Roc-A-Fella Records founder and Jay-Z’s partner says he is “ proud broke,” and is struggling to pay his child support bills for his youngest daughter with model and fashion designer Rachel Roy.
The Harlem native made the explosive revelation on “The CEO Show” with Dr. Taje Moreno on the Nu Network. He claimed that the court and Roy’s attorneys are erroneously considering his net worth from decades ago to extract money he no longer earns. Because his current business ventures are not making money, he can’t meet the child support arrangements he has for years struggled to pay.
“While I’m investing in something else, I might not be making the money and the profit, so I can’t afford to pay out what I was when I was having EBITA of eight million dollars a year. So, you can’t judge how much I’m gonna pay out by how much I made 20 years ago,” he said.
Dame’s Back Story
Once a prominent figure in hip-hop, Dash, alongside Jay-Z, co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records, orchestrating the lucrative Hard Knock Life tour in 1999, amassing $19 million. With Roc-A-Fella’s fame and constant placement at the top of the charts, he reportedly reached a pinnacle net worth of $50 million. He also raked in millions from Roc-A-Wear, their clothing line, and the brand’s film company.
With the dissolution of his personal and professional relationship with Jay-Z, his companies and many other ventures failed. As a result, his finances seemed to tank. Now, in 2023, his estimated net worth is $100,000, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Still, he is working to reach the same heights he once soared at in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
He also noted that he had to start his new company “from scratch,” without the capital that is needed to start any venture.
“I had to do it [by] rubbing two sticks together,” Dash lamented, before adding this is the reason why he can’t pay the six figures, ranging between $300,000 to $400,000, that the court has mandated over the years.
He continued saying that he is “not ashamed” of where he is right now because he has “things to show for it, but it hasn’t profited yet.”
“I’m like a proud broke,” he declared, clarifying, “[Proud Broke] ain’t broke, because I have things to show for it.”
While being proud broke, the hip-hop mogul has had a few shameful moments, particularly around child support payments.
In 2019, he was arrested for unpaid child support. He had to pay back support not just to Roy, but to his first child’s mother, Cindy Morales.
According to People, he was facing over $400,000 in child support owed to two women, responsible for daughters Ava and Tallulah (from his relationship with Roy) and his son, Lucky (from Morales). In April 2015, a Bronx family court judge issued an arrest warrant for Dash and mandated a $62,000 payment to Morales. It took four years for a Supreme Court divorce warrant to be issued, demanding Dash to pay $342,000 to Roy.
Dash addressed the warrants at a Manhattan courthouse. After settling about $1 million to resolve one warrant, he was promptly arrested upon leaving the courtroom. Subsequently, Dash was handcuffed and escorted by police to a Bronx courthouse to settle his remaining debts. Overall, he reportedly paid over $1 million to clear his name and get released from jail.
Four years later, he continues to battle with two of his four children’s mothers in court.
Damon’s eldest son, Damon “Boogie” Dash Jr., is from his relationship with Linda Williams, and his youngest son, Dusko, is with Raquel Horn. Neither Williams, whose son is 30, nor Horn, who is in a relationship with Dash, is currently pursuing child support claims.
Why is the Becky with the good hair again a female attached to Dame from Jay? It just seems kinda targeted to me. IJS