Snoop Dogg buys Death Row Records

On February 9, 2022, Death Row Records changed hands: Snoop Dogg and investor Blackstone announced that the rapper was taking over the label from MNRK Music Group, formerly eOne. The price remained a secret. “It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career,” Snoop Dogg said. His debut Doggystyle had been released there in 1993.

First the brand, then the catalog

According to Billboard, the agreement on the brand, including the name, logo, and rights, was finalized, and the purchase of the recording catalog was expected to follow soon. Billboard reported that the label lost ground in the late nineties: after the murder of Tupac, the departures of Dr. Dre and Snoop, and the imprisonment of Suge Knight. Bankruptcy followed in 2006.

Tupac’s albums are left out

Tupac had signed there in 1995 and released All Eyez On Me in 1996. Its recordings had belonged to the catalog, but they were left out of the sale, as the report from February 22 shows. The backstory: Death Row Records.