Death Row Records

Snoop Dogg Says Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ Is Back at Death Row Records

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After much talk about the future of Death Row Records in the hands of West Coast legend and former label signee Snoop Dogg, the talk of the imprint being the first NFT label continues, but one of the label’s biggest album’s is back home.

According to Snoop, “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.” 

Dr .Dre’s attorney released a statement saying that the Hip Hop mogul owns the rights to his biggest album to date. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. Dr. Dre owns 100 percent of The Chronic,” said Howard King. 

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Snoop Dogg Has Apparently Secured The Rights To A Death Row Classic: ‘The Chronic Is Bac Home’

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Over the past few weeks, Snoop Dogg, who recently bought back the Death Row Records brand and much of its catalog, has been working to complete the collection, which was missing certain pivotal records including Snoop’s own debut Doggystyle and Dr. Dre’s debut The Chronic. Both albums were removed from streaming as negotiations continued. After some confusion over the ownership of the latter, it now appears that as of this week, The Chronic will once again appear under the Death Row banner, according to an Instagram post Snoop shared.

While no real details were revealed, that didn’t stop fans and peers in the comments from expressing their excitement, with 50 Cent predicting “something good coming from this.” Snoop previously shared plans to have Death Row become the first “major in the metaverse,” with designs on re-releasing the label’s collection of seminal hip-hop hits as NFTs. In the meantime, it looks like he’s still working out publishing profit shares for the label’s Tupac releases.

Meanwhile, Snoop remains pretty busy outside of Death Row; in addition to lending his likeness to the Call Of Duty video game franchise, he’s appearing in an NFT comic book, working with fellow California legends E-40, Ice Cube, and Too Short as Mount Westmore, and even plotting a collaboration with Korean pop band BTS.

Today in Hip-Hop History: Death Row Records’ ‘Above The Rim’ Soundtrack Dropped 28 Years Ago

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On this day in Hip-Hop history, Death Row Records in conglomeration with Interscope Records released the soundtrack to the popular film, Above the Rim. Winning the 1995 Source Award for Soundtrack of the Year, this album featured so many hits that it could have stood alone from the movie as a compilation album.

Acting as executive producers of the project, Suge Knight and Dr. Dre curated one of the most popular movie soundtracks of all time. This album featured work from artists 2Pac, Warren G, SWV, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, The Lady of Rage, and more. Due to the popularity of the artists and the success of the movie, the soundtrack sold 2,000,000 copies in the year of its release and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Although it fell short on the mainstream chart, the album was able to grab hold of that #1 spot on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Here are some videos from the famed soundtrack to help jog your memory of its greatness.

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Some Death Row Albums Including ‘Doggystyle’ And ‘The Chronic’ Were Removed From Streaming Services

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Following his purchase of Death Row Records last month, it appears Snoop Dogg has removed several of the label’s albums from digital streaming platforms. Upon purchasing the label, Snoop revealed plans to transform Death Row into an “NFT label” which will operate within the Metaverse.

Among the albums missing from streaming services are Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, Dr. Dre’s debut album The Chronic, and Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food. Still available from streaming are Tupac’s All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, as Death Row no longer owns the rights to Tupac’s master recordings.

While Snoop has not confirmed that he ordered these albums’ removal from streaming services, Dr. Dre’s attorney Howard King issued a statement to Complex earlier this month, following Snoop’s acquisition of Death Row. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic,” King said. “Dr. Dre owns 100% of The Chronic.”

Over the past year, Snoop has built a large collection of NFTs, and even revealed himself as the owner of popular NFT Twitter account @CozomoMedici. Singer and prolific songwriter Sia also revealed herself as Cozomo de’ Medici’s “granddaughter” and the owner of the @BiancaMedici69 NFT Twitter account.

In addition to his venture into the NFT space, Snoop also joined FaZe Clan earlier this month as a member of the esports company’s board of directors and talent. He plans to launch a community outreach program through FaZe Clan.

The Source Magazine Remembers Nate Dogg 11 Years Later

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Sending a 21 gun soldier salute Rest In Peace one of Hip Hop’s favorite crooners

There were many who tried, but nobody put R&B into Hip Hop the way it was supposed to sound better than the late, great Nate Dogg of the legendary Dogg Pound. The Source Magazine would like to send him a posthumous shout in recognition of his contributions to the game.

Besides his obvious links to Snoop Dogg and the original Death Row Family, Nathaniel Hale, born on this date in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1969, Nate appeared alongside several iconic artists in the game including 2Pac, 50 Cent, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z. The world lost a talented singer, actor and musician when Nate succumbed to multiple strokes on March 15, 2011. He was 41 years old.

