WIDEawake Death Row next release 20 To Life Vol. 2 - September 25th

[UCC]

I'd be more interested if they did well put together versions of the classic albums...

Like if they released Doggystyle, with all the remixes from the singles, with all the tracks that later became tracks on Doggystyle,
instrumental versions of all the tracks... maybe even some of the tracks broken down into just parts so we can see how they were made,
that would be more interesting to me...

And then have a big booklet with lots of info on the making of Doggystyle, interviews with people who were involved, how the artwork/photos were done
for it... then do that for the Chronic, Dogg Food, etc.


I don't know if you ever seen like classic Jazz albums or rock albums or anything, but they do that all the time, like have full liner notes redone for them,
and get the session recordings for the album and put all that stuff on a couple of discs or so...

[sms130]

I understand them re-releasing songs from that boxset. They're only doing that because that boxset is discontinued (in part due the Dr. Dre material appearing on there without his permission and it becoming a legal issue along with "The Chronic Relit: From The Vault"). WideAwake used "Doggy Bag" along with  "20 To Life: Volume 1" and "20 To Life: Volume 2" to re-release the unreleased material that appeared on the boxset. I just hope that after this release, they can move forward and give the fans more good unreleased recordings. Maybe release a remastered version of "Doggystyle" or "Dogg Food" in the future.

[Quadruple OG]

I've been going on since the beginning of this WideAwake/Death Row thing about how it didn't make sense without Suge and it was not going to work out. Like someone said before DR should have just stayed bankrupt, the bootleggers would have done their job as far as emptying out the vault so no loss there.

I think bootlegging is one of the reasons their releases are so weak

Some people are making money behind the scenes selling the good stuff under the counter

I respect your opinion but disagree because if WA would put out the material people are yearning for and actually make them available in stores their products would probably sell more.  By releasing watered down releases in piss poor quality they are actually creating a marketplace/opportunity for bootleggers to exploit.  If they give people what they want it would most likely stifle the bootleggers but the way they are doing it people will actually buy from bootleggers because they seem to have a better understanding of what fans want as opposed to FastAsleep. 

here's the problem:  it's a fact that these guys are bootlegging songs behind the scenes and have been since 2009.

Snap. And not just the normal stuff, Imagine all the stuff they hold that can NEVER be released or heard. Like Dre stuff, Pac outtakes and whatnot.

All that holy grail stuff must be getting sold to top level black market collectors. Die hard Euros, Japs and Wiggers

I'm talkin G's overseas

Anything can be bought for the right price. Seems like people have shallow pockets these days though.

Or that people don't care about the stuff that is being bootlegged like Crooked I out takes and more Pete Pablo bootlegs.

[Jimmy H.]

I understand them re-releasing songs from that boxset. They're only doing that because that boxset is discontinued (in part due the Dr. Dre material appearing on there without his permission and it becoming a legal issue along with "The Chronic Relit: From The Vault"). WideAwake used "Doggy Bag" along with  "20 To Life: Volume 1" and "20 To Life: Volume 2" to re-release the unreleased material that appeared on the boxset. I just hope that after this release, they can move forward and give the fans more good unreleased recordings. Maybe release a remastered version of "Doggystyle" or "Dogg Food" in the future.

I don't buy that because they are also including material that was put out on other projects. It's just lazy to me.

I actually like what UCC was talking about and it's something I've suggested in the past as well. Do a collector's set of some of the classic catalog and model it after what these other labels have done with say, the BDP catalog or ODB and GZA's deluxe albums. Include all the single and 16' inch stuff on a bonus disc with cleaned-up versions of the "Doggystyle" leftovers from the first Lost Sessions (don't know if that's still legally possible). Put "G's Up, Hoes Down" back in the original tracklist and do a remastered Doggystyle collector's edition, instead of these over-priced, poorly-mixed and weakly-compiled bootleg-quality albums they've been putting out.

