Snoop Dogg Acquires Death Row Records
Snoop Dogg is now the owner of Death Row Records.
This afternoon (Feb. 9), Business Wire broke the news, revealing that the legendary rapper had bought the Death Row brand from MNRK Music Group. MNRK is overseen by a global investment firm called Blackstone.
Further details on the transaction, such as purchasing price, were not made public.
“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 Dogg said in a statement, according to Business Wire. "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," he continued. "I would like to personally thank the teams at Blackstone, MNRK and especially David Kestnbaum, who worked collaboratively with me over several months to make this exciting homecoming a reality. I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”
Death Row was formed by Suge Knight, Dr. Dre and others in the early 1990s. The label released some of the most iconic albums in hip-hop history, including Tupac Shakur's All Eyez on Me, Dre's The Chronic and Snoop's very own Doggystyle.
Despite its iconic catalog, the label faced a tumultuous history by the turn of the century. By 2006 it had filed for bankruptcy and then went through various different owners, even at one point randomly ending up on the books for the toy company Hasbro.
“Snoop is clearly the executive to take Death Row into its next 30 years," said MNRK Music Group’s president and CEO, Chris Taylor, according to Business Wire. "MNRK has been honored to oversee this legendary brand over the last decade and enjoyed introducing it to millions of new fans in 2021 through our award-winning 30th anniversary marketing campaign.”
The announcement comes ahead of Snoop Dogg's highly anticipated Super Bowl Halftime performance, which is scheduled to take place this coming Sunday, Feb. 13.
XXL has reached out to a rep for Snoop and MNRK Music Group for confirmation on this story.