
Knight approached Michael "Harry-O" Harris, a businessman imprisoned on drug and attempted murder charges. Dre and his partners in July 1991 and by 1992 the name changed to its eventual title of Death Row. However he later sold the naming rights to Dr. Unknown stated in an interview that he created the name "Def Row" for a potential deal to start another record label under Morgan Creek. claimed to have suggested changing the name of the new label to ' Def Row' (a play on the Def Jam), but rights to the name were already owned by The Unknown DJ, who also happened to be one of Dre's former music associates in the 1980s. Although the name of their new music venture was originally called Future Shock, The D.O.C. and Dick Griffey began the process of starting a record label and music partnership in anticipation of Dre's departure from Ruthless. Dre and Suge Knight along with partners The D.O.C. Allegedly using strong-arm tactics, Suge Knight was able to procure contracts from Eazy-E for The D.O.C., Dr.

Dre about forming a label with them, away from Heller. Convinced that Jerry Heller was dishonest, they approached Dr. After the departure of Ice Cube in 1989 over financial disagreements with Jerry Heller, Suge Knight and The D.O.C.

Dre produced a large number of Ruthless projects, many of them successful feeling the pressures of having to produce so many acts and feeling he was underpaid, Dr. The owner of WIDEawake bankrupted in 2012 and the label was then sold to Entertainment One, then became a division of Hasbro until April 2021 when eOne Music was sold to The Blackstone Group. Death Row Records filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was auctioned to WIDEawake Entertainment for $18 million on January 15, 2009.

Although Death Row was enjoying financial success, it was embroiled in controversies, lawsuits, and violence by its artists and associates. īy the late 1990s, the label began to decline after the death of its star artist, Tupac Shakur, imprisonment of Suge Knight, and the departures of Dr.

At its peak, Death Row was making over US$100 million a year. Dre ( The Chronic), Snoop Dogg ( Doggystyle), Tha Dogg Pound ( Dogg Food), and Tupac Shakur ( All Eyez on Me) during the 1990s. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. ĭeath Row (formerly Future Shock and Tha Row) was an American record label founded in 1992 by Dr. 8200 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
