Death Row Records
The West Coast label behind The Chronic, Doggystyle and All Eyez on Me.
Death Row Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight and Dick Griffey. Through the 1990s it released multi-platinum West Coast hip-hop albums by Dr. Dre (The Chronic), Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle, Tha Doggfather) and 2Pac (All Eyez on Me, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory), earning over US$100 million a year at its peak.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1991 (original); 9 February 2022 (revival)
- Founder
- The D.O.C.
- Suge Knight
- Dr. Dre
- Dick Griffey
- Genre
- Hip-hop, R&B
- Parent
- Snoop Dogg
- Country
- United States
- Location
- 8200 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, 90211, U.S.
Lore & Background
The label declined in the late 1990s after the death of 2Pac, Suge Knight's imprisonment and the departures of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and it was dogged by lawsuits, links to organized crime and violence by its artists and associates.
Reader's Guide
Death Row filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was auctioned to WIDEawake Entertainment for $18 million in January 2009. It later passed to Entertainment One and Hasbro, then to the Blackstone Group in 2021; Snoop Dogg bought the label from MNRK Music Group in February 2022 to revive it.
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