Photo: Getty Images
Snoop Dogg has taken over the record label that launched his career.
The rapper-mogul acquired Death Row Records’ brand from MNRK Music Group, which is controlled by a private equity fund managed by Blackstone. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Snoop Dogg said he’s excited about acquiring the label’s brand.
He said, “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. It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me.”
Snoop Dogg found his springboard to success during the 1990s while on Death Row Records. The label was founded in 1992 by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, the D.O.C. and Dick Griffey in the immediate aftermath of the breakup of N.W.A.
The label’s records, including Dre’s first solo album “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s debut “Doggystyle,” are considered classics of the hip-hop genre that defined an era.
Tupac Shakur became the label’s star artist later in the ’90s before he was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996 while riding in a car driven by Knight. Tupac's death brought on decline for the label, which led to decades of decline for Knight himself.
Knight lost Death Row after it went into bankruptcy in 2006. He served time in prison and had a knack for being near violence that eventually caught up with him.
Source: ABC.
Photo Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for STARZ.