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B.O.D.R., Snoop Dogg's first album for his newly acquired label drops on Feb. 11. |
Thirty years after signing the deal with Death Row Records that launched him to superstardom at age 21, Snoop Dogg is returning to the seminal west coast hip-hop label as its boss.
The rapper announced he acquired the Death Row Records brand from MNRK Music Group, which is controlled by private equity funds managed by global investment firm Blackstone, for an undisclosed sum on Wednesday.
"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. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me," the artist said of the move which puts him in charge of the once prestigious label founded by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, the D.O.C. and Dick Griffey in 1992. "... I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”
Snoop Dogg has pursued ownership of the label, which reigned supreme over rap for a stretch in the 1990s, thanks in part to releases from himself and labelmates Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, for quite some time.
Just last year he told the hosts of the "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" podcast that all of Death Row — which filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was acquired at auction three years later for $18 million by WIDEawake Entertainment and eventually landing at Blackstone and MNRK — should be in his hands.
“I should be running that sh—t. Just like I’m [in] a position at Def Jam, Death Row means more to me because I helped create that. I think they should give me that and let me run that shit with the merchandise out, with the music all over the world. [Add] some new West Coast acts.”
To celebrate Snoop Dogg is releasing a new album, B.O.D.R., an acronym that stands for “Back on Death Row," on Friday.
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