https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/snoop-dogg-death-row-records-new-album-dr-dre-suge-knight-1235090165/

Death Row Records ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was acquired at auction three years later for $18 million by WIDEawake Entertainment. It changed hands a bit over the years, ultimately landing at Blackstone and MNRK. In a statement, Snoop, says the brand has “immense” untapped value.

“It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me,” explained Snoop, who went on to sign with No Limit Records, Interscope, Capitol, Geffen, Priority Records and Def Jam. “I would like to personally thank the teams at Blackstone, MNRK and especially David Kestnbaum, who worked collaboratively with me over several months to make this exciting homecoming a reality.”

Blackstone’s Kestnbaum, a senior managing director, returned the favor by praising Snoop as a legend. “We at Blackstone are strong supporters of the artist and creator community in our entertainment investments. We are excited to put the Death Row Records brand back in the hands of a legend like Snoop Dogg. We wish him success in the years ahead as the brand moves forward under his leadership and vision.”

MNRK Music Group’s president and CEO Chris Taylor praised Snoop as the executive with long-term ambitions to “take Death Row into its next 30 years.” The deal comes at a busy time for the artist formerly known as Snoop Doggy Dogg. He will perform alongside Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige as part of the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show from SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13.

He is also releasing a new album, B.O.D.R., an acronym that stands for “Back on Death Row,” in partnership with Gala Games, the blockchain gaming platform. That company announced today that its newly launched division, Gala Music, will be home to three bonus tracks from B.O.D.R., and as part of the launch, Snoop is also dropping a “Stash Box” of NFTs on Feb. 9 at 4:20 p.m. PST on the new Gala Music store.

nm

karma is on snoops side

This makes me so nostalgic. Obviously I know I'm not exactly unique in that regard haha, but Snoop (and Dre, and Death Row in general) was my first obsession in music .. when I was in 2nd grade lol. I bemoaned Dre's departure and the end of Death Row, and especially g-funk's dominance, well into the 2000s. Even when Chronic 2001 first came out I was kinda lukewarm about it, cuz I hated how sparse the beats were when compared to the sprawling, lush beats he produced during the Death Row era that I fell in love with. I spent years searching for another producer who could recreate that type of sound but no one ever did.

My hometown friends still associate me with Snoop and Death Row to this day (for example, my wife just bought me the Doggystyle jacket Snoop's been wearing for a few years now, for my birthday, and my iPhone case was the Doggystyle album cover for like a decade haha). So you can imagine the influx of texts I received today when this news came out lol.

Anyway when I first saw Snoop plugging his new album "BODR" on IG, I pretty much immediately knew what it stood for. And then, in one of the first posts about the album, he was in the studio with Harry O. So I sort of thought hm, I wonder if there's anything more to this album title. Not saying I predicted *this* exactly, just that I was curious if there was more to that post and the album title than he was letting on.

When the current (now prior) owners of Death Row first bought the label (I think maybe like 5 or 6 years ago), I was psyched because I expected some like limited edition type of stuff, unreleased albums and songs, that sort of shit. And I've been mostly disappointed with the output. I've bought a couple of the vinyl reissues (the Murder Was the Case soundtrack , for example). I've also checked the merchandise page on their website periodically, but have been mostly meh about what they've offered there. So hopefully Snoop will bring more to the table in that regard.

I also wondered, at the time of that purchase, why like Snoop and/or Dre and maybe some of the other original DR artists hadn't gone in together to reclaim/buy the label. So I'm psyched that one of them finally decided to do so.

Curious and excited to see what Snoop does with it now. I imagine, just because it's Snoop and everything he touches turns gold, that he'll come up with some cool shit for the fans and be really dynamic and creative with it. But if nothing else, it's a really cool full circle moment and hopefully it results in some dope new music. Looking forward to his album. Some of the song clips he's posted on his IG page sound really really good.

For years it was here and Weeknd’s managers and team all had merch from the label while they were all on the come up. I think their office and studio were in the same building as Chris from Last Gang Records who later went on to run eOne/Koch which is now MNRK.

Sounds like he just acquired the Brand which is pretty dope.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Did I miss something?

actually worth something Dre would've bought it awhile ago.

Is Snoop planning on putting out new material at 50?

