digg

Join DiggAbout

The Digg Crew wants to hear your thoughts!
Please take our short survey about Digg and potential feature ideas.

See the original image at time.com —

Death Row Records Auctioned for $24 Million

time.com — Death Row Records, the hip-hop label that released seminal gangster rap albums by Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, has been auctioned for $24 million.

show profanity settings
expand all
  • jordankasteler, on 07/15/2008, -12/+24"Ya ***** with me, ya ***** with death row."
  • omgroffles, on 07/15/2008, -4/+59So sad. I can only imagine how much it would have sold for in the early 90's
    • RyanM, on 07/15/2008, -0/+10"Death Row Records is a record label that was founded in 1991 by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight, and was once home to some of rap's biggest names, including 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound (Kurupt and Daz Dillinger).

      Death Row has sold nearly 50 million units worldwide, and generated close to $750 million in revenue."
  • Omek, on 07/15/2008, -2/+14Man, Suge really screwed over that record company and its artists... I wonder what Global Music Group Inc. will do with it...
    • paulf2k, on 07/15/2008, -3/+3all they can hope for is learning to raise the dead and having a zombie 2pac "Thug Dead" concert...im so ashamed of myself
    • langdonalger, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2judging from this banner on their website:

      http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/9251/mybannergl ...
      (yes, originally hosted on imageshack and not their own server)

      most likely they'll release a couple "best of" bargain bin cds and then let it rot.

      i wish someone interested in rebuilding it would've stepped in.
      • mk3k, on 07/15/2008, -5/+1Who gives a ***** if they rebuild it. I mean it was influential in it's time but they were just wanna be gangsters.
      • precision256, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1mk3k, Tupac was a pretty hard dude. His step dad was on the the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and Death Row was definitely involved with the Bloods so I don't get how any of them are 'wanna be.' If anything it's the newer rappers like lil wayne and jeezy who are playing the part.
  • teethandeyes, on 07/15/2008, -3/+53Suge Knight is a bitch.
    • earnjam, on 07/15/2008, -4/+25I wouldn't say that too loudly.
      • solidus636, on 07/15/2008, -4/+19SUGE KNIGHT IS A BITCH!
      • machocheese34, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5Why, from what ive seen it doesnt look like its too hard too knock him out cold
    • DarkSenay, on 07/15/2008, -1/+10I dare you to say that to his face...
      • scottkrotdotcom, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2i agree, his broke ass isnt worth suing even if he did hit u
    • nojingoist, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7Suge Knight was knocked out in May at a nightclub.. dude was out for 3 minutes cold and taken to the hospital. too lazy to link, google it.
    • greekgoat91, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Suge Knight is the Clell Tickle of hip hop
    • cathpah, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1double dog dare you.

      or would that be double DOGG
    • defy, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2You might finding yourself hanging out of a window, Vanilla Ice style.
  • cjacks9, on 07/15/2008, -1/+12My how the mighty have fallen. 24 million dollars. Wonder why none of the other labels wound up outbidding Global. Or maybe they didn't even try.
    • punkcat, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3dont think music is a hot commodity now.
  • zjarmon, on 07/15/2008, -7/+2Gangsta auction
  • ileftfark, on 07/15/2008, -3/+47Reportedly, Knight was also willing to sell the record company for a half-pound of what he called "sweet cheeba", a gold chain, and 6 months of free commissary.
    • swazo, on 07/15/2008, -2/+8I came in here to say something similar but less funny.
    • ZodiacKiller, on 07/15/2008, -8/+1Right... I can really picture Suge Knight saying "commissary" and "sweet cheeba". You need to gtfo promptly.
    • doctechnical, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2Should have held out for forty acres and a mule.

      /window seat, please.
      • ZodiacKiller, on 07/15/2008, -4/+1Who DARES digg down my comment!

