According to the NY Daily News, Dame is so broke he got his Chevy Tahoe and two condos in Tribeca priced at $7.3MM seized. Basically Dame can’t make payments on anything anymore including his taxes where the government is also after him for over $2MM. Dame was so broke at one point that he could not pay his lawyer he hired…to help him get some money back, so the lawyer sued him for failure of payment. Add it all up and Damon Dash’s financial troubles are in the stratosphere of M.C. Hammer and Scott Storch proportions. That means epic financial failure.
It’s hard to feel sorry for someone like this who at one time sold his stake in Roc-A-Fella for a cool $20MM. That’s a lot of money to burn but somehow he managed to do it. While Jay-Z’s businesses have flourished and promotional deals keep the money flooding in, Dame’s business deals all went sour. Here is a deeper look at where Dame went wrong more from a marketing side as none of Damon’s ventures are currently popular in the marketplace.
Pro Keds: It was Dame’s dream to turn Pro Keds into a sneaker powerhouse and from their, launch into other fashion ventures. But it never happened. Dash was not able to turn the company around was forced to sell the company back to parent owner Stride Rite after it was apparent he was in financial turmoil. Loses were not disclosed but word is he sold the company back at a huge loss. Dash tried to implement a “limited edition” and exclusive line of the shoes and while some of the designs were original and fresh, the branding of Pro-Keds as old and “your father’s shoes” was too strong for him to overcome.
Dash Films: While Roc-A-Fella Films was never a huge success, it had street credibility. When Dash left, he created Dash Films but it too never got off the ground and tried to be too much. It even released an indie movie with Kevin Bacon called The Woodsman which made $1.5MM in the U.S. and cost $3MM to make. Aside from that and a couple of Direct-To-DVDs and short lived reality shows like “Ultimate Hustler” Dash was never able to leverage his connections and in fact really never connected with Hollywood.
BlockSavvy.com: This was supposed to be Dash’s saving grace. A social networking website where users could create their own “blocks” to hang out at develop social online relationships with music, movies, fashion, politics all with an urban flair. Unfortunatley no one wanted to move into this block. As of today, BlockSavvy.com is falling faster than the S&P 500. This graph explains it all. And no traffic = no ads = no revenue.
Armadale Vodka: Back in 2006 Jay-Z and Dash both put their money together to invest in Scottish Vodka company Armadale with the goal of bringing it into the U.S. and using their connections in the music industry to turn the liquor into the next Hennessey, Couvasier…heck even Ciroc. But none of that happened. The Armadale website was shut down last year, distribution is limited to online stores and Armadale is about as cool to drink in the clubs as Tiger Woods Gatorade.
So there you have it. Damon has also invested in everything from boxers, night clubs, watch companies but nothing has panned out for him. Even his music label, which everyone expected to at least make some money has been struggling to lift off. His saving grace? It might be all on his wife Rachel Roy who has a fashion line with some potential…and of course Dame is invested in it.
It must no be that hard to find out at what price he sold Pro Keds to Stride Ride. They are a public company so check the fillings.
Did you call all the companies and asked for comments?
He prolly was already highly leveraged when he got the 20mln from Roc a fella.
What I am trying to say is that your story is a bit weak, if you did some more research a better articel would come out.
He did also co produced Mr. Untouchable which Magnolia distributed.
How much money was involved?
How much money did he lost on block savy(approx.)?
What was in the license/distribution contract with Armadale? How much money did they pay for the license/distribution deal?
That sort of things are very interesting but are a lot more time consuming then just copy/paste. And I am sure if you write such a thoroughly researched article like that it will benefit you in the long run! So it’s a win-win situation
Hey augusto go suck a dick and do your own investigations. With that said Thanks for the info Woooha, this is a hiphop lifestyle site not Forbes 100… Keep doing what you do… your pal, We$
You know you are doin your thing when you have critics. It means you on the right path. Look what the haters did to SOHH a couple months back. But I think the main point of the article is that all of his businesses did fail, regardless if you see the numbers or not. The fact he cant pay his Chevy Tahoe payments pretty much sums it up.
