partners.
“Please don’t believe this hype we are no where near a settlement,” Dash wrote. “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.”
JAY-Z and Biggs were also challenged by Dame to dump the lawyers so they could discuss privately instead. He doubled down on Friday (March 18), writing in another Instagram post, “Like I said, I don’t have to ask to sell what I own.. #AskTheJudge #StayTuned @dashnftgallery and let’s be clear, it’s #jayz and @biggsburke that are suing me.”
“My offer still stands, let’s get in a room like the old days and sit and talk like men. I don’t need a lawyer to talk for me.. I can’t believe this shit, I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.”
In June 2021, Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records' lawyer Alex Spiro filed a lawsuit against Dash, accusing him of trying to auction the NFT without permission. Dash refuted the story and pointed out he was simply trying to sell his entire one-third stake in Roc-A-Fella.
Dash then filed a countersuit alleging JAY-Z transferred streaming rights to Reasonable Doubt to S. Carter Enterprises LLC without authorization from Roc-A-Fella. Dash seeks a minimum of $1 million in damages for unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, replevin and conversion.
Dash spoke with HipHopDX about the lawsuit and explained why he found it "corny" and "embarrassing."
“Honestly, I think this is corny,” Dash said at the time. “If there’s an issue, just call me. Why do I have to hear it? Why do I have to get sued? Biggs, Jay, call me and tell me what the play is but if you swing on me, I’m going to have to swing back. And when I say that, I’m saying now that I’m looking under the hood, it looks crazy, but I just do believe that I don’t need all of this. I’m trying to live my life. I’m the guy that’s always saying this is what they want us to do. They want us culturally to fight each other for them while they watch us and that’s exactly what’s happening.
“It’s just like, ‘Yo, just call me as a man and tell me what the problem is.’ But at the end of the day, I don’t see what difference it makes if I own or if I sold my third. Why do I have to be a partner? And then they’re trying to call a fake meeting to try to make new bylaws, which they can’t do.”
Dash added he had “no idea” why JAY-Z and Biggs didn’t just reach out directly, saying, “It’s corny and I think it’s embarrassing. And now I’m in a fight I don’t want to be in when I’m doing other shit. All I want to do with is sell my interests and do what I got to do. Instead, I got to be called a liar, I got to have some white man [Alex Spiro] calling me a thief, somebody trying to tell me how to run my business.”