        You retards really think Suge Knight would say "commissary"? Is he wearing a top hat and a monocle when he says it?
      • Charlesbian, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1half pound of the sweetest cheeba will sell me on anything. its dat fire.
  • CVL4317, on 07/15/2008, -8/+5if only it is real death row list...
    • lukerat88, on 07/15/2008, -1/+1i have no clue what you mean
    • CVL4317, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1read the title again, this time without capitalization.
  • whiteguysamurai, on 07/15/2008, -15/+7Suburban white "gangstaz" have to grow up sometime, so this music is going out of style.
  • insanecee, on 07/15/2008, -11/+4"Forget about Dre"
  • smokeymcdank, on 07/15/2008, -1/+8I don't understand how the owner of "The Chronic" can go broke, its a classic.
    • superfuxxorr, on 07/15/2008, -1/+5perhaps mr. knight wasn't a scholarly businessman?
    • cobr@, on 07/16/2008, -0/+2yeah he probably is not very well educated if he is in and out of jail. I can assume that a smart man would not want to be locked up in a small cell day in day out after being in there for a few years. unless he likes men
  • ghostrc, on 07/15/2008, -2/+19If there was a celebrity roast for Suge Knight, would anyone show up?
  • TonyTheTerrible, on 07/15/2008, -4/+4lawl
  • MrZaiko, on 07/15/2008, -0/+39Death Row went down when Dre and Snoop left. and it Died after Tupac died
    • raisedinhell, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Death Row died when interscope dropped them as a result of the strong arm tactics of C. Deloris Tucker and her associate. From what I understand, they stormed an interscope board meeting and threw a wobbly about the content of the music coming from Death Row.

      Dre was smart, he left Death Row under the guise of disgust and got a new deal with Interscope. Shortly after he released a compliation album (The Aftermath) which more or less completely borrowed Death Row's style, and Tucker never caught on!
  • RajDhillon, on 07/15/2008, -0/+24The thing about Suge Knight is he never made the change from the street hustle to the corporate hustle.
    The tough guy stuff only goes so far until he'll run into trouble with someones accountant who won't jump when Suge says boo, because he doesn't care about your street cred.

    So while Suge stayed in the street corner mentality, all these other rappers out here realized they needed to change it up to be corporate and now look at who's where.
  • eggballs, on 07/15/2008, -10/+3Damn, even black hip-hop millionaires can't stay out of debt. The system if *****!
  • diggit08, on 07/15/2008, -1/+22Everyone who thinks Suge only has $11 raise your hand...
    • sovereign3, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2I bet he has really good accountants.
    • positron, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Na. He used his last few dollars buying fig newtons to use as chips for the block spades tournament.
  • MforMike, on 07/15/2008, -4/+2I read this as like Records of people who have been put on Death Row, and I initially wondered, who in the world would ever want those, especially for 24 mil
    • raisedinhell, on 07/16/2008, -1/+1considering the success of The Chronic, Doggystyle and All Eyez... I think there are probably quite a few people.
  • CYR1X, on 07/15/2008, -1/+4Just so people know, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre left the label, and Tupac died. So the only popular person on Death Row Records is Suge Knight who is in jail. Not really surprising this label sold for so low.
    • winmywii, on 07/15/2008, -0/+10The back catalog is what is key here.
  • FearFactory, on 07/15/2008, -4/+4Tug Lyfe
  • xsquirrel378x, on 07/15/2008, -1/+3Yo Suge, Dont kill me bro!
  • BlackJackJester, on 07/15/2008, -2/+3Tupac is dead? I swear he released another "post-mortum" record recently
  • MixMastaKooz, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4"Other assets are believed to include unreleased material from Shakur that could result in another posthumous release from the rapper."

    What? Another "posthumous" record by Tupac? Isn't that like the fifth one??!!?

    Tupac is not dead! He's still alive, yo!
  • Qtip42, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4I dunno, I think that's a hell of a deal for the chronic, all eyez on me, and doggystyle......Over a lifetime those albums would bring in quite a bit.
    • sovereign3, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2There's also the unreleased Tupac material. I bet there'll be another postmortem album released in the next year or two.
      • Qtip42, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1He doesn't have access to those does he? wasn't there a big thing over them advertising the unreleased material when it really belonged to 2pac's estate?
      • raisedinhell, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Afeni Shakur owns the rights to Tupac's unreleased material.
    • diggerphelps, on 07/15/2008, -0/+8Plus Tupac may start touring again.
      What?

