How much is Damon Dash worth?
| Net Worth: | $250 Thousand |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Entrepreneur |
| Date of Birth: | May 3, 1971 (age 51) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
About Damon Dash
Today, Damon “Dame” Dash is a well-known music producer. Damon Anthony Dash is a 51-year-old record executive, film producer, director, actor and business entrepreneur. Born in New York, Dash suffered a rough childhood when his mother passed away from an asthma attack, and he was only 15 years old. However, this loss is actually something that contributed to his drive and determination at an early age.
Damon Dash’s fortune is estimated to be incredibly low considering his now ex-business partner Jay-Z is worth well over one billion today. Dame Dash had an estimated peak net worth of $50 million in the 2000s, however things took a turn for the worse once the partnership broke down.
Once firm friends, earning a fortune together (allegedly Dash once organized a tour for Jay-Z that earned an estimated $19 million dollars…), the partnership hit the rocks after Jay-Z allegedly felt Dame wasn’t playing his role as a businessman. The business partnership soon turned feud and eventually in 2004, Roc-A-Fella Records was bought by Def Jam Recordings for an estimated $10 million.
Later Dame also sold his share in Rocawear to Jay-Z for an estimated $22 million and the rest is history. Jay-Z continued his career into the stratosphere becoming a billionaire in 2019, according to Forbes. Damon Dash on the other hand has had a number of financial problems. He has a net worth estimated at just $250 thousand because he owed $4.14 million (as of August 2015) in back taxes to the state of New York.
Dash started out his career as a music executive and producer. In 1991, whilst he was working for Atlantic Records, he signed his first album, ‘This is how it is’, with 90s hip-hop rap group ‘Original Flavor’.
Although this band never really made it into the big leagues, the lead singer, Tone Hooker, was actually later signed with Dash’s own record label.
After his first band took off, Dame Dash spent a few years signing and producing other bands for Atlantic Records, before one of the members of ‘Original Flavor’ (DJ Clark Kent) introduced him to Shawn Carter, a former Brooklyn drug-dealer, trying to make a career as a rapper, who we now know today as Jay-Z.
After a few smash hits, and a very successful world tour, Jay-Z and Dame Dash, as well as Biggs Burke, went into business together and started their own record company, ‘Roc-a-fella’, where they signed some of the biggest names in rap today, including Kanye West, Beanie Sigel, and Jay-Z himself. Working with these artists and running the record company is what brought Damon Dash’s name into the spotlight.
As you know, Damon Dash got famous from working with Jay-Z, however, fame doesn’t always bring riches straight away. Once Dash had made a solid name for himself in the music industry, he went down the route of entrepreneurship, opening his business based around fashion and lifestyle.
In 2007, he sold his company, ‘Rocawear’ for a reported $204 million, to apparel company ‘Iconix’. This rocketed his wealth and many would think that Damon Dash would be set from this one deal alone. Yet life had more in store for the talented music producer and entrepreneur.
Going back to 1991 Damon Dash signed his first band, and later signed lead singer, Tone Hooker, through his ‘Roc-a-fella’ record company. Although this first signing didn’t get him rich, it did get him noticed, which is how he started out with Jay-Z, and his first big money was earned on a world tour with the rapper.
Due to his organization and business skills, Dash helped to earn an estimated $19 million from the tour, and also earned his friendship with Jay-Z. The earnings from that first tour is what led Dash to originally get rich. Yet then starting a record company along with Jay-Z is what really brought in the big bucks. Dame Dash’s solid position in the music world is what led him to start in the business, and at that time at least, with Jay-Z at his side nothing could stop him.
However when Jay-Z and Dash began to have business problems it threatened everything. At the time and is so often in business it wasn’t clear what the damage would be over the fallout, yet many would say the route cause of Dame Dash’s massive financial problems are directly linked to his fallout with Jay-Z.
The break-up not only broke the two apart as friends, turning them into enemy business partners, but it also changed the future of the company. Roc-A-Fella Records was shut down in 2013 and it spiraled Dash into a financial troubles like he would never have imaged. It got so bad that in 2017, Damon Dash was worth just an estimated $10,000.
While both Dash and Jay-Z are still big names in the music industry, it is Jay-Z who has kept his riches and grown past these issues. While Dash has continued to have serious financial problems he has begun to build his name back up, and as of this year, his net worth is estimated to be about $250 thousand dollars.
Summing-Up
Damon Dash is a well-known music producer and businessman, who became rich and famous through his musical connections with Jay-Z. Dash may have hit hard times but it is how you make a comeback that counts and it seems he is back to hitting his stride.