[3331]

if wideawake wanted to make a fancy remaster of doggystyle that would satisfy consumers they would need to:

-figure out how to master properly (and better then the original)
-find a way around the red tape with dre so they can put outtakes on
-make peace with people involved in creating the album so they can interview them for liner notes
-do some research and figure out death rows history to assemble tracks from that time
-do some more research to figure out who was involved for the liner notes
-basically completely get there act together.........

basically this is all a fantasy. i'm not saying yall are asking for too much wanting a decent product like this actually worth buying i'm saying it's so impossible it's not even worth talking about. doggystyle relit is a possibility though with some bloody mary and danny boy tracks at the end.



http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Death-Row-Box-Set/dp/B002PY9CI0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345505745&sr=8-1&keywords=death+row+box

overpriced? yes discontinued? no...

[The "Untouchable" DJR]

I'd be more interested if they did well put together versions of the classic albums...

Like if they released Doggystyle, with all the remixes from the singles, with all the tracks that later became tracks on Doggystyle,
instrumental versions of all the tracks... maybe even some of the tracks broken down into just parts so we can see how they were made,
that would be more interesting to me...

And then have a big booklet with lots of info on the making of Doggystyle, interviews with people who were involved, how the artwork/photos were done
for it... then do that for the Chronic, Dogg Food, etc.


I don't know if you ever seen like classic Jazz albums or rock albums or anything, but they do that all the time, like have full liner notes redone for them,
and get the session recordings for the album and put all that stuff on a couple of discs or so...

Exactly what I was thinking CDs with big booklets full of (production) info, artwork etc basically everything they could find and there has to be alot, not just music wise but also photo sessions, promo material the works. Only I think they should leave the classic albums alone and move on with the unreleased stuff, then really putting the emphasis on "unreleased" with stickers on the CDs like "Unleashed from The Vaults: 100% authentic Death Row exclusives" or something like that.
Let's say they're releasing a compilation album from the 2002/2003 era, songs by Crooked I, Eastwood, N.I.N.A., Boo-yaa Tribe, Kurupt, Spider, Switchblade etc are on it. A nice booklet in there with as much info on each song as possible, a little background info on each artist, photo's and pictures that are actually from that period and maybe a brief summary of the label's status those 2 years. The XXL cover in 2002, Left Eye joinig the label, other artists affiliation with the label during that time (Juvenile, Ray J, Murder Inc), interviews the artists did and so on.
As far as the sound quality goes, I was under the impression that not all of the material was in good shape and that some songs simply could not get any better sound quality wise. If that really is the case then I don't mind the quality being average at best or even worse, better to have it in bad quality then to not have it at all.

[Hack Wilson - real]

doggystyle relit is a possibility though with some bloody mary and danny boy tracks at the end.

LMAO  I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed they sure love to throw us unheard, unreleased Bloody Mary, C-Po and Danny Boy songs but they hoard the good shit (Crooked I's Untouchable cd, Every Single Day OG, Sam Sneed originals and of course everything by 2pac)

they spent 26 million bucks to buy DR and put out albums that sell 5000 copies at 10x a piece.  that's 50,000 profit + a small amount of back catalogue income

[procrastiNate]

I just want them to put out 100% unreleased albums and compilations, properly mixed and mastered, with at least 14 tracks per disc. No more of this 12 track bullshit. And I definitely do not want to see one single song that has been released officially make it onto these unreleased projects. Now, I absolutely do not mind if they put stuff like G'd Up & Banged Out by Crooked I or We R Blown by Petey Pablo on unreleased projects because even though they've been bootlegged in pretty good quality, they are still officially unreleased and I would like to see every track get a proper release.

