Death Row Records

Death Row Records’ Catalog Will Finally Return To Music Streaming Platforms Tonight

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After being removed from all digital streaming platforms last year, Death Row Records has announced that its legendary collection of hip-hop albums will once again be available for streaming tonight (March 9). The news arrives via an announcement on the label’s social media handles.

Among the classic Death Row albums are Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, Tupac’s All Eyez On Me, and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, the latter of which recently made a reappearance on DSPs. Much of the earlier Death Row projects were removed from streaming last year, following Snoop Dogg’s acquisition of the label.

Last year, in an interview on the Drink Champs podcast, Snoop revealed that he removed the masters after entertainment distributor eOne allegedly tried to pull him into a shady deal.

“They had the label, and for a year and a half two years I was trying to get my masters. All I wanted was Doggystyle. I was originally trying to say, ‘eOne, how can we work a deal where I can get my masters?’ Then Hasbro bought eOne so I was dealing with Hasbro and eOne. I was talking to eOne they were giving me the runaround so I said ‘Why don’t you let me come work for y’all so I can get my masters? I can blow your sh*t up make it go you can give me the Death Row Catalogue and let me get my masters’.”

The Death Row line-up will arrive to streaming platforms at 9 p.m. PST

Today In Hip Hop History: Tupac Shakur Dropped His Fourth LP ‘All Eyez On Me’ 27 Years Ago

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On this date twenty-seven ago, the Hip Hop legend Tupac Shakur officially released his fourth album, All Eyez On Me, on the Death Row/Interscope imprint.

The album featured five singles with two topping number one on the Billboard Hot 100; “How Do U Want It” and “California Love.” It made Hip Hop history the first double-full-length solo Hip-Hop studio album released. It was the second album from Tupac Shakur to hit number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, selling 566,000 copies in the first week. Shortly after his untimely death, the album then won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year Award. Shakur also won the Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24th Annual American Music Awards. The album was certified diamond by the RIAA on July 23, 2014.

All Eyez On Me, the biopic about Pac’s life with the same name, was released on June 16, 2017.

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Dr. Dre’s 1992 Classic ‘The Chronic’ Has Returned To Streaming Services

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For a year, Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking solo debut record, The Chronic, has been unavailable to stream after being pulled down while Dre and his respective labels, Death Row Records and Interscope, wrangled over the rights behind the scenes. Today, though, it’s finally back as part of its 30th-anniversary celebration (it was released in December 1992, so it’s kinda borderline, but we’ll take it).

In a statement, Dre said, “I am thrilled to bring The Chronic home to its original distribution partner, Interscope Records. Working alongside my longtime colleagues, Steve Berman and John Janick, to re-release the album and make it available to fans all over the world is a full circle moment for me.”

The last time The Chronic was on streaming was in 2020, however, after Snoop Dogg secured the rights to the Death Row Records catalog early last year, several of the label’s seminal releases went missing from DSPs, with Snoop explaining that he wanted to create a new platform since DSPs pay reportedly minuscule royalties on streams.

There was also some confusion over just who owned the rights to The Chronic; while Snoop initially said it was part of the Death Row catalog, Dre’s lawyer denied that it was. Eventually, it seems they got things cleared up and the real winner in all this is the fans, who get to revisit the album that changed gangsta rap forever.

Check it out below.

Of Course, Snoop Dogg Is Bringing Death Row Records Into The Cannabis Business

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Snoop Dogg’s personal joint roller, Renegade PerRana, recently shared with The Kyle And Jackie O Show that she’s rolled “over 450,000” joints for Snoop, including 75 to 100 per day, since taking up the job. Her services might be extended to Death Row Records soon. Snoop Dogg acquired his formative label in February, and ownership over the Death Row catalog started taking shape later that month. The top of 2023 will feature another Snoop-driven Death Row move.

Today, December 29, Death Row Records posted a teaser clip to Instagram soundtracked by Kevin Gilliam (aka DJ Battlecat). “Death Row Cannabis coming January 2023,” the caption read. The Death Row logo is featured, but of course, now he’s holding up a joint. Death Row Cannabis also launched an Instagram account of its own,

As noted by Forbes, Death Row Cannabis’ first product will be cannabis flower and “will be on shelves in the California marketplace, to start,” next week.

