February has been an active month for Snoop Dogg. He released his 19th album, BODR (Bacc On Death Row), and he joined Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and Anderson .Paak at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show. Before either of these events, Snoop acquired Death Row Records, a label that he was previously signed to and which was founded back in 1991 by a group that included Dr. Dre and Suge Knight. After the deal, Snoop shared his plans to make Death Row an NFT record label.
However, it seems there are more aspects of the acquisition that still need to be finalized. According to Billboard, it appears that albums by Tupac and Dr. Dre won’t be included in the deal. A pair of Tupac’s Death Row albums, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, are “no longer on the label,” which means Snoop does not have access to them. Additionally, Dre’s 1992 debut album The Chronic, which was also released on Death Row, would not be returned to him until 2023. According to the report from Billboard, the specifics of the deal are still under negotiation, so until things are finalized, Death Row’s previous owners (MNRK Music Group and investment firm Blackstone) still have the rights to the label’s catalog entries.
“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,” Snoop said after acquiring the label. “This is an extremely meaningful moment for me.”