I didnt kno he did all this stuff so to me its informative. I dont come here to see if Damon Dash is leveraged or not. Augusto must be one of those bitter iBankers that lost his job.
@Sohh Reps – this also reminds me of Bow Wow getting on the message boards of SOHH trying to defend himself as someone else. Augusto is probably Dash’s assistant.
Damon Dash leveraged during his Roc-A-Fella days? Now thats a stretch. You think cats in teh rap game know your fancy buisness talk? Damon was a hustler, it’s what he did. His business was on the street level and thats why it didnt work out. It don’t matter if he leveraged or not, when all his investments are shit. Look. It’s listed right here. Does he have one company mentioned in this article that has done anything good? It’s a clear no. So stop your leverage talk and go drink your red bull and empty out your office at Citi or Lehman Bros or wherever your fake wanna be ass just got fired from.
fuk dat nicca dame dash. cat done nothing since he left the roc. im glad to see dat nicca go down cuz he a cocky ass cat.he get what he deserved. and yea uz right, cats on the block dont kno what leverage is. we kno about making paper, and losing paper.
[...] However, Kanye‚Äôs mouthpiece has totally dismissed Dame‚Äôs claims telling the NY Daily News that the report is “ridiculous and totally false”. Kanye has enough bread to cop as many chains as he wants to “knight” his damn self! Real talk, Dame needs to worry about his financial woes instead of trying to start¬†up some drama. This all sounds another 50 Cent move. Could Dame be stirring up beef to bring attention to his latest protege Jim Jones?! While Dame continues to hate, get a full breakdown of his failed business ventures like ProKeds & Blocksavvy.com… [...]
@ Augusto – yea I had to research these deals. Seems to me you know all of Damon Dash’s buiness deals off the top of your head. So then help a brother out and give me the juice. By the way…the point is all of his businesses have failed maybe not financially but definitely from a marketing and from a popularity point of view…to the point that not ONE of these is still fully functioning. Oh…and the fact he can’t make a car payment pretty much shows you he is bleeding in the red.
Mr. Untouchable? You mean the movie that cost Dash over $1.5MM to produce and made $100K at the box office and sold 38K DVD units today? Let’s see…revenue after print and advertising for theatrical…$20K. marginal Revenue from DVD = $780K (including rental). Still a loss. I can talk your talk if I want. Shoot me an e-mail…I’d love to get more info from you though.
I was just reading Augusto’s first comments. I agree that it would be nicer to have more financials but at the same time this pretty much gets the point across. Homie is broke. And I assume Augusto is a financially educated man but even he should know leveraging your investments just means greater financial risk. The results of his investments? Read the articles all over about Dash.
Real reason Damon Dash is broke is because he always wanted to be a hustler and got lucky with R-O-C. But Jay carried it and once they broke off it was really clear who was the real biznass man.
Augusto fall bacc. Woooha do your thang, http://www.archerville.net got your bacc.
Dash’s new list of people to go after:
1) Jay-Z
2) New York Post
3) WoooHa.com
4) BinLaden
Sorry to say. Time has proven Dame is a dud. He doesn’t learn from his mistakes at all, and now it looks like he’s going to bury Jim Jones with one word. classic. Everyone know Jimmy can make an album. But Dame is calling his pending album a classic. Dummy. Dame you need to take a breather. Calm down all that arragant shit, and refocus. I give son his props though. He did have one success even though he is no longer part of it. Jay – Z. Don’t forget. That was an investment. His one and only good one. No Dame = No Hove!!!
Dame. Keep ya head up. You got about 3 more investments before it’s all over. Chess not checkers. Your street cred is still up to par!!!
GHETTO TRUMP.
Payback is a bitch….
