Damon Dash

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.

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 Records was purchased by Def Jam Recordings (which had previously only owned half of the company) in 2004, after which Jay-Z agreed to take a job as Def Jam's president. Then, in late 2005, Jay-Z bought Dash out of his stake in Rocawear.

In April 2014, it was announced that Dash is involved with Blind Debit, a fingerprint payment application being developed by Dez White.

Dash founded DD172, a media collective which encompasses: America Nu, a magazine; VNGRD79, a web design firm; BluRoc Records, a record label division. It also includes an art gallery.

In February 2018, Dash released the album Culture Vultures (Audio Experience) alongside Kenyatta Griggs. The album saw a series of interviews with Dash about his life, put against a musical backdrop; subjects Dash discussed include his relationships with Jay Z and Aaliyah, his mother's death, and being diabetic. A book was also released, coinciding with the audio commentary.

On June 21, 2025, Dash's rock group The Black Guns released the album 365, in collaboration with rapper Freeway. Of the release, Dash stated, " I’m usually a businessman, but I wanted to be an artist and I wanted to pay homage to real rock and roll".

Dash met R&B singer Aaliyah in New York City in the summer of 2000 through his accountant, and dated her until her death on August 25, 2001, in a plane crash in The Bahamas. Though they were not formally engaged, in interviews given after Aaliyah's death, Dash stated that the couple had planned to marry.