After shoving Van Winkle's bodyguards aside, Knight sat down in front of Van Winkle, staring at him before asking 'How you doin'?' Similar incidents were repeated on several occasions, including alleged attempts to lure Vanilla Ice into a van filled with Bloods and Crips, before Knight showed up at Vanilla Ice's hotel suite on the 15th floor of the Bel Age Hotel, accompanied by Johnson and a member of the Los Angeles Raiders. After consulting with Alex Roberts, Knight and two bodyguards arrived at The Palm in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, where Van Winkle was eating. Knight approached Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle), using management connections with Mario 'Chocolate' Johnson, claiming Johnson had produced and co-written the song ' Ice Ice Baby', and had not received royalties for it. Through David Kenner, an attorney handling Harris's appeal, Harry-O set up Godfather Entertainment, a parent company for the newly christened Death Row. 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 Records.

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 Dr. 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. Snoop Dogg bought Death Row from MNRK Music Group in February 2022, intending to revive the label. 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, 2Pac, 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 Doggfather), Tha Dogg Pound ( Dogg Food), and 2Pac ( All Eyez on Me, The Don Killuminati: 7 Day Theory) 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 Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. 8200 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.

The notorious big shirt