Condolences go out to Warren G, Dr. Dre, Snoop and the entire 213 on the day an entire community lost a Hip Hop legend.

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Snoop Dogg Removes Most Of Death Row’s Catalogue From DSPs

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Last month, things began to take a futuristic turn for Death ROw Records, with former label signee Snoop Dogg taking ownership of the label and soon after said that the “world’s most dangerous recordlabel” would be made into an NFT. To further solidify that, the Dogg has now removed all of Death Row’s previous recordings from all streaming platforms.

Even though the report stems from a Wikipedia page, upon close examination of Death Row recordings on all DSPs including those from Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, all of access to these songs and albums on public streaming platforms have been removed. Death Row labeled classic albums like Doggystyle, Dogg Food, the Above The Rim soundtrack, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and more are no longer available.

Snoop discussed the idea of bringing the Death Row label into the metaverse in a Clubhouse conversation, saying, “Death Row will be an NFT label,” he said.“We will be putting out artists through the metaverse. Just like we broke the industry when we was the first independent to be major, I want to be the first major in the metaverse.”

Even though Snoop hasn’t publicly addressed the disappearance of the Death Row projects, but fans have certainly expressed their displeasure in the absence of some of Hip Hop’s most revered classics.

One Clubhouse participant said, “So, thanks to Snoop Dogg promoting NFT shit and making Death Row Records an NFT record label, all the releases except 2Pac’s, will be removed from Spotify and so on. This is actually bullshit, that means no more Dre’s Chronic on Spotify. NFTs need to die, fucking stupid movement.”

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Today In Hip Hop History: Suge Knight Joked About Eazy-E’s AIDS-Related Death 19 Years Ago

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Today in 2003, former Death Row CEO Suge Knight appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! after his nine-year prison bid and made a shocking insinuation about the AIDS-related death of N.W.A. and Ruthless Records founder Eric “Eazy-E” Wright in 1995.

Kimmel and his crowd jeered and cringed as Knight chuckled at his cruel joke, while the late-night talk show host played it off with a one-liner about the terror level going up a notch after Knight’s mention of the gangsta rap pioneer.

The former Death Row CEO landed himself back in prison a decade following this interview. Karma is a bitch,

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Dr. Dre’s Lawyer Denies Snoop Dogg’s Claim That He Now Owns The Rights To ‘The Chronic’

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Last month, Snoop Dogg acquired Death Row Records, the label where he began his rap career back in 1992. With the acquisition, Snoop owns the rights to the label’s vast catalogue, including albums by Daz Dillinger and Kurupt. However, titles like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Tupac’s All Eyez On Me, and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory were originally said to be left out of the deal. But during a later interview with TIDAL’s Elliott Wilson, Snoop claimed that he did obtain the rights to at least one of them.

That album is The Chronic. But now Dre’s attorney, Howard King, is refuting Snoop’s claim. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic,” King said in a statement that was obtained by Complex. “Dr. Dre owns 100 percent of The Chronic.”

Late last month, it was reported that Snoop was still negotiating for the rights of The Chronic. It was initially said that the classic album would not be returned to Snoop until 2023. However, after the statement that Dre’s lawyer gave, it appears that The Chronic will not be a part of Snoop’s Death Row acquisition.

This comes after Snoop recently shared his plans to make Death Row an NFT label adding that he wants it to be the “first major in the metaverse.”

ICYMI: Snoop Dogg And Diddy Tease Death Row/Bad Boy Collaboration

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Snoop Dogg and Diddy are teasing a possible collaboration. 

After acquiring Death Row Records, Snoop posted a short film that included a call from Diddy, giving praise to the rapper who he says taught him how to play “chess, not checkers.” 

“Congratulations king, great move, great move,” Diddy told the “Lodi Dodi” rapper, who responded, “You taught me how to play chess, not checkers.”

Snoop said they can do what they want now with Death Row and Bad Boy. 

READ MORE: Snoop Dogg to make Death Row Records the first NFT record label.

This epic moment would have seemed impossible at one time, as the east coast and west coast labels had beef with each other that went public on an airing of The Source Awards in 1995.

At the time Death Row’s owner Marion “Suge” Knight, took a blatant jab at Bad Boy Records founder Sean “Puffy” Combs aka Diddy after accepting the Best Movie Soundtrack of the Year award for the Above The Rim soundtrack.

With the awards taken place in NYC, the venue erupted with boos as Suge walked off the stage with Source’s coveted Mic and the momentum of the coastal beef only increased ten fold following this moment.

We’re glad to see things have come full circle in Hip Hop and this Death Row/Bad Boy collaboration will go down in Hip Hop history.

Share your thoughts with us on social media.

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