Death Row Records
Social Relation:
In 1991, Marion "Suge" Knight approached drug dealer and sometime entertainment investor Michael "Harry-O" Harris (he'd financed Checkmates, a Broadway play that starred Denzel Washington) to provide the seed money to start a record label. By 1992, Suge Knight and his attorney (a longtime drug dealer representative) David Kenner negotiated a $10-million deal for Death Row Records with alternative & rock powerhouse Interscope Records that altered Hiphop's landscape. The Death Row--Interscope partnership put an affiliated Blood gang member (Knight) and an accomplished producer (Dr. Dre) in business with a well-financied enterprise.
Together, Death Row and Interscope Records would take the "rebellious" celebration of the Los Angeles gang mentality that Eazy-E and N.W.A. popularized and make it pure pop. Death Row Records announced their thuggish vision by embracing their controversial logo, a prisoner strapped than electric chair. In fact, according to legend (and lawsuits) Suge Knight, the force behind Death Row Records, and several men allegedly threatened Eazy-E with baseball bats and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. When this meeting was over, Eazy-E had relinquished any claims to the contract of Dr. Dre, The D.O.C., and other Ruthless Records artists.
During Death Row Records' heyday, from 1992 - 1996, the company maintained a stronghold on record sales making an estimated $100-million a year. Death Row Records released some of the most beloved and important albums in music history. In fact, Death Row Records established the "hard" presence that still rings true today within Hiphop culture, as well as, a more prominent profile and commercial identity. By 2006, the infamous Death Row Records filed for bankruptcy. As of 2009, the record company remains in limbo and was auctioned off to Canadian entertainment development company WIDEawake for $18 million.
Hiphop Outcome:
In late 1992, Interscope and Death Row Records released their first album, Dr. Dre's classic The Chronic. Nine months after its release The Chronic went double platinum and popularized the distinctive style of G-Funk. Less than a year later, Dr. Dre protege, Snoop Doggy Dogg released his debut album Doggystyle. The freshman LP went quadruple platinum outselling The Chronic yet soon after the release controversy began to hit the label. In 1993, Bill Bennett, Bob Dole, and C. Delores Tucker made Death Row Records the center of Congressional Hearings in their fight against gangsta rap and its lyrics.
Many West Coast artists eventually signed to the label such as Tupac Shakur, MC Hammer, Sam Sneed, Michel'le, RBX, The Lady of Rage, DJ Quik, Tha Dogg Pound, Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopez, and many others. In October 1995, Death Row Records secured a bond for $1.4 million so Tupac Shakur could jet to Southern California and begin recording what became the twenty-seven-song album All Eyes On Me. Four months later, Death Row became the first record label to release Hiphop culture's first double album, All Eyes On Me.