      It could happen.
      • positron, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1I believe you. Hell, if a cartoon rock/rap band like the Gorillaz can tour, why not?
  • bobbydiamondz, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3I was going to comment that I thought $24 million for Tupac's back catalog (plus whatever Dre & Snoop produced under Death Row) seemed cheap considering future royalties -- once their ***** is hip to a different generation. But who the hell knows how music will be distributed when that time comes around. Maybe there won't be any money in dead/retired artists.
  • anon748296, on 07/15/2008, -3/+1Regardless of what was paid, i'm sure when Suge sends some enforcers over the dude will give it back for free.

    They'll hold the dude out the window by his ankles like they did Vanilla Ice.

    Even the prison warden refers to Suge as "Mr. Knight" (see "Biggie & Tupac").
  • o5rob5o, on 07/15/2008, -1/+6To get out of bankruptcy they should take back all the houses of all the 1 hit wonder rappers with 3 million dollar homes, that haven't contributed anything in 5 years but are still all over the news and MTV poisoning our nations youth with their booty wiggling video music girls and souljah toys.
  • jewbird, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2Hey, that's about what Brangelina's baby photos went for. Coincidence? I think not!
    • df12, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Wish I had the skillz. There's Photoshop GOLD there!
  • ZodiacKiller, on 07/15/2008, -1/+7"Ain't nuthin but a g thang baybaay
    And Death Row is tha label that paays maay.
    Un-fadeable so please don't try and fade this"

    Your claims of un fade ability have proven to be unsubstantiated death row.
  • stolikat, on 07/15/2008, -9/+7Shows how little value rap has after it ages. Nobody wants to listen to it anymore unlike Rock and Roll in which most songs are ageless.
    • S197, on 07/15/2008, -1/+10I dont know about that, The Chronic, All eyez on me, Doggy Style, Wu-Tang, Tribe. ill be listening to that when im 80.
    • jbak, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4...And its ageless because no one makes rock & roll anymore. WTF does a defunct rap record label have to do with the genre itself? There's plenty of ageless rap songs and Death Row has credit for at least 3 classic albums "the Chronic" "Doggystyle" and "All Eyez on Me"
    • jbak, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2BTW you're right im listening to the B52's right now CLASSIC!
    • allnone, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2A record label, that died in the 90's shows the value of rap? WOW! You're an idiot.
    • thecatfish111, on 07/16/2008, -0/+2Well lets see about that. Hip-Hop was created around 72'/73' and it is now the year 2008. Thats about 36 years and going strong. First of all the death of a label does not equate to the death of a genre. Hip-Hop culture is perhaps one of the most replicated American sub-cultures around the world. There is not a single large or small city in the world today that does not have graffiti and in almost every single major city in the world you can always find b-boys and b-girls. In almost every club in the world a DJ creates his own music rather than simply playing records. Hip-Hop is used to by millions of poor people and minorities across the world to address environmental injustice, policing and prisons, media justice, and education. This is what Roger Ebert said about Hip-Hop
      "Hip-Hop has a bad reputation in white circles, where many people believe it consists of obscene and violent anti-white and anti-female guttural. Some of it does. Most does not. Most white listeners don't care; they hear black voices in a litany of discontent, and tune out. Yet hip-hop plays the same role today as Bob Dylan did in 1960, giving voice to the hopes and angers of a generation, and a lot of hip-hop is powerful writing."
      Hip-Hop is studied at countless Universities where classes on Hip-Hop are held. Whether u like it or not, Hip-Hop will only get bigger.
    • vermax, on 07/16/2008, -0/+3that's just silly, you only remember the ageless songs, there was loads of disposable crap made too (rock n roll gave us hair metal, did it not?). And you probably only heard the ***** stuff like this thug and his pals put out, or the crap that screams out of idiots' cars. there is nothing intrinsically worthless about rap; done right it's truly vivid, full of energy and incredible rhythms. it's just that most people are far too stupid to demand that stuff, and would rather hear kindergarten songs about guns and bitches and their dicks. Thanks for all the ***** cliche GangstaPop, Suge, hope you end up in deep shame some day, for a good long time.
  • DougFunnie, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2We don't love dem hoooooes..
    • Rezistik, on 07/16/2008, -0/+3Interestingly enough Pac was not like that, at 17 he had the utmost respect. He was a nerd all the way, real awkward and nice around women unfortunately he gave into the thug ***** persona because people (read most women) prefer assholes.

