News of January 22, 1998
Interscope Parts Ways with Death Row, Suge Knight Speaks from Prison
Rap versus alcohol: In January 1998, Tupac's last label lost its distribution. Suge Knight gave his first prison interview and attacked Seagram.
What had been hinted at in the summer of 1997 became official in January 1998: Interscope Records ended its partnership with Death Row Records. The Los Angeles Times reported on January 22 that the split would take effect the following week. Death Row, the label of Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Tupac Shakur, moved to Priority Records in Hollywood.
“What Kills More Children?”
For the first time since the start of his imprisonment, Suge Knight gave an interview, speaking from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. He blamed Edgar Bronfman Jr., the head of Interscope owner Seagram: a corporation that makes its money from alcohol no longer wanted to release hardcore rap because of the effect on children. Yet the question, he argued, was what kills more children each year, rap or alcohol.
Sources at Seagram and Interscope countered that it was less about lyrics than about the investigations into the label: tax offenses, potential gang ties, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Knight expressed disappointment; Death Row had once given Interscope street credibility. The background: Death Row looks for a new distributor.