Was this dice-shakin’ dance machine doing his best ‘Boardwalk Empire’ impression???

​Damon Dash—fallen hip-hop mogul, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records—had a club not so long ago in Tribeca called DD172. SOTC alum Zach Baron referred to it as “gallery-cum-illegal-performance-space-cum-goofy-artless-takeoff-on-Warhol’s-Factory,” and the Observer called Dash a “Wannabe Warhol”: “Sometimes the four-story warehouse is a sprawling art gallery; at other times, it’s a photo studio, or an indie band’s rehearsal space.” To Tribecans, it was “a front” for a suspected unlicensed club, a nuisance, a disturbance.
DD172 hasn’t been operational since June, when the Tribeca Citizen observed stuff being moved out of the space at 172 Duane Street. Yesterday, the quiet block where the club was located—located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in New York—rippled with interest as the city brought legal action against the building’s owners.

At around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, cops served the property with a court summons and order to show cause. The defendants, 172 Duane Street Realty and “Jane and John Doe” (the tenants, i.e. Dash and associates) are accused of six counts of storing and selling alcoholic beverages without a license, as detailed in court documents obtained by the Voice. DD172 was caught violating the liquor code for the first time in November 2010 and as recently as May, according to the affidavits of police who investigated the club.

One document states that the violations “were conducted in an open and notorious manner and the operators of this establishment appear to have evinced a ‘business as usual’ attitude in the subject premises.” DD172′s repeated violations are used as evidence that the club’s actions constitute a public nuisance. The plaintiffs are asking for a preliminary injunction from the judge, plus a restraining order.

Said one salty tenant about Dash as a neighbor:

“Damon Dash was a terrible neighbor. It was always super loud, super noisy, tons of garbage in the street. All these 18-year-old kids smoking and drinking—real thugs. They were disrespectful to the neighborhood.”

This neighbor said the local rumor is that “the owner rented to Damon Dash to f**k with the neighbors,” and that the landlord knew full well that Dash wasn’t the kind of tenant the neighborhood wanted. He described Dash as a “hustler” and DD172′s purported “media collective” status as a “front” for an illegal club, a claim that the city apparently corroborates.

Damn, Dame just can’t get right…SMH

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Last week we talked about some stars that threw shade at Bey Bey, but her husband has gotten his fair share of insults from rappers, journalists and plain old regular people.

Let’s take a look at the people that threw shade Jigga’s way.

As many times as Kanye’s said it, it’s no secret that former Roc-A-Fella mogul Damon Dash is a known a$$hole. Still there are many who probably hoped they’d see a softer side of Dame on last night’s BET tribute to the late great Aaliyah “One In A Million.”

Unfortunately it didn’t really happen that way. BOSSIP live tweeted the show and we were particularly struck by a moment when Dame tells the cameras he didn’t want to fly to Australia to see Aaliyah while she was filming “Queen of the Damned” because “he didn’t want to show how open he was” and he was filming “Paid in Full” and it would have seemed irresponsible. He did end up flying to L.A. to see her when she flew there for Matrix auditions though. Other folks on our timeline were upset that Dame preferred to call her his “homie” instead of girlfriend and significant other. While he admitted he didn’t expect to have “those kind of feelings” for her, for some folks it just wasn’t enough. Also when it came time to discuss the plane crash, Dame claimed he told her not to take the plane after she 2-wayed him that she wasn’t feeling the small craft. Meanwhile, for years many have blamed him as the reason she wanted to depart the Bahamas early.

How do you feel about it, is Dame a wankster for still trying to appear cool and blameless after all these years or is it saying something that he participated in the special at all???

This shady mu’fuggah here!

As much as Dame Dash used to show off his son Boog when the checks were coming in, his baby mama now says he is doing any and everything to avoid helping her take care of their son.

Linda Williams – who has a 19-year-old son (also named Damon Dash) – is battling her famous ex to pay court ordered payments of $425 per week to help support their son.

Williams claims that Dash Sr. – who once had an estimated fortune of $50 million – has also interfered with their son from going to college because this would mean he will have to continue to pay child support.

Williams told RadarOnline.com: “I just want Damon Dash to do the right thing by his son and pay his support and help me get him in college.

“My son got into Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY, on a $30,000 scholarship recently to do music, but his father did not want him to go even though it would not have cost him anything.

“He keeps telling him ‘tell your mom to drop the child support case and get out of court’ when my son just wants to be a normal teenager and go to college.

“His father recently set him up with some DJ gigs in New York, and I’m worried that he falls in with a bad crowd and gets involved with drugs and alcohol.

Now, in Dame’s defense: Boog is 19. At this point, if he wants to help his son out directly and avoid the baby mama as a middle man, he should be able to, right? Especially since we all know that man’s money is funny these days. And New York doesn’t play about those child support cases.

