Damon Dash

About

Damon Anthony Dash (born May 3, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and record executive. He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay-Z and Kareem Burke in 1994, and co-founded the fashion retailer Rocawear with the former in 1999. He is also the founder and CEO of record labels such as Damon Dash Music Group, BluRoc Records and BlakRoc LLC.

Born in New York City, Dash swept the floors of a local barbershop and sold newspapers in order to buy sneakers and shirts as a teenager. Dash “learned to hustle”, in his own words, from the example of his mother, who died of an asthma attack when he was 15. The same year, Dash was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. “Before I was diagnosed … I went about a month or two just going to the bathroom non-stop and losing weight”, Dash recalled. “Magic Johnson had just been diagnosed with AIDS, so that’s what I thought I had. I was scared to even go to the doctor. I thought I was going to die.”

Dash served as Jay-Z’s manager and business partner at Roc-A-Fella Records, and in 1999, he organized a tour for Jay-Z which made $19 million. Their relationship soured as a result of two subsequent events. The first was when Roc-A-Fella…