2/26/2024 0 Comments Death row records shirt yellow![]() ![]() Its league of emcees, invigorated by newcomers such as Nate Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, RBX, The Outlawz, Kurupt, and The Lady of Rage, eschewed the more lyrical style of the East Coast for music that was wholly uncompromising in its directness. The militant politics and profoundly explicit lyrics, a reflection of the “ post-Reaganomics, crack-cocaine era that transformed South Central Los Angeles into a 1980s war zone ,” made Death Row an inescapable cultural fixture. Protégé Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle debut, and the next four Death Row albums after it, garnered platinum-plus status. The Chronic did not disappoint, becoming a multi-platinum milestone that would define the G-funk sound and scope of everything thereafter. Interscope, an LA-based outfit run by Ted Field and Jimmy Iovine that was on the verge of going under, recognized the profits that could come from betting on music that made Tipper Gore’s blood boil and decided to distribute Dre’s long-awaited solo debut. Dre performing at The Brixton Academy in London, Britain, 1994 - Brian Rasic/Getty Images Parent company Godfather Entertainment was born, and Death Row finally had a stake in the game. As if foreshadowing the mayhem that was to come, the invitations were printed to resemble subpoenas. The public “springing” of the partnership occurred at a label rollout party hosted at famous Beverly Hills restaurant Chasen’s. With the guidance of Kenner, and with Knight overseeing negotiations, Harris invested $1.5 million as a silent partner in Death Row for a 50% share. At the time, Harris was imprisoned on drug and attempted murder charges, so it fell to his lawyer David Kenner, a top-flight attorney with Hollywood connections, to broker a deal with Knight. The money would come from Michael “Harry-O” Harris, one of LA’s biggest cocaine kingpins who legitimized his entrepreneurial image through various means, including producing Broadway play “Checkmates,” which gave Denzel Washington his start on the big stage. If the story is to be believed, then Death Row was in part funded by the extortion of the man responsible for “Ice Ice Baby.”Īssisted by SOLAR Records owner Dick Griffey, who offered the fledgling label an office and a studio in Hollywood, the Death Row enterprise had a space but desperately needed an infusion of cash. Vanilla Ice claims that Knight threatened to throw him off a hotel balcony if he didn’t sign over royalties that he supposedly lifted from one of Knight’s associates. Tasked with handling “business” affairs, Knight flexed his ability to extract royalties owed to black artists from record labels and white artists. after strong-arming their contracts from Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records (Eazy would later claim in a lawsuit that Knight and his posse threatened him with lead pipes and baseball bats ). Vowing to make it “the Motown of the ‘90s,” Knight co-founded Death Row Records with Dre and D.O.C. Enter rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, an imposing 350-pound brute once called “the most feared man in hip hop.” A music biz tough guy and rap’s most notorious boogeyman, the Big Bad Wolf with a cigar had gotten his start in the industry working as a bodyguard for Bobby Brown before landing a position as D.O.C.’s manager. ![]() Dre and his partner, The D.O.C., decided to break out of the cycle of exploitation. Amid financial disputes and tired of labels ripping off black writers and performers, Dr. was raking in the cash, but the artists behind the music weren’t getting appropriately paid. It’s the oldest story in the book: N.W.A. Suge Knight smoking a cigar, 2002 - Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images Cries of public morality from naysayers were squashed beneath lyrics that detailed the violence, drugs, sex, and police brutality of South Central Los Angeles to the tune of hundreds of thousands of record sales. Dre, the producer who engineered the direction of the group’s foul-mouthed and antagonistic debut Straight Outta Compton, a record that shoved aside radio play to connect with the streets. No one was more pivotal to this transformation than N.W.A., the seminal rap group that America had come to love and loathe. The music coming out of Compton in the late ‘80s forever altered the course of hip hop, both artistically and politically. A bastion of west coast gangsta rap, Death Row didn’t just sell “thug life” records it sold a lifestyle. At a time when the commercial pop-rap of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Tone-Loc, and MC Hammer was dominating mainstream outlets, Death Row transformed hardcore rap into an international phenomenon. ![]() It’s a cautionary tale that speaks to the spoils of war and the dangers that unfold when money and power begin to stifle the music. The rise and fall of Death Row Records reads like a Greek epic, its larger-than-life characters and violent undercurrents the stuff of legend.
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