I remember seeing Suge's son on some reality show talking about getting his family's company back I guess not

>actually worth something Dre would've bought it awhile ago.
>
>Is Snoop planning on putting out new material at 50?
>
>I remember seeing Suge's son on some reality show talking
>about getting his family's company back I guess not


Dude has straight up eras

>actually worth something Dre would've bought it awhile ago.

And prolly still has PTSD from his time there and the headaches he put up with when he left so he likely wanted to just leave it behind entirely haha. That's pure spec on my part, of course.

Even if it is just sentimental, so what ? That's fun.


>Is Snoop planning on putting out new material at 50?

Yes. New album tomorrow. Has also been putting out 1-2 albums per year for like 5+ years now.


>I remember seeing Suge's son on some reality show talking
>about getting his family's company back I guess not

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>Is Snoop planning on putting out new material at 50?

Coming Back and Out of the Box are easily my favorites. Snoop sounds the best over those type of beats these days. When they beat dropped on Still Smokin though….man. I was smiling so hard. Sandwich Bag (Bink) is a favorite too.

>Coming Back and Out of the Box are easily my favorites.
>Snoop sounds the best over those type of beats these days.

That's always been his comfort zone. And I agree that Battlecat should've done the whole thing. For his "return to Death Row" album I was hoping he'd keep it entirely west coast. Per usual tho he tried to please everyone, with mixed results. Album's too long too, also per usual haha.

But yea Coming Back is easily the best song on the whole thing.

I heard a podcast recently .. can't for the life of me remember who was being interviewed. It was someone I hadn't previously associated w/Lady of Rage. Anyway whoever it was was telling her story about when she told everybody she was going west to sign with Dre. This interviewee was like, we ALL knew it was on for her. But obviously it didn't work out that way. No fault of hers.

Imagine making "G Funk Intro" then never getting to drop an album on Death Row. What a fucking travesty. That's one of the hardest verses ever written/spit.

I remember hearing that on the Doggystyle episode I want to say.

I could've sworn it was an interview with someone, like a producer or fellow MC but you may actually be right. Or maybe it was both ? I'll have to try and look back.

I've heard him tell that story a couple of times. They used to hang out long before she got signed.


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>Imagine making "G Funk Intro" then never getting to drop an
>album on Death Row. What a fucking travesty. That's one of the
>hardest verses ever written/spit.

Everything about that verse is just AMAZING...

Edit - just pulled it up on YouTube (still available there) before my first meeting for work today. My goodness this still goes so hard. Could come out TODAY and still be just as fresh. Production is just so clean and that verse?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulw6tL7I6QE

https://www.discogs.com/release/2077316-The-Lady-Of-Rage-Necessary-Roughness

It came out in 1997; three years after "Afro Puffs." I haven't played it in a minute, but I remember it being decent. It's where the "Premier, DJ Premier, P-P-P-Premier" tag comes from.


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Im not doing that NFT thing that is being talked about.

Edit Murder was Case also no longer available.

If I really want to, I can still pull up just about any 90s album off a flash drive.

There’s always YouTube, too.

Maybe he’s just reworking his deal with Spotify and they’ll be back eventually?

i mean, i have them on CD's and hard drive.
fuckin with my spotify 90s playlists tho

he's going to try leveraging them in the most profitable way he can - whether that's NFTs or limited re-releases only through physical media. To create as much demand as possible it makes sense to manufacture scarcity by pulling from the streaming sites. After he does some kind of drop I'm sure the catalog will be available streaming within a few months, but he could net a ton of $$$ off of that type of plan, with little effort involved.

Can’t knock him for trying to get paid for his music, but if it isn’t only temporary that would stink for the fans.

The logo? The catalog?

This article is missing a lot of info.

What was the purchase price? Who was the seller?

Is Snoop a front man or does he actually have equity, let alone full ownership?

How will he run Death Row and work as an exec at Def Jam AND be a recording artist?

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

I see zoomers wearing them ironically

at first he just owned the name and logos, etc.

but i read/heard that a few weeks later he gained the rights to all the music EXCEPT 2Pac's, which is owned by 2pac's/Afeni's estate(s).

don't quote me on this though.

From what I understand it’s just his stuff and the Dogg Pound currently. Haven’t heard anything about the lower tier DR artists. But no Pac and no Chronic which I’m grateful for because the Snoop and Pound stuff is now missing from streaming services.

makes sense Dr. Dre would have that.

