☠️ Snoop Dogg's back on the Death Row

Life comes a full circle for Snoop as he acquires his original label Death Row Records in a curious case of an artist re-acquiring his own catalog

Happy Monday everyone!

The Super Bowl is still going on as I write this and the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California witnessed one of the most insane half-time shows in recent memory as the OG’s of West-Coast Hip: Dr.Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar brought the house down with their performance 🔥

Click on this image below and check out their gig 👇🏻

Snoop Dogg has had an especially productive week, acquiring ‘Death Row Records’: the infamous 90’s Hip-Hop label co-founded by Dr. Dre, along with music industry executives Suge Knight and Dick Griffey.

But what is Death Row Records?

Having had his debut studio album ‘DoggyStyle’, launched with the label back in 1993, life has come a full circle for Snoop 🔄

Death Row Records kick-started the careers of Tupac and Snoop Dogg

“I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future 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.

The crazy part?

Back in November, in an interview with The Breakfast Club, Snoop claimed that he should be running Death Row, only to end up doing just that in a few months 🤷‍♂️

Talk about manifesting words into reality ⚡️

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Why is Death Row Records such a big deal?

Launched back in 1991 out of Dr.Dre’s frustration from being exploited by his fellow N.W.A member ‘Eazy-E' and his label ‘Ruthless Records’, Death Row became a sensation by launching multiple West Coast artists & their debut albums ⏬

🗣 Dr. Dre (The Chronic)

🗣 Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle)

🗣 Tha Dogg Pound (Dogg Food)

🗣Tupac (All Eyez on Me)

In the 90s, at its peak- Death Row was making over $100 Million a year 🤯

Dr.Dre and Snoop Dogg in the studio at Death Row Records

However, Death Row was anything but your traditional Record Label 🤷‍♂️

Co-Founder and CEO Suge Knight unconventionally signed Tupac onto the label in 1995 in exchange for posting his $1.4 Million bail, as Tupac was serving a 3-year jail sentence 😳

Tupac and Knight would eventually release the 10x Platinum album ‘All Eyez On Me’- which turned 26 years old yesterday, and would change how Hip-Hop music was perceived in Pop Culture, especially across classes in America forever 🇺🇸

While Tupac would enjoy unparalleled fame before tragically being killed himself in Las Vegas in September 1996, Death Row was the label to be for any up and coming hip-hop artist from the West Coast.

Tupac’s ‘All Eyez On Me’ is widely considered as the best rap album of all time

However, crime-ridden world of 90s in hip-hop ended up being too much of a distraction for everyone involved with Death Row Records, eventually being responsible for the label’s downfall ⏬

Suge Knight became notoriously known for a long list of assault cases, and Death Row became synonymous with the gangster rap genre of the 90s.

From incidents of hanging rapper ‘Vanilla Ice’ from a balcony to get him to hand over his copyrights, to being accused of playing a hand in the Tupac murder controversy, the focus around Suge and Death Row shifted from music to pretty much everything else.

Suge Knight is currently serving a 28 year sentence in jail for manslaughter

Filing for bankruptcy in 2006, the label changed multiple investment firms and finally ended up with Private Equity firm- Blackstone Group- which controls MNRK Music Group, from whom Snoop Dogg acquired the label.

Why is this deal so unusual?

There are two types of Copyrights that come into existence when a song is published

⏯ Master Recording Rights - These are the rights that are held for the original recording of a song in a studio, and usually owned by the Label

⏯ Musical Composition Rights - These are the rights for lyrics and melody of which artist holds the ownership and a publisher takes about 50% rights initially (if the songwriter and the singer aren't the same person)

Snoop left the label in 1998 but a massive part of the earnings still came through his tracks. Now that he has acquired Death Row Records as a brand, Snoop controls all the copyrights of his initial albums again, and can finally get creative with his catalog.

“I went looking for this job because I wanted to be the CEO of Death Row Records and basically take over the merchandise and re-release their music, do documentaries, and possibly do my life story.” 

Snoop’s latest album- BODR has a cover which is as Snoop as it can get

And he hasn’t wasted any time in doing just that.

Over the weekend, Snoop dropped his mind-boggling 19th Studio Album titled ‘Bacc on Death Row’- and only his 3rd with Death Row Records, as an homage to his return to the label, albeit this time around as the owner 💰

How’s that for some #MondayMotivation? Let’s get this bread people 💪🏻

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