Wealthoran

Entrepreneur

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

Jay-Z: $2.5 billion. Dame Dash's third of Roc-A-Fella: auctioned for $1 million. Dame says it ended at one dinner, with one sentence from Jay.

He says he'd heard it from L.A. Reid: Jay would take the Def Jam president job, but Dame and Biggs couldn't come with him. Dame didn't believe it. At dinner, he says, Jay told him: "As long as you're around, I can't be looked at as a businessman."

The facts: Jay-Z, Dame Dash and Biggs Burke started Roc-A-Fella in 1995. In 2004 Def Jam bought the rest and made Jay its president. In 2024, Dame's one-third stake went to New York State for $1 million, over $1.7 million in back taxes.

Dame, in the video: "It was more friendship for me and money for him."

The case for Dame: he says every label turned Jay down until they built their own. He ran the business. He thought partners stay partners.
The case for Jay: the songs and the voice were his. He wanted to grow as a businessman. Nobody signs a friendship for life.

In the video below, Dame describes that dinner.

If your best friend outgrows your business, does he owe you a seat?

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@Bullmindes What did he hear in the car?

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@justlunacy Eight years together, but only married for the last few. Which years should count?

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@Duskrave Losing money to strangers is one thing. Losing it to family is a different kind of hurt, and it’s way more common than people think.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@zovarynx The irony is the best part. Stern lost a contract fight on “clear language,” then won one on the exact same principle.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@justlunacy Agreed. Getting sober after all that is the real win in this story.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

Mike Tyson earned at least $400 million in the ring. In 2003 he filed for bankruptcy owing $27 million. He says Don King, the promoter he blames for the money, was sure he'd end up a junkie dying on the street. Where Tyson actually ended up, years later, is the part nobody saw coming.

In the video below, he tells the story himself.

August 2003, a bankruptcy court in Manhattan. The most feared heavyweight on the planet files for Chapter 11. The IRS is first in line. His spokeswoman blames former managers and associates who handled his money.

Tyson's version is shorter. Asked about King, the man who promoted his biggest fights, he starts with "he stole" and then catches himself: "well, we had problems and I lost a lot of money."

What came next, he says, was worse than the money. Drugs. Drinking. Rehab. Shame. He says there were days he wanted to die.

And according to Tyson, King expected the obvious ending. The champ, broke and high, gone.

Years later, sober, Tyson bought a multimillion dollar mansion in Florida. The address of that house is the punchline he saves for last.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@Duskrave Probably all three. Tyson himself says he made plenty of his own mistakes too.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@Bullmindes That’s the part people miss. It’s never one villain, it’s everyone who had a hand in the money.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@SickSynse412 Interesting. So the real dispute might’ve been over the price, not the friendship.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

Jay-Z: $2.5 billion. Dame Dash's third of Roc-A-Fella: auctioned for $1 million. Dame says it ended at one dinner, with one sentence from Jay.

He says he'd heard it from L.A. Reid: Jay would take the Def Jam president job, but Dame and Biggs couldn't come with him. Dame didn't believe it. At dinner, he says, Jay told him: "As long as you're around, I can't be looked at as a businessman."

The facts: Jay-Z, Dame Dash and Biggs Burke started Roc-A-Fella in 1995. In 2004 Def Jam bought the rest and made Jay its president. In 2024, Dame's one-third stake went to New York State for $1 million, over $1.7 million in back taxes.

Dame, in the video: "It was more friendship for me and money for him."

The case for Dame: he says every label turned Jay down until they built their own. He ran the business. He thought partners stay partners.
The case for Jay: the songs and the voice were his. He wanted to grow as a businessman. Nobody signs a friendship for life.

In the video below, Dame describes that dinner.

If your best friend outgrows your business, does he owe you a seat?

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@Oooshalee That’s the part that stings most for Dame. Jay’s side would say a job offer isn’t a company decision until you take it.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@La_Gata___ A lot of fans point to that. Dame saw it as growing the label, Jay’s side saw it as a second power center.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@koena_tshepo Perfect line for this thread. Jay basically answered Dame in a song years ago.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@mrenigmaisback Heart of the Roc” is how a lot of early fans remember him. The question is whether the heart or the voice mattered more once it got big.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@BrooklynKid20 Appreciate it. The job comparison works, except in this case Dame helped build the company you’re walking out of.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@weppsproperties Fair. Dame would say he wasn’t just a friend, he was a business partner. That’s a harder thing to outgrow quietly.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@MrDruCartier Ha, it’s become hip-hop’s longest-running breakup story.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@Hendrxxnyc Biggs gets forgotten in this story a lot. He was the third founder and barely gets mentioned.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@KerryIsms71 Funny thing is, Jay has openly cited The Prince as an influence. Whether that’s a compliment or a warning depends on which side of the dinner table you were on.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@SpotOnLee The masters weren’t really his to give at that point. That’s part of what made the split so messy.

[Wealthoran @Wealthoran]

@SamanthaXox2 Fair. Most people who’ve outgrown a partner would agree. Most people who got outgrown wouldn’t.