The publication additionally relayed, “Death Row Cannabis says its offerings will be for craft connoisseurs, with cannabis cultivated by AK, a legendary West Coast grower who was personally brought on by Snoop Dogg to lead the cultivation for the brand. AK is best known in the cannabis world for his role alongside former partner WizardTrees in sprouting, selecting, and crafting unique phenotypes of strains including RS11, Studio 54, and Shirazi from exotic cannabis breeder DEO.”

The new year figures to be huge for Death Row and Snoop. November 2023 will mark the 30th anniversary of Doggystyle, Snoop’s debut album on Death Row. Snoop revealed in late September on Stephen A. Smith’s K(no)w Mercy podcast that he and Dr. Dre had been in the studio working on a commemorative Doggystyle album, aptly titled Missionary.

Snoop Dogg Launches Death Row Cannabis

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For over 30 years, through countless chart-topping hits and landmark artists, Death Row Records has stood as one of the music industry’s most iconic and culturally significant platforms.

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Today, it is under powerful new management. Recently acquired by Snoop Dogg, the infamous musical empire has reemerged as a multi-category cultural platform across music, fashion, entertainment, and cannabis, all united by the blockchain for a new generation. 

Today at 8AM PT, their first cannabis drop will be announced on social media at @DeathRowRecords and @DeathRowCannabis, using an animation of their globally recognized logo and reveal of their branded pre-roll tube. The teaser video was created by artist MylarMen with a soundtrack by Kevin Gilliam aka DJ Battlecat. The 22-second clip is sure to electrify the global fans of the label while being a buzzy beginning of Death Row Records’ domination of the weed nation.

Promising to return Death Row to its former glory, all elements of the former label are being refitted for today’s audience and their evolving tastes. The first drop debuts in limited edition commemorative metallic bags, featuring the iconic hooded prisoner figure seated in an electric chair on the front. Important to note: this is a brand new version of the prisoner that was designed for the launch of the cannabis brand – the main difference being he has one hand broken free and is smoking a fat doobie. 

MORE: [WATCH] F. Gary Gray Teams with Pepsi to Create Trailer for Hip-Hop’s Superbowl Halftime Show

Another especially exciting note for those cannabis connoisseurs is the man responsible for curating Death Row Cannabis. AK – hand-selected by Snoop himself – is a longtime West Coast legacy cultivator and industry insider, best known for his role alongside former partner WizardTrees in sprouting, selecting, and expertly growing the RS11, Studio 54, and Shirazi strains from exotic cannabis breeder DEO. He’s the man behind the IYKYK brand SMKRS, and he is also well known as the VP of Cultivation for TRP LLC, who owns a majority of the Cookies stores across the nation including their facilities in Florida.

AK’s reputation for growing “fire” weed and his palette when it comes to selecting winning strains, keeps people camped out in lines in front of their dispensaries.

Launching in-stores next week, Death Row Cannabis is not one to keep its fans waiting. The brand will soon make an announcement with an exact date and locations for their debut drop.

Select Cookies California stores (Brentwood, San Bernardino, and San Diego) will be the first locations to carry Death Row Cannabis, with other locations and more states to follow soon. 

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[WATCH] Dr. Dre Warned RBX About Taking Gifts From Suge Knight

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In an exclusive interview with The Art of Dialogue, former Death Row rapper RBX talked about a circumstance in 1995 when he was gifted a brand new 750 BMW by Death Row CEO Suge Knight. While the deep voiced “A.WO.L” rapper initially accepted the luxury gift, his lawyer warned him about accepting gifts from such a precarious boss.

“Everybody thought I was weird for a minute. And the reason they was thinking I was weird was ’cause I be turning down shit,” RBX said. “Somebody called me, boom. [They said] ‘Come get this Beamer, X.’ I said, ‘What?’ They said, ‘Suge bought you a brand new 750!’ Mind you, I had just seen Snoop about a week prior. Snoop had a cold 850. I told Suge I want me a black 750.”