      I don't know about you but as a kid who is awkward around females in general, I can almost relate.
  • Gazzali, on 07/15/2008, -1/+1i have not heard this name
  • djAnakin, on 07/15/2008, -7/+1That's it?! Pathetic. Rap sucks!
    • thatsbologna, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Douches like you piss me off. You're so ignorant I can't stand it.
  • tubbsthezombie, on 07/16/2008, -1/+1I read the blurb wrong - I thought it said "seminal gangster rape".
  • warplayer, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Man, I spent a good portion of my formative years listening to this stuff. Crazy to think that it is going to rot in someone's library somewhere, mostly unutilized...
  • GoBack2Europe, on 07/16/2008, -1/+2I got some bitches in the living room gettin' it on and they ain't leaving till six in da morning
    • raisedinhell, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1So what choo wanna do? I gotta pocket fulla rubbaz and my homeboys do too!
  • ATLien74, on 07/16/2008, -0/+2Wow, 24 million is chump change compared to what it would have been worth in the 90's when Dre, Snoop and Tupac were all on the Row. Whoever bought it owns some classics though.
  • 33PercentGod, on 07/16/2008, -1/+3Tupac is my favorite underground rapper.

    *rimshot*
  • alperea, on 07/16/2008, -1/+1I wonder what new rap groups under Death Row would be rapping about?
    Yo man we be all bankrupt in dis biatch, 11 dollaz in da bank account G fo rizzle!
    • thatsbologna, on 07/16/2008, -0/+3I love when fags use the same joke every time there's a rap article on the front page.

      FO RIZZLE LOL OMG IM FUNNY.

      If you ever heard some good rap, you would know that that's not how they talk/rap.
      • alperea, on 07/16/2008, -0/+2Funny, the -izzle phase was popularized by Snoop Doggy Dog (which he learned from prison, mainly to speak in code on the phone when the phones were monitored), who started out in Death Row. So I think in this is one case where rizzle jokes fit.
  • solid12345, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Death Row--California love
    Part ***** 2 without gay ass Suge
  • lenny4422, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1Who doesn't like this classic?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC4371a1HBA
    (Not a Rick Roll)
  • ThaDRD, on 07/16/2008, -0/+2I still listen to Death Row stuff. It's timeless and completely destroys anything put out in the past few years. It really pisses me off that Dre, Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound, The Lady of Rage, and RBX aren't all together on Aftermath completely pwning the industry. Seriously Dre, what the ***** are you doing right now? From what I have read, The Chronic was completed in one week, and how many years is it taking for Detox to come out?
  • butters11, on 07/16/2008, -0/+0At least this might stop the endless amount of Death Row greatest hits albums, there must have been a dozen over the past few years.
  • HumanRecalled, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1umm kinda behind the news !! Some dumb blond chick bought it and this was announced all over the world Cnn, Times etc on june 24th !

    The only thing even valid at that time was that she retians all of that company's music library all of which is a dead genre of Gangsta rap !
  • hectordejesus, on 07/16/2008, -0/+0Death Row has been in bad shape since 2Pac release "All Eyez on Me". No doubt a great album but there was nothing else to follow it up with as far as "other artists" on the label. Think about it... after Makaveli was released what other death Row artist had a "decent" CD? Hell... look back in the archives and notice that Death Row released another Dogg Pound album... without their permission... and then proceeded to talk ***** about them... on their own damn record! That's almost like Michael Jackson remaking a Beatles album and adlibing their songs...
    • raisedinhell, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1They released a Snoop album without Snoop's consent called "Dead man walking"... you can guess why they called it that :)
  • 4eloBek, on 07/16/2008, -1/+1that would be a bad investment... cds are not selling...
  • phineasgage, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1East coast wins!
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.