[Hack Wilson - real]

I just want them to put out 100% unreleased albums and compilations, properly mixed and mastered, with at least 14 tracks per disc. No more of this 12 track bullshit. And I definitely do not want to see one single song that has been released officially make it onto these unreleased projects. Now, I absolutely do not mind if they put stuff like G'd Up & Banged Out by Crooked I or We R Blown by Petey Pablo on unreleased projects because even though they've been bootlegged in pretty good quality, they are still officially unreleased and I would like to see every track get a proper release.

good idea

[UCC]

if wideawake wanted to make a fancy remaster of doggystyle that would satisfy consumers they would need to:

-figure out how to master properly (and better then the original)
-find a way around the red tape with dre so they can put outtakes on
-make peace with people involved in creating the album so they can interview them for liner notes
-do some research and figure out death rows history to assemble tracks from that time
-do some more research to figure out who was involved for the liner notes
-basically completely get there act together.........

basically this is all a fantasy. i'm not saying yall are asking for too much wanting a decent product like this actually worth buying i'm saying it's so impossible it's not even worth talking about. doggystyle relit is a possibility though with some bloody mary and danny boy tracks at the end.

Yeah, I know what you mean, the main hurdle there really is "get their act together"...
They have enough stuff from around Doggystyle to have put some of that stuff on it, have a disc with the videos, etc.
and I think there is enough info out there already to create liner notes without having to interview the artists (though it would be cool if they did),
but yeah, they would need to get on the ball for it to happen...

Though for liner notes they could get someone like Ronin Ro or another writer to compile all the stuff for them...

Do a collector's set of some of the classic catalog and model it after what these other labels have done with say, the BDP catalog or ODB and GZA's deluxe albums. Include all the single and 16' inch stuff on a bonus disc with cleaned-up versions of the "Doggystyle" leftovers from the first Lost Sessions (don't know if that's still legally possible). Put "G's Up, Hoes Down" back in the original tracklist and do a remastered Doggystyle collector's edition, instead of these over-priced, poorly-mixed and weakly-compiled bootleg-quality albums they've been putting out.

Right, the GZA one is really dope, for Liquid Swords, comes with a little chess set in the box and everything --


Disc one contains the official album version while disc two contains the full RZA produced instrumentals, available for the first time ever as an official release.
As always with any deluxe Get On Down release, we have packaged this album with an array of extras, including; researched, in depth, full color liner notes with contributions from GZA himself, spanning across 20 pages, inner jackets and dust sleeves with memorable vintage artwork from the original release, and even a full wooden minature chess set, which can be played on the chess board printed and contained directly on the inner lining of the box.

There's a dope Pharcyde one as well --


This superbly arranged deluxe reissue includes the original album in its entirety, plus two additional discs including instrumentals, remixes, and b-cydes. Fans will be pleased to find producer J-Sw!ft's extended liner notes included alongside vintage photos of the group.

[Dre-Day]

I understand them re-releasing songs from that boxset. They're only doing that because that boxset is discontinued (in part due the Dr. Dre material appearing on there without his permission and it becoming a legal issue along with "The Chronic Relit: From The Vault"). WideAwake used "Doggy Bag" along with  "20 To Life: Volume 1" and "20 To Life: Volume 2" to re-release the unreleased material that appeared on the boxset. I just hope that after this release, they can move forward and give the fans more good unreleased recordings. Maybe release a remastered version of "Doggystyle" or "Dogg Food" in the future.

would you really want a remastered album from those amateurs?

[J-FUNKTION]

re-releasing and repackaging shit is not gonna work...i wont, and nobody i know, is gonna buy doggystyle, or dogg food or whatever else again for a couple of unreleased tracks, more linear notes and a bulky package...

and the cats who use itunes and amazon wont have the full "experience" of that purchase so yeah....while were at it, is there anyone stupid enough to have legitimately purchased a digital download for doggystyle?

[Hack Wilson - real]

re-releasing and repackaging shit is not gonna work...i wont, and nobody i know, is gonna buy doggystyle, or dogg food or whatever else again for a couple of unreleased tracks, more linear notes and a bulky package...

Chronic re-lit was a success, i know quite a few peeps who purchased it that have no idea Death Row even got sold to begin with

[Sir Petey]

is wide awake "independant"


do they even have the access to the resources it would take to re release this shit properly and do the promo that comes with it etc ?