He continued the story, saying, “[My lawyer] say, ‘Where you get a Beamer from?’ I say, ‘Suge.’ He say, ‘Mm-hmm. Did they give you the bill of sale to the Beamer?’ I say no. He say, ‘Do you have registration for the Beamer?’ I say no. He said, ‘What do you have in the muthafuckin’ BMW that says that you have permission to drive it?’ I say, ‘Nothing. I got the key!’”

RBX said that it wasn’t long after that he remembered the wisdom of mentor and Death Row in-house producer Dr. Dre. “Dre was part of the label, and every now and then he’ll give you a jewel,” he said. “You gotta listen to him when he say some shit ’cause he not gon’ keep saying it to you. He gon’ say it once and if you don’t catch it then you probably won’t catch it. He was saying something like, ‘If it ain’t registered in your name, it’s not yours. It belong to somebody else.’ And that just stuck. So kudos to Dre.”

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Today In Hip Hop History: Tupac Shakur Died After Being Gunned Down On Las Vegas Strip 26 Years Ago

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Cultural icon Tupac Shakur was then taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada hospital after being shot several times in a drive-by on a Las Vegas strip on September 7, 1996, and was under a medically induced coma for six days before dying from internal bleeding on September 13, 1996.

After several failed attempts by doctors to revive 2Pac, his mother Afeni Shakur requested for his life support machine to be turned off. What were the events that transpired the days before the September 7th shooting that caused his early demise and why has the mystery of his death never been solved? These are the questions that remain 19 years later. Chris Carroll, a retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sergeant, told Vegas Seven Magazine in an interview last year that we may never know;

“Shakur’s murder is still considered an unsolved homicide and an unsolved homicide case is technically never closed. But nothing more is ever going to happen with it.”

After all the documentaries that have been put out pertaining to Pac’s death, most fans attempt to put the clues together and create their own hypothesis yet without hard evidence it’s still just an educated guess as to what really happened the night of September 7, 1996.

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The only real evidence police have are the witness accounts from Outlaw member E.D.I Mean, who claimed to have seen all four men in the vehicle and Yaki Kadafi, who was involved in a scuffle with officers two days following the shooting after they pulled over a driver he was with and he protested. Officers did not try to locate Kadafi, who was later gunned down in Irving, NJ two months after the shooting.

Compton investigators assembled mug shots of several gang members, which included Orlando Anderson, the Crip that Tupac attacked in the MGM Grand lobby hours before the shooting. Anderson is the suspect said to have fired the fatal shots that killed Pac. Las Vegas police later discounted Anderson as a suspect and interviewed him only once. He was later killed in an unrelated gang shooting.

‘Pac’s killer has yet to be found or even suspected, but the fight to bring his killer(s) to justice is continual and highly publicized, which will hopefully bring the truth about his untimely death to light.

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[WATCH] Ma$e Announces That He’s Joining Death Row Records

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During an ultimately fatal feud between two coasts back in the mid to late 90s, Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records were the most powerful labels in Hip Hop music. Now, after a week of being in the forefront of Hip Hop gossip, former Bad Boy Ma$e is looking to be the first rapper signed to have signed to both of the monumental imprints.

Ma$e, whose given name is Mason Betha, took to Instagram yesterday(August 3) to announce that he’s in the process of signing a deal with Death Row Records, which is now owned by Snoop Dogg.

“I’m on Crenshaw — just passed Pico, just passed Slauson — and I’m out here to meet with Snoop so I can do another joint venture with Death Row Records,” Ma$e said while riding through L.A. I’ll be officially the first one signed to Bad Boy and Death Row. And we gon’ get the 2Pac thing rekindled. Let’s see where we go with that.”

Ma$e was one of Diddy’s flagship artists for Bad Boy, dropping thre albums on the label; Harlem World, Double Up and Welcome Back before departing in 2012. Their relationship soured soon after and earlier this year, Ma$e dropped a diss track aimed at Diddy called “Oracle 2: The Liberation Of Mason Betha”.

However, before Ma$e decided to make this move, Snoop alluded that he and Diddy were trying to bridge the gap between the two powerhouses. “We can show growth and progression that we can move forward,” he said. “We can take this Bad Boy, Death Row, what it used to be, and make it a collaboration on peace and love. ’Cause that’s who I am. I’m Suge and Puffy.”

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