Snoop Dogg The New Owner of Death Row Records
By DJ Tyrone “T-Bone” Jennings II, B.A.
February 11, 2022
Rapper Snoop Dogg, 50, is deeply humbled as he takes ownership of the very record company that kicked off his music recording career at Death Row Records 3 decades ago. He has now done what most recording artists can only dream of. He now owns the record company.
“This is an extremely meaningful moment for me,” Snoop Dogg said in a statement.
Snoop teased the possibility of a dream come true deal, but he stopped short of getting his hopes up. He just kept casting the dream out on the water, and fortunately, the universe made the dream a reality.
“You’ve got to believe in yourself to make your dreams come true. Before people were buying our records we had to believe in ourselves to make our dreams come true, so the question to the young folks out there is: Do you believe in yourself?” he said at the Superbowl LVI press briefing.
Back in 1991, it was Snoop Doggy Dogg, 2Pac, and Dr. Dre who were the cream of the crop for Death Row Records founded by Suge Knight, Dr. Dre, and Michael “Harry O” Harris.
While Snoop Dogg only released two studio albums with Death Row – “Doggystyle” (1993) and “The Doggfather” (1996), and then the music awards just kept pouring in. In 1995 “Doggystyle” won Best Rap Album at the Soul Train Music Awards, but Snoop Dogg let it be known that he was a bit disappointed in not winning a Grammy Award for his album. Snoop simply called the Soul Train Award “The Black Folks Grammy,” he said. So, as far as he was concerned he won the award that meant the most. He left Death Row Records in 1998 following a bitter music royalty dispute.
Over the years Death Row has changed hands several times with the most notable company being Hasbro, which paid $3.8 billion to purchase Canadian Studio Entertainment One Ltd. (eOne) back in December 2019.
“I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value,” Snoop said in a press release.
Now Snoop Dogg joins the list of owners, and he has some big plans to take the record company in a new direction. Snoop Dogg has agreed to an undisclosed deal with MNRK Music Group, which is owned by the private equity fund Blackstone. Right now, it is unclear as to whether or not Snoop Dogg will also gain ownership of the entire Death Row Records music catalog as part of the deal.
Snoop Doggs new album “B.O.D.R” (Bacc on Death Row) is right on time.
Snoop Dogg has been a busy man making his dreams come true, and this year’s Super Bowl is no exception.
Snoop is part of the star-studded Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
He is also hosting the Puppy Bowl with Martha Stewart.
This story originally appeared in Spin Magazine.
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