[Jimmy H.]

re-releasing and repackaging shit is not gonna work...i wont, and nobody i know, is gonna buy doggystyle, or dogg food or whatever else again for a couple of unreleased tracks, more linear notes and a bulky package...

and the cats who use itunes and amazon wont have the full "experience" of that purchase so yeah....while were at it, is there anyone stupid enough to have legitimately purchased a digital download for doggystyle?

History says otherwise. There's a reason labels keep putting out deluxe editions of all their classic albums. Selling whole albums of unreleased music is actually more of a financial gamble than re-releasing classic albums with a few extra goodies attached.

[J-FUNKTION]

re-releasing and repackaging shit is not gonna work...i wont, and nobody i know, is gonna buy doggystyle, or dogg food or whatever else again for a couple of unreleased tracks, more linear notes and a bulky package...

and the cats who use itunes and amazon wont have the full "experience" of that purchase so yeah....while were at it, is there anyone stupid enough to have legitimately purchased a digital download for doggystyle?

History says otherwise. There's a reason labels keep putting out deluxe editions of all their classic albums. Selling whole albums of unreleased music is actually more of a financial gamble than re-releasing classic albums with a few extra goodies attached.

maybe....

but in 2012/2013?

[Darkwing Duck (The Reincarnation)]

  i wouldve bought that GZA-set wit the chessboard if i was still into cd's

I'd be more interested if they did well put together versions of the classic albums...

Like if they released Doggystyle, with all the remixes from the singles, with all the tracks that later became tracks on Doggystyle,
instrumental versions of all the tracks... maybe even some of the tracks broken down into just parts so we can see how they were made,
that would be more interesting to me...

And then have a big booklet with lots of info on the making of Doggystyle, interviews with people who were involved, how the artwork/photos were done
for it... then do that for the Chronic, Dogg Food, etc.


I don't know if you ever seen like classic Jazz albums or rock albums or anything, but they do that all the time, like have full liner notes redone for them,
and get the session recordings for the album and put all that stuff on a couple of discs or so...

Exactly what I was thinking CDs with big booklets full of (production) info, artwork etc basically everything they could find and there has to be alot, not just music wise but also photo sessions, promo material the works. Only I think they should leave the classic albums alone and move on with the unreleased stuff, then really putting the emphasis on "unreleased" with stickers on the CDs like "Unleashed from The Vaults: 100% authentic Death Row exclusives" or something like that.
Let's say they're releasing a compilation album from the 2002/2003 era, songs by Crooked I, Eastwood, N.I.N.A., Boo-yaa Tribe, Kurupt, Spider, Switchblade etc are on it. A nice booklet in there with as much info on each song as possible, a little background info on each artist, photo's and pictures that are actually from that period and maybe a brief summary of the label's status those 2 years. The XXL cover in 2002, Left Eye joinig the label, other artists affiliation with the label during that time (Juvenile, Ray J, Murder Inc), interviews the artists did and so on.
As far as the sound quality goes, I was under the impression that not all of the material was in good shape and that some songs simply could not get any better sound quality wise. If that really is the case then I don't mind the quality being average at best or even worse, better to have it in bad quality then to not have it at all.

tehy obvioulsy dont have all the indivudal information they need for each n every track.

[Hack Wilson - real]

yeah my boy has that Gza chessboard set
 

shits dope!

[sms130]

I don't buy that because they are also including material that was put out on other projects. It's just lazy to me.

I actually like what UCC was talking about and it's something I've suggested in the past as well. Do a collector's set of some of the classic catalog and model it after what these other labels have done with say, the BDP catalog or ODB and GZA's deluxe albums. Include all the single and 16' inch stuff on a bonus disc with cleaned-up versions of the "Doggystyle" leftovers from the first Lost Sessions (don't know if that's still legally possible). Put "G's Up, Hoes Down" back in the original tracklist and do a remastered Doggystyle collector's edition, instead of these over-priced, poorly-mixed and weakly-compiled bootleg-quality albums they've been putting out.