Because you have asked some very basic questions which 98% of articles published about the acquisition bothered to answer.

Most of what's found online is just repurposing the blackstone press release.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

To your point the initial press release in early February was just about him acquiring the label itself (logo, naming rights, etc.) and not the music.

Then a couple weeks later the news broke about him separately obtaining rights to the music, but not the Chronic or 2Pac's catalog. Then after that he kinda blurred the message in saying he had The Chronic while Dre's attorney said he didn't:

https://eurweb.com/2022/03/08/dr-dres-attorney-statement-on-the-chronic/

Snoop will reportedly have full control over the label’s catalog, with the exception of 2Pac’s “All Eyez On Me” and “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,” as well as Dre’s “The Chronic.”

Snoop told Tidal that Pac’s albums were returned to his estate in 2021.

“As far as 2Pac’s masters, 2Pac’s masters came back to him last year. But I got a great relationship with his estate, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to be able to work something out … to continue some Death Row 2Pac business now that Snoop Dogg is in control of Death Row. Same with Dr. Dre and The Chronic. I got The Chronic album. I got Doggystyle, Tha Doggfather, Murder Was the Case, Dogg Food, Above the Rim. I got all those records.”

Billboard previously reported that Dre would regain ownership of “The Chronic” in 2023, meaning that “could give Snoop Dogg time to negotiate with Dr. Dre to try and keep the album on the label, even if it’s only through a distribution deal.”

Meanwhile, Dre’s attorney told Complex, “Dre owns The Chronic and it’s not for sale.”

There is probably some of that L.A. Hollywood myth building energy surrounding the news on the deal.

No longer on Spotify:

i'm sure it'll all be back once the numbers are negotiated.

but, it is a kind of STARK reminder that if you don't have physicals or downloads, your favorite music could easily disappear from your ears forever.

I guess you have to dig up the RARs of Dogg Food, and Doggystyle Blue Carpet Treatment and load them onto your phone like its 2009

or pay for another streaming app/service


https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.69606/title.snoop-dogg-explains-why-he-removed-death-row-catalog-from-dsps-including-dr-dres-the-chronic#signup

First to leverage his purchase directly by getting people to pay to hear that music (through his own subscription service, or NFTs, or physical releases, or whatever), and then second to increase the demand so he can negotiate with Spotify and others for a bigger cut of the streaming revenue to put it back on their platform. (Which might still not work, but the period of exclusivity still lets him make back some of the $$$ from his purchase.)

...for loading your own personal music onto your phone.


>First to leverage his purchase directly by getting people to
>pay to hear that music (through his own subscription service,
>or NFTs, or physical releases, or whatever), and then second
>to increase the demand so he can negotiate with Spotify and
>others for a bigger cut of the streaming revenue to put it
>back on their platform. (Which might still not work, but the
>period of exclusivity still lets him make back some of the $$$
>from his purchase.)

>...for loading your own personal music onto your phone.

I use streaming for the majority of my music listening, but always keep a chunk of mp3s on my phone which aren't available streaming. Live bootlegs, unreleased gems, local music from friends, etc. Every now and then I'll lose that music due to having to do a restore, or a new phone, or whatever. It feels like EVERY TIME I have to do that the process has gotten worse. Maybe because less and less people are using iTunes, and definitely less are using personal music files.

kept me off music streaming platforms until like 2017.

i had my entire music library uploaded to their servers and backed up on a hard drive.

they killed the service to push youtube music and it's awful.

i'm still salty.

I really do hope it does not become a separate app per label.

I might be kind of okay with it if there was a service/app that would let you listen to all the catalogs that you're subscribed to in playlists. Meaning you can make playlists that contain music from all the catalogs and not limited to an individual catalog. That is assuming the cost per month is reasonable.

If I had to pay $20 per month for streaming but it included all catalogs and artist were paid a fair amount I'd be cool with it. I don't know how much higher I would be okay with.

If buying physical media also gave you streaming access for that album across all apps that would be good too. Limited to one app that doesn't contain everything else is almost pointless.

and not have to pay anybody for it

perfect timing for me because summer is coming and i need my West Coast playlist to be fully operational.