1991; 33 years ago (1991) (original) February 9, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-02-09) (revival)
Founder
Dr. Dre
The D.O.C.
Suge Knight
Dick Griffey (original)[1][2]
Status
Active
Distributor(s)
gamma. (2023–present)[3][4][5]
Create (digital)[6]
AMPED Distribution (physical)
Interscope
Priority
Koch (former)
Genre
Hip hop
R&B
Country of origin
United States
Location
Los Angeles, California
Official website
deathrowofficial.com
Death Row Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey.[7] The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre (The Chronic), Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle, Tha Doggfather), Tha Dogg Pound (Dogg Food), and 2Pac (All Eyez on Me, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory), during the 1990s. At its peak, Death Row was making over US $150 million a year.[8]
By the late 1990s, the label began to decline after the death of its star artist, 2Pac, imprisonment of Suge Knight, and the departures of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Although Death Row was enjoying financial success, it was embroiled in controversies, lawsuits, and violence by its artists and associates.
Death Row Records filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was auctioned to WIDEawake Entertainment for $18 million on January 15, 2009.[9] The owner of WIDEawake went bankrupt in 2012; the label was sold to Entertainment One, and it then became a division of Hasbro until April 2021, when eOne Music was sold to the Blackstone Group.[10] Snoop Dogg bought Death Row from MNRK Music Group in February 2022, intending to revive the label.[11][12]
^"Death Row Records Co-Founder Involved in Fatal Hit-And-Run". NPR. Associated Press. January 30, 2015. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020. It was founded by Tracy "The D.O.C." Lynn Curry, Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, Knight and Richard Gilbert "Dick" Griffey.
^Westhoff, Ben (September 6, 2016). "Straight Outta Dallas: How Texas Artist D.O.C. Helped Jump-Start Death Row Records". Dallas Observer. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020. He, Dre and Suge did, in fact, soon quietly launch a label called Futureshock, named for a Curtis Mayfield song. Their fourth partner in the venture was Dick Griffey, the cofounder of Soul Train Records and founder of Solar Records. The name wouldn't stick. "Futureshock Records?" Suge said. "That sounds like some bullshit. It's gonna be called Death Row... Dick Griffey, also an original Death Row founder, later testified that Suge Knight "secretly incorporated" Death Row and "transferred into it all of the assets" from their original partnership. In 1997 — with Suge behind bars — Griffey and D.O.C. successfully sued Death Row, alleging that they'd been cut out of the label's profits.
^Dawn Chmielewski (March 8, 2023). "Apple backs new music startup". Reuters. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
^Murray Stassen (March 10, 2023). "SNOOP DOGG RETURNS DEATH ROW CATALOG TO STREAMING SERVICES, LABEL TO SIGN NEW ARTISTS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LARRY JACKSON'S GAMMA". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
^Shirley Halperin, Jem Aswad (March 8, 2023). "Former Apple Executive Larry Jackson Launches Gamma, New Music Company With Usher, Rick Ross on Roster". Variety. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
^"SNOOP DOGG, RELEASES LATEST ALBUM, B.O.D.R. (BACC ON DEATH ROW) OUT TODAY". snoopdogg.com.
^"Snoop Dogg acquires Death Row Records". BBC News. February 10, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
^Ro, Ronin (1999). Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records. Broadway Books. ISBN 0385491352.
^"Warner to Acquire Death Row Records?". HipHopDX. February 6, 2008. Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
^"Hasbro No Longer Owns Death Row Records". CBR. April 28, 2021. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
^"Snoop Dogg Now Officially Owns Death Row Records". Complex Magazine. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
^"Snoop Dogg Acquires Death Row Records". Pitchfork. February 9, 2022. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
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would co-found DeathRowRecords, became affiliated with the Mob Piru set at some point and hired many Mob Piru members in DeathRowRecords. When Tupac...
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work for DeathRowRecords. George "G" Williams worked as a bodyguard for Knight, until he was fired for failing to return two DeathRowRecords cars which...
set up DeathRowRecords with Dre. Now short of Dre, Eazy-E signed various other acts that would assist him in a subsequent rivalry with DeathRow. Gangsta...
(formerly Dat Nigga Daz), is an American rapper and record producer. As a member of DeathRowRecords in the early 1990s, he is credited with the label...
vs. Mike Tyson boxing match with Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of DeathRowRecords, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. After leaving the match, one...
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