Yo, I think that's a great idea. I would buy that release that you're mentioning in a heartbeat.  I was just posting the info that came from them on their form. Personally, I see why they're doing it. Yet, they shouldn't be doing it back to back like this. This is 3 projects spent on re-releasing unreleased material, back to back. I wish they would have included additional new unreleased material in the tracklistings of both volume 1 and 2. They could do better but, do they want to take the chance and so. That collector's edition of Doggystyle, I would buy ASAP. That would be great and I know that would sell off top. If it's done in that fashion that you mentioned, I'm there.

[ttpac]

doggystyle relit is a possibility though with some bloody mary and danny boy tracks at the end.

LMAO  I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed they sure love to throw us unheard, unreleased Bloody Mary, C-Po and Danny Boy songs but they hoard the good shit (Crooked I's Untouchable cd, Every Single Day OG, Sam Sneed originals and of course everything by 2pac)

they spent 26 million bucks to buy DR and put out albums that sell 5000 copies at 10x a piece.  that's 50,000 profit + a small amount of back catalogue income

Well said & good business sense bud; unlike WA of course-they're fast asleep.

[LilRealest]

Just 3 new tracks???!! Total disappointment.

[Jimmy H.]

maybe....

but in 2012/2013?

I would say so you ever notice how many times labels will re-issue classic albums or do new "greatest hits" packages? If you're someone that collects CD's, a remastered deluxe edition of an album might be something worth having. On the opposite side of things, if you're a casual fan, unreleased music from an artist is kind of a questionable investment.

[UCC]

Selling whole albums of unreleased music is actually more of a financial gamble than re-releasing classic albums with a few extra goodies attached.

Word, because it's like I already know I love The Chronic and Doggystyle, they're in my top 10 albums, so in most cases
I'd like to have more insights into those, the instrumentals from them, outtakes of recording sessions for them, etc.
to see how they were made and learn more about them... and of course if there are a few unreleased things from those
sessions, throw those in there as well...

Kinda like Star Wars, they release those joints like every couple of years with new stuff, new documentaries attached, etc.

Also I know a lot of people who don't even really listen to much hip-hop but who love Doggystyle and can rap like
all of Gz & Hustlaz and stuff like that, it was a very popular album...

[Jimmy H.]

And I think the most important thing to consider is there is a built-in market for the classic material. If an album is constantly mentioned by "hip-hop purists" or magazines as being one of the best then the people who don't have it or possibly not have heard it yet might go out of their way to cop it. If one of my friends says "Hey, you need to check out this artist or band" and I start digging him/them then chances are, I'm going to start with either the best album(s) out of their catalog or a greatest hits retrospective. Generally, I'm only going to buy an album of unreleased songs when I'm a little more deep into that artist's discography.

[Darkwing Duck (The Reincarnation)]

maybe....

but in 2012/2013?

I would say so you ever notice how many times labels will re-issue classic albums or do new "greatest hits" packages? If you're someone that collects CD's, a remastered deluxe edition of an album might be something worth having. On the opposite side of things, if you're a casual fan, unreleased music from an artist is kind of a questionable investment.

disagree, that sytem doesnt work anymore, it worked before, particularly well for timeless & classic music (all teh constant Michael Jacson, Abba, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marey, MoTown Records re-issues made money for yers and years) - but if Wideawake bought the catagloue from Suge, just so they could  re-issue old DeathRow-material for the 7th or 8 the time, they are fuckin up in my book -->
they have to be inventtive wit new product/new music, and focus on their fans, and take their main consumer-market into account,, just like specialized DVD-companies do wit their movie-fans,, instead of tryin to  make bread off of pointless attempts at resurrectin "classics" to newcomers, (the kids can already buy all those old/numerous Death Row- & PlayItAgainSam-prints for pennies & cents)