On April 6, 2010, Magistrate Cheryl Weir Reeves threatened to jail and seize Dash Sr.’s driving and business licenses, if he did not comply with previous rulings.

The back-dated payments of $425 per week to Williams were due to began on May 27, 2010.

Their original child support agreement in November 8, 1999, called upon Dash to pay her $3,766.67 per month in child support payments.

In addition, he was ordered to pay for his son’s summer camp, tutoring fees, private school tuition, karate lessons, guitar lessons plus the quarterly sum of $1,000 as vacation expenses also.

Last year, two multi-million dollar lofts he owned in Manhattan, New York, went into foreclosure after he failed to make the $78, 500 per month payments on them.

According to the State of New Jersey’s Division of Taxation, Dash is currently the second biggest debtor to the state, owing $23,073,227.56 in back taxes to New York and New Jersey.

But Linda Williams doesn’t believe claims that Dash Sr. is totally broke.

She said: “At our last court appearance he admitted that he was paying between $10,000 and $12,000 per month for his home in Up-State New York, plus he has an art gallery and recording studio in Manhattan, so, he’s hardly broke.”

Do you think Linda’s really in this for her son’s sake?? Or is she just trying to make sure she her cut while Dame’s checks are still coming in??

The economy is tough. People are getting shown the door left and right. But we’re not the only people nervous about our job prospects. Here are some celebrities that got publicly fired in embarrassing fashion.

From Hip Hop heavyweight to …. ? What has Damon Dash been up to exactly?! !

We’ve been wondering the same thing.

Turns out that Damon Dash has opened a vintage clothing store in New York!

Say it ain’t so… this is pure comedy!

“Dame’s store, called The Local 172 Trading Post, will carry lines from Ralph Lauren, Pendelton, LL Bean and Woolrich [what? No House of Dereon?]. The Local 172 Trading Post is scheduled to open March 26 in the same Tribeca building Dame houses his art gallery and recording studio.”

We salute Dash’s attempt to make a pretty penny!

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Hmmmm….

Beautiful designer Rachel Roy may be working on a new romance — she’s been spotted dining with Indianapolis Colt defensive end Dwight Freeney. They were seen in late February celebrating his birthday at Abe & Arthur’s and then partying late at Covet and looking cozy dining at Beauty & Essex on Wednesday night. Roy, who’s been collaborating on a range of women’s wear with Amar’e Stoudemire, is estranged from her ex, Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash. A friend said, “Rachel and Dwight have been out for a few dinners and get on well, but it is early days.” Her rep declined to comment.

We know she has to move on and all, but we wonder how Dame feels about this one.

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Nowadays, fashion goes hand and hand with just about every form of entertainment you can think of, and more than one rapper, singer, actress, model, has come out with a clothing line at some point in their career.

Some of these lines are good, some are bad, some are profitable, some were finsihed before they started. Here is a list of a few that have that you may have on right now, and some that are being hidden in your closet hoping no one ever finds them…EVER!

No, not Dame. The one you forgot existed.

Dang! Times must have been real hard for the non-rapping, non-dancing co-founder of Roc-A-Fella since the split in ’06.

Kareem “Biggs” Burke, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, which launched the career of superstar rapper Jay-Z, was among 43 people arrested today in a massive drug sweep spanning from New York to South Florida, authorities said.
Also nabbed was Matthew Stang, a writer and senior ad rep at High Times magazine, a well-known chronicle of chronic culture.
“In the case of the High Times employee, it’s a case of art imiitiating real life,” said Jim Hayes special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Burke was nabbed early this morning by ICE agents at his home in North Bergen, NJ, Hayes said.

And even in this new venture, Biggs couldn’t manage to be the top dog.

The 18-month investigation into the vast narcotics network – headed by Geovanny “Manny” Rodriguez Perez – resulted in $1 million in seized profits and 177 pounds of marijuana, Hayes said.

At least another seven people are expected to be arrested as a result of the operation, dubbed “Green Venom,” he said. Investigators used state and federal wiretaps to catch the drug smugglers, authorities said.

Over the last 20 years, Perez used violence to intimidate competitors, according to authorities.

“He has created a super drug distribution network that has controlled the marijuana market in NYC,” Hayes said.
Perez is suspected of being involved with the New York City drug trade since the 1990s — using couriers with vehicles to move the product and planes to transport the ill-gotten proceeds.

“It was transported in bulk from Florida to New York. From there it was divvied up among three main cells in the NYC-area and distributed to their clients,” Hayes said.

“Right now we are focused on taking down the network and, as the investigation continues, we want to make sure that other rival networks or other co-conspirators cannot use the same tools.”

When will these drug dealers stop using “Blow” and “Scarface” as a business model?

For all that shade Dame throws Camel‘s way, he clearly wasn’t making Biggs was living the life along with him.

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