Listen
People dont pay bills for all types of reasons and when you are low on liquidity than you are not quick to give money up, Rachel Roy license was purchased so they are doing okay, and the reports of the 4 billion dollar deal was never disclaimed by TSM Capital or Jones Apparel Group, so the whole Dame broke thing is stupid and his houses were foreclosed and his money manager was sued, coincidence, I think not, first when you are in a different world like that, you do not pay your own bills, the person responsible for paying the bills was stealing or making bad investments, and the bill could not be paid, and other people were paid, if you read the article, te new lawyer says everyone was paid that had to be paid and he was not found liable for anything, if you read the story..
Hip Hop businesses are always a shirade. It is never what you think. Damon Dash never owned Pro-Keds. It was a licensing deal in the U.S. to market the products and receieve a share of the proceeds (As most of the deals where an artist “owns” so and so company). Any time you hear about someone whose net woth is such and such, you have to ask yourself how “liquid” they truly are. 20 million in a payout is about 10 million after taxes. You put that in perspective in terms of lifestyle and previous debt and its real easy to see how you could be in that situation. I saw where in Forbes Jay-Z and Beyone brought in 162 million this year. Although nowhere close to being broke, after reading the reports and looking closely at where they derived the number from I can see where they made quite a few mistakes and have overestimated that number. Bottom Line: There is always more than meets the eye when talking about entertainment economics, specificially the music industry and even more specifically: Hip-Hop.
R.
You guys need to get the facts straigth. first of all he owns the master to “REASONABLE DOUBT’. , which Jay-Z will pay a good amount to own, second He and his wife have a multi-million deal on the table for her clothing line,third Dame is a business man that has made millions in the past so dont jump on his nuts when he comes back with the pay back of the year.No doubt about it he has made some bad decisions business wise but dont think for one minute that Jay-z got to the top of his game alone !
[...] Dash’s wife Rachel Roy might save the family December 6th, 2008 • Filed Under The failed business ventures of Damon Dash Filed Under: Business • Fashion Tags: Damon [...]
Kareem,Jay-Z,and Dame co-own the rights to Reasonable Doubt.
Donald Trump has had more failed business ventures than successful ones. He’s filed for bankruptcy SEVERAL times. Don’t write Dame off yet.
Dame did NOT own Pro-Keds. it was strictly a licensing deal.
i’ve worked with the guy and he’s got no class at all! does he hustle? yes! and, i agree that many people in business have “failed” businesses.
but, the fact is- he doesnt know how to treat people and has no real business sense.
yall wrote this cusz he blacc
i'M READING THIS MONTHS LATER LIKE “DAMN…AUGUSTO GOT HIS ASS RAPED ON THIS CHAT!” MUTHAFUCKA FORGOT WHERE HE WAS TYPING FOR A QUICK MINUTE. DAME IS A COCKY DUDE BUT EVERYBODY GOT TO ADMIT HE'S THE DUDE YOU LOVE TO HATE. HE WAS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT STARTING AND GROWING BUSINESSES….THIS JIM JONES COLLABO IS ANOTHER LOST CAUSE THOUGH..
I felt sorry for him..
This is a sad story.
But makes an attempt at least.
And is from what to make an attempt.
[...] is back. After a divorce, bankruptcy and just plain being clowned on by past business partners not just named Jay-Z, Dame is back. Aside from his upcoming Blac Roc [...]
I remember him sayin he would only wear a sneakers once…
LOL THAT WAS CRAZY
WELL SMH…I DESIGN PRO-KEDS HIGH TOP I SO DECIDED TO SEARCH UP MORE INFO ON THEM I DIDN’T KNOW ALL THIS HAPPENED BUT IM GLAD IT HAPPEN THE WAY IT DID OTHERWISE I WOULDNT BE MAKING MONEY DESIGNING MY OWN KEDS SHOES.
ONE MAN FALL FOR ANOTHER TO RISE SO HOPEFULLY ONE DAY DAME WILL ALSO GET HIS FAME BACK THROUGH GODS GRACE
Woodsman dint cost 3 mill,twaz 500K so get ur facts rite