Snoop Dogg Buys Death Row Records from the Blackstone Group
Posted on 02/10/2022
MNRK Music Group is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had been acquired by the present-day Entertainment One in 2005. Koch was renamed E1 Music in 2009. It acquired IndieBlu Music, parent of Artemis Records and V2 Records North America, in 2010.In 2013, eOne acquired the library of defunct hip-hop label Death Row Records. In January 2016, eOne acquired Dualtone Records. In March 2016, eOne acquired Canadian label Last Gang Records, and hired its founder, music industry lawyer Chris Taylor, as global president of eOne Music.
In April 2021, following the acquisition of its parent company by toy and entertainment company Hasbro, eOne announced that it would divest its music business to the private equity firm The Blackstone Group for US$ 385 million, in order to focus more on its film and television entertainment businesses.
In February 2022, MNRK Music Group sold Death Row Records to Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (Snoop Dogg)(previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion). “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,” the 50-year-old Snoop Dogg said in a statement. “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.”
Death Row Records 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. Suge Knight lost Death Row after it went into bankruptcy in 2006. The label’s records include Dre’s first solo album “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s debut “Doggystyle.”
Snoop Dogg Sued Over Alleged Sexual Assault and Battery
In the same month, a woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Snoop Dogg and another man, alleging that they each sexually assaulted her nearly nine years ago. The woman alleged that the incident happened after she attended a Snoop Dogg concert in May 2013, according to filing in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Snoop Dogg was a member of the Rollin’ 20s Crips gang in the Eastside neighborhood of Long Beach; although in 1993 he denied the frequent police and media reports by saying that he never joined a gang.
