• The failed business ventures of Damon Dash
• Damon Dash to release “tell-all” book
• Damon Dash’s BlockSavvy.com is dead
• Dame Dash introduces Tiret watches collab with Range Rover
• Mos Def and Dame Dash team up for movie

Love him or hate him Dame Dash always keeps popping up in the latest hip-hop business news for his new ventures. Once a hustler…always a hustler. Personally, WoooHa feels Dame Dash still has plenty to offer the hip-hop world as we await his Blac Roc project and new film with Mos Def. Unfortunately WoooHa has exclusively learned that Dame’s biggest internet project to date, BlockSavvy.com is now dead.

For those who remember, Dash launched BlockSavvy.com back in December of 2006 hoping to capitalize off the popularity of social networking sites like MySpace. BlockSavvy was built to be the “urban lifestyle” version of MySpace but where users could upgrade their virtual neighborhood “block” and design their own rooms using Savvy dollars. Despite a huge PR push and lining up big time advertisers ranging from Toyota to AT&T, BlockSavvy.com was never really able to lift off. Perhaps part of the reason was that Dash was more concerned about making MySpace type money off of the site versus really paying attention and focusing on the user interface and on-site experience.

Back in 2007, CNN Money asked him his reasons for creating the site in which Dash responded, “Money. After MySpace sold for $580 million, we said, damn, we gotta get us some of that.”

So now BlockSavvy.com is dead. Officially dead. The site has been completely removed from the internet and there are no current announced plans to relaunch the site. In the meantime, Dame Dash has already moved on to his next projects leaving the future fate of BlockSavvy to original site developer Kwame Decuir. Will there ever be a BlockSavvy 2.0? With Damon Dash always expect the unexpected…even though no website is in place, they just renewed the rights to the BlockSavvy.com name last month.

• The failed business ventures of Damon Dash
• Mos Def and Dame Dash team up for movie
• Jim Jones is back but his Nostic clothing line is not
• Damon Dash to release “tell-all” book
• Dame Dash introduces Tiret watches collab with Range Rover

Dame 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 music project, Mr. Dash will also be stepping back into film producing and already has a film in the works with Mos Def. Rumors have been swirling for awhile about this one but Dame recently confirmed with XXL that he is producing a documentary about an obscure all-black punk band named Death from the 1970s Detroit scene.

Dame says the movie has already started filming and that him and Mos will share production duties and Coodie and Chike, the Chicago-based directing duo known for their work on videos for Kanye West (”Through the Wire”), and Mos (”Ghetto Rock”), will be directing the flick. No word yet on release date or further details at this moment. Aside from this film project Dame also plans to launch a TV station called Creative Control with Coodie and Chike.

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• Dame Dash’s wife Rachel Roy might save the family
• Damon Dash’s BlockSavvy.com is dead
• The failed business ventures of Damon Dash
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• VIDEO: Dame Dash talks the rise and fall of his Roc-A-Fella empire

Books are like the new album these days. Well, first there is Amil and now I am getting the word that Dame Dash is also writing a book about his life and times. In fact, I heard Dame’s book is already finished. Guess who I am hearing the book was written by none other than Kim Osorio, the former editor-in-chief of The Source magazine. Yeah, baby– Dame’s about to be BACK! Anyway, I heard he is looking for a publisher or distribution for this masterpiece! Good luck!

Would be good to hear some official word on this though. I hope there is some flip cam action of him yelling at his book publisher’s marketing department.

• Mos Def and Dame Dash team up for movie
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• The failed business ventures of Damon Dash
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• VIDEO: Dame Dash talks the rise and fall of his Roc-A-Fella empire

Dame Dash x Tiret. Dame might have lost his wife but he still has himself one nice ride. At the recent Baselworld Watch Expo in Switzerland (Swatch need not apply) Dame unveiled a custom Range Rover Sport designed by his luxury watch company Tiret New York.

The truck was designed to compliment Tiret New York’s signature diamond watches (shown below) so naturally this custom Range has diamonds in it too. Some how I completely forgot Dame was part owner in this company. The sad thing is I bet Jermaine Dupri’s Pop Watches will do better.

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• Damon Dash’s BlockSavvy.com is dead

While many of Dash’s business ventures have failed, Dash and his wife Rachel Roy announced back in June that they had signed a $4 billion joint venture with Jones Apparel Group. Rachel Roy recently showed off her new pre-Fall 2009 fashion line which is inspired by the gangster film Bugsy Malone. This could be the saving grace of the Dash family. (Source)

• The failed business ventures of Damon Dash
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• Jim Jones is back but his Nostic clothing line is not
• Mos Def launches own clothing line
• PICS: Dame Dash’s new form of transportation

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.

• Dame Dash’s wife Rachel Roy might save the family
• Damon Dash’s BlockSavvy.com is dead
• Mos Def and Dame Dash team up for movie
• Dame Dash introduces Tiret watches collab with Range Rover
• Damon Dash to release “tell-all” book