Damon Dash, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Kareem "Biggs" Burke founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996 to give Jay-Z an independent label for his first album. "Reasonable Doubt" gained Jay-Z the foothold he needed and he went on to become a Grammy-winning hip-hop superstar. The company signed up artists such as Freeway and Cam'ron, and created a "manufactured" group, State Property. An astute businessman, Jay-Z got into the clothing business in 1999, with Rocawear as a subsidiary of Roc-a-Fella Enterprises.
Biggs and Jay-Z wore their "street clothing" in performances, and Dash handled the business end. Later they signed up Charlotte Ronson as singer and designer. In 2000, Rocawear signed a contract with Midway Games to design clothing for the PlayStation character "Afro Thunder." Macy's sold real-life versions. In 2002, Rocawear started leveraging movies, providing the clothing for "State Property" through Lions Gate Entertainment. Roc-A-Fella Films was born.
Rocawear had Victoria Beckham model Rocawear, and in 2002 opened an Amsterdam office and a 35,000 square foot showroom in New York. In 2003, Charlotte Ronson's first line (C. Ronson) was released, garnering $1 million in sales. Targeting young, hip people, by 2003 the clothes were doing around $300 million in sales. Selfridges started selling Rocawear, and Naomi Campbell joined Victoria and David Beckham as celebrity representatives. Rocawear set up a new marketing agency, Native/DBG.
In 2004, Def Jam bought out Roc-A-Fella. Dash was accused of rape, Beanie Sigel of "State Property" was going to jail on weapons charges and Native/DBG dissolved after Dash and Gensler, its leader, had "irreconcilable differences." Dash hired Roy Edmundson as vice president, but fired him in November.
Jay-Z, Burke and Dash fell out when Jay-Z became president and CEO of Def Jam, giving only Jay-Z a stake in Roc-A-Fella Records.
Even so, Rocawear continued to expand, introducing Tiret, a new high-end jewelry line, and selling Brandon Thomas jackets. Rocawear gained licensing rights for Pro-Keds and set up Team Roc sportswear.
In 2005, Rocawear lost business partner Ryan Kenny but gained a new line with designer Patricia Field--the House of Rocawear. "State Property 2" was released and boosted sales. Dash left Rocawear by September that year, selling his interest. In 2007, Rocawear was accused of using raccoon-dog fur on some of its faux-fur products. Rocawear claimed it did not know.
In 2007, Jay-Z sold Rocawear to Iconix Brand Group but retained his stake and involvement in licensing, development and marketing. Rocawear was doing $700 million in annual sales. Two years later, Rocawear launched Roc-4-Life, its fashion and music social networking site. In August 2009, it held an exclusive party to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the start of several birthday events including a Madison Square gig, new advertising campaign, new perfume ("X") and website.