Afeni Shakur Seeks to Halt Sale of Unreleased Songs by Death Row

On July 20, 2007, Afeni Shakur filed for an injunction in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. The opposing parties were Death Row Records and R. Todd Neilson, the label’s bankruptcy trustee. Suge Knight and Death Row had filed for bankruptcy in April 2006, with debts exceeding 100 million dollars.

152 Songs on Offer

According to the estate, Death Row intended to offer up to 152 recordings, which Tupac had made shortly before his death in 1996, at an auction of the label’s assets. Under a 1997 settlement, however, these tapes should have long been surrendered to the estate.

Donald N. David, chief legal counsel for Amaru Entertainment, explained that the estate had assumed it possessed all master tapes featuring Tupac. Upon reviewing the bankruptcy assets, they discovered that Death Row was touting an album’s worth of unreleased Tupac material as its key asset. This directly violated the settlement. Because Tupac was the top-selling rapper, his music artificially drove up the value of the bankruptcy estate.

Pending Decision

The court was also to rule on whether Death Row may release an album of unreleased tracks to satisfy debts. AllHipHop anticipated a hearing date in the following month.