Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, two of the original Death Row Records artists, performing live. Photo Credit: Jason Persse / CC by 2.0
About one month ago, Snoop Dogg declared that his newly purchased Death Row Records would “be an NFT label.” Now, famed Death Row releases including The Chronic and Doggystyle are missing from streaming services like Spotify.
A number of eagle-eyed Redditors just recently commented on – and expressed their frustration with – the Death Row Records streaming takedowns. At the time of this piece’s writing, Snoop Dogg’s aforementioned debut album, Doggystyle (1993), wasn’t live on Spotify, Apple Music, or Deezer, nor was Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (1992).
Moreover, Snoop Dogg’s Tha Doggfather (1996) has likewise been pulled from Spotify, though the 50-year-old’s newest Death Row release, BODR (short for “Bacc On Death Row”), remains available on all major streaming platforms. Also worth noting is that Tupac Shakur’s Death Row releases, including 1996’s All Eyez on Me, are currently present on Spotify and other services.
Early reports suggested that Snoop Dogg’s purchase of Death Row Records from MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music) excluded the label’s underlying song rights. During a recent interview with Tidal, Snoop Dogg relayed on the subject: “As far as 2Pac’s masters, 2Pac’s masters came back to him last year. But I got a great relationship with his estate, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to be able to work something out. … Same with Dr. Dre and The Chronic. I got The Chronic album.”
However, Dr. Dre’s legal team subsequently denied via a public statement that Snoop Dogg possessed the rights to The Chronic. If the latter contention was in fact correct, it’s possible that the longtime cryptocurrency enthusiast Snoop Dogg and his fellow Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show performer Dr. Dre reached an agreement behind the scenes.
Dr. Dre, who hasn’t released a studio album since 2015’s Compton, isn’t a stranger to cashing in on tech-driven spaces. The 57-year-old dropped six exclusive songs via Grand Theft Auto Online last year before releasing the works on streaming services in 2022.
And in terms of Snoop Dogg’s previously noted affinity for crypto as well as the metaverse – and the related possibility that NFTs are on the way for The Chronic and Doggystyle– the rapper has backed Stage11, a metaverse startup. Last year, it came to light that Snoop was behind the popular Cozomo Medici NFT-discussion account.
Snoop Dogg has likewise released a variety of NFTs through OpenSea. Today, the Long Beach, California, native took to social media to announce another OpenSea drop, and the token’s official description reads: “The great Warren G [Dr. Dre’s stepbrother and a member of 213 with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg] making his Death Row NFT debut with this amazing track from Jane Hancock.”
Finally, Snoop Dogg has teed up another NFT yet, “Death Row Mix: Vol. 1,” and the 1,000-token project is scheduled to go live on a platform called Sound.xyz this afternoon. In other non-fungible token news, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan NFTs are on the way, and music-focused NFT marketplace Pianity raised $6.5 million about a week and a half ago.