1996-02411 words · 2 min
A Good Week for Death Row: Snoop Free, Tupac on Top, Interscope Sold
Snoop acquitted, Tupac at No. 1, and MCA buys in: how Death Row experienced the height of its power in late February 1996.
Original: “A Good Week For Death Row and Interscope” · Music Boulevard (Music Wire) · Peter Hagopian · February 1996
Three news items in a single week of February 1996, one message: things were going brilliantly for Death Row Records. Peter Hagopian’s report for Music Boulevard captured the moment when everything came together for the label: courtroom success, chart triumph, and a multimillion-dollar deal in the background.
Acquittal, Top Spot, and $200 Million
First, Snoop Doggy Dogg (born Calvin Broadus) and his bodyguard McKinley Lee were acquitted of murder on Tuesday, February 20, 1996. The case concerned the 1993 death of Philip Woldemariam; both had claimed self-defense. The jury was still deliberating on the manslaughter charge.
Second, it was becoming evident that Tupac’s Death Row debut All Eyez on Me would enter the Billboard album charts in the top five, if not straight at No. 1.
Third, Reuters reported that MCA Music had bought half of Interscope Records on February 21. Interscope handled distribution for Death Row and Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records. The price was not disclosed, though figures around $200 million were being discussed.
Confirmed Across the Board, Just Before the Collapse
All three reports proved true. Snoop’s trial ended with acquittals on both first- and second-degree murder. The jury deadlocked on the manslaughter charge; prosecutors subsequently dropped it. The victim’s family later went to civil court. All Eyez on Me did indeed debut at No. 1. And MCA, later Universal Music, acquired 50 percent of Interscope-according to The New York Times, for around $200 million.
Why Interscope was available in the first place is part of the backstory to the deal: Time Warner had offloaded its half in 1995 under political pressure. Anti-gangsta-rap campaigners such as C. Delores Tucker had publicly attacked the media corporation over lyrics by Death Row artists and Tupac. MCA bought in just as the label was celebrating its greatest success.
In hindsight, this week was the peak. Just a few weeks later, Dr. Dre announced his departure from Death Row. In September, Tupac was shot dead in Las Vegas, and that fall Suge Knight went to jail. Snoop stayed with the label until 1998. Interscope, meanwhile, rose over the following years to become one of the most prominent record companies in the United States.
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