He’s had an insane career, so who’s Ava’s dad on Next Gen NYC? Let’s meet Damon Dash

Ava Dash is one of the cast members on Next Gen NYC, but as she turns out she has a mega famous dad, so let’s meet Damon Dash and find about his rather large financial fall from grace.

He’s rubbed shoulders with a lot of huge musicians

Damon founded Roc-A-Fella records alongside Jay Z and Kareem Burke in 1994, as well as co-founding the fashion retailer Rocawear in 1999. He also founded and is the CEO of various record labels including Damon Dash Music Group, BluRoc Records and BlakRoc LLC.

He’s been in a lot of relationships over the years

Damon met R&B singer Aaliyah in New York in 2000 with the pair dating until she tragically died in a plane crash in August 2001. Whilst the two hadn’t officially got engaged, Damon shared that the pair had planned to get married.

In 2005, Damon married fashion designer Rachel Roy who he’d previously dated before Aaliyah. She and Damon had Next Gen NYC star Ava Dash and Tallulah together, with Damon going on to be a dad to three other kids with other women.

Damon and Rachel got divorced in 2009 and in 2015 she accused him of domestic violence and filed a restraining order against him. She was awarded sole custody of their two daughters and were granted a three year restraining against him.

Damon also has a son called Dame ‘Boogie’ with his former girlfriend, as well as another son called Lucky with another woman. He’s currently engaged to Raquel Horn, with the pair having a son called Dusko together, who was born in 2020.

He’s had a lot of legal woes

In 2012 he was sued by the rapper Curren$y for $1.5 million for releasing his music without his permission. In 2014 he was ordered to pay Linda Williams, the mother of Dame ‘Boogie’ $50k for causing her to be prosecuted on harassment charges in 2009.

Then in 2019 he was arrested for failing to pay more then $400k in child support. He was also arrested for two warrants and paid over £1.5 million in legal fees and various payouts.

As a result in September 2025 he filed for bankruptcy, and was previously thought to be worth a whopping $60 million prior to filming. The bankruptcy petition showed he owed a total of $25,303,049.47 to as many as 49 creditors, with around $19.1 million of that owed to the government in the form of taxes and other debts. He also owes nearly $648,000 in domestic support obligations to his ex-wife Rachel Roy, and his ex-girlfriend Cindy Morales.

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