DEATHROW RECORDS 30TH ANNIVERSARY RELEASES

[Okka]

Dope news.

Hopefully this inspires Dre/Jimmy.

We need them unreleased Aftermath LPs in Dre mastered quality. Especially a Dre/Ra (Dre prod, Ra Gangsta Lyrics) LP, as well as a Ra/Dre (Ra conscious lyrics/Dre prod) LP. From whats been published this was when we're both at their heights and with it not getting released the beginning of Dre falling off.

Just my Bigfooted opinion.

We can all keep wishing this, but it's never going to happen. That's just not how Dr. Dre works.

[jman91331]

We can all keep wishing this, but it's never going to happen. That's just not how Dr. Dre works.

also, you can cut Jimmy out the equation as it's not really on him, he's not part of Interscope anymore so it's more on Dre and who's running Interscope now

[Tony Trey]

All right.  Here are key notes from the John Payne live stream.  In general, he seems serious and is working hard to get all artists on board and paid for their work and JP just seems like a real humble, kind dude.  More details below.

So it seems like the 25 minute video on Instagram is just the last portion.  That's the part I'm going to summarize:

JP is joined by RBX.  N'Matez project to be released on DR.  Talking this Monday (I assume to finalize details).  According to RBX, all 4 members are eager and excited and Rage is the driving force.  He, Kurupt, and Daz are following her lead.  According to JP, it was Rage that reached out to him to co-release the project with Death Row.  NOTE:  Per Daz's instagram, the album will be released this year jointly on Deathrow/N'Matez Records.  He and RBX reminisce a little.  RBX leaves.

JP is joined by K-Dubb.  He and JP have been together from back when DR was in the planning stages and called Future Shock Records.  K-Dubb is currently producing a new artist named King Dope (@iamofficiallydope on social media).  JP and KD will be talking more business today.  K-Dubb and King Dope leave.

JP notes that Tha Realest, J. Flexx, and Big C-Style are on.  JP tries to add Realest.  Had connection issues.  Realest couldn't join.  While waiting, JP says he wants to release new and old music and he wants to make sure all artists from the past get the money that's owed to them.  He knows there were some shady business in the early days, but he wants to put things right because he believes they're all a family.

Big C-Style joins.  JP asks about BCS's current projects.  According to BCS, he and Techniec are going to release a 19th St. Records Greatest Hits album.  He's currently producing a new artist LA Bucc and working on a company with Tha Realest, The Last Circle.  He just produced the new C-Bo and Dub-C single, Tonight We Enemies.  Sends out a few RIPs to Bad Azz, Coco Loc, and others.  Sends out prayers and blessings to Rage, Jewell, and Daz's mom (who's in home hospice care according to Daz's instagram).  BCS leaves.

According to JP, they are all family and that's really the point of these live streams, which he wants to start doing once per month.  He says the next one will be more organized now that they've worked out some of the kinks.  There will be vault releases.  There will be more artist interactions.  But he's is focused on doing things right.  People are going to get paid for their work.  Right now, the focus is getting business end right in order to move forward.  He mentions that Daz, Danny Boy, and DOC were on earlier.

JP was about to end the stream, when J. Flexx popped back up.  Flexx joined the stream.  JP asked him for a record he wants them to release from the vault.  Flexx says he wants to release The Heist with Sam Sneed and Sharief, produced by Sam Sneed.  He wants to release two he did with Kurupt, one produced by Sam Sneed and one produced by Kurupt himself.  He also wants Kurupt and Jewell I Don't Gang Bang No More.  He also mentioned Been Around the World with Danny Boy.  Flexx says they were all so prolific and he's happy to see that hard work coming out finally.  JP says he actually sent paperwork to Flexx and Sam Sneed yesterday to finalize the business and then they can start releasing music as soon as it's signed.  Flexx gives JP credit and says he's doing good things.  JP corrects him and say's WE'RE doing good things.  JP says he couldn't do any of this by himself and says again that Deathrow is a family and it takes every member of that family to pull this together.  Flexx leaves.

According to JP, he talked to Sam Sneed this past week and he's going to get him on the next live session, hopefully.  JP expects to have a list of possible releases by the end of the month once all paperwork comes back.  He wants to make sure there are no problems legally and that the artists and families are on board and getting paid.  This is a big, long term project planned for more than just 2021 and it looks like they'll be releasing music for a long time.  JP asks fans to keep contacting them if we find any problems on Spotify and other streaming services with any of the releases.  JP thanks all the fans and artists.  Stream ends.

[Tony Trey]

We can all keep wishing this, but it's never going to happen. That's just not how Dr. Dre works.

For real, I really think Dre suffers from some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Nothing is ever perfect enough for him to release any of it.

[hitsaw]

Hope they finally release the original Sam Sneed and don’t fuck it up like Wideawake did!

[SuperSpider]

JP is joined by RBX.  N'Matez project to be released on DR.  Talking this Monday (I assume to finalize details).  According to RBX, all 4 members are eager and excited and Rage is the driving force.  He, Kurupt, and Daz are following her lead.  According to JP, it was Rage that reached out to him to co-release the project with Death Row.  NOTE:  Per Daz's instagram, the album will be released this year jointly on Deathrow/N'Matez Records.

 

I cannot wait

[romson19]

[abusive]

Where does Suge stand in all of this?

[Tony Trey]

Where does Suge stand in all of this?

He's currently standing in jail. He has no ownership interest in DR after the bankruptcy.

[abusive]

Pretty sure he has a stake in publishing. I read somewhere he owns the master's to the chronic as well as other albums.

[thegooddoc]

Death Row died once Dre left and 2 Pac was shot.  It seemed like there wasn't enough talent left to carry the label.  There were a couple of decent projects, but nothing spectacular. 

They had some decent producers in Sam Sneed, Dj Quik, Daz (when he was co producing) etc.,  but the artists couldn't carry the label.

J-Flexx ?  very respectable ghost writer, but not a spectacular artist
Realest?  I admit I was never into his style, as it sounded to me that he was trying to be 2Pac, so maybe I missed out (did he have any decent songs?)
Danny Boy?   decent hooks, but I can't name one solo song

I'm not saying that they were terrible, just that they didn't have the star power. I'm guessing that anything that was unreleased was unreleased for a reason.

Would love to be proved wrong though.

[Tony Trey]

Pretty sure he has a stake in publishing. I read somewhere he owns the master's to the chronic as well as other albums.

I really don't think so.  Dr. Dre won a lawsuit against Wide Awake/Death Row back in 2015 over the rights to the Chronic.  The judge declared that Wide Awake/Death Row had the rights to sell the album in cassette, vinyl, and CD formats without Dre's permission and without paying him royalties, BUT if Wide Awake/Death Row released it in digital formats, then Dre was entitled to 100% of the profits.  So from that, it sounds like the master rights are divided between Death Row in physical media and Dr. Dre in digital downloads.  Suge Knight had no ownership interest in Wide Awake and had no involvement in the lawsuit, because the 2006 Death Row bankruptcy and 2009 bankruptcy auction wiped out all of Suge Knight's ownership interest of Death Row.  Source; me. I'm a bankruptcy attorney and have read up on the case.  Furthermore, now that E1/Deathrow released the Chronic on streaming services on 4/20/20, I'm assuming they've come to some sort of agreement with Dre.

[abusive]

I really don't think so.  Dr. Dre won a lawsuit against Wide Awake/Death Row back in 2015 over the rights to the Chronic.  The judge declared that Wide Awake/Death Row had the rights to sell the album in cassette, vinyl, and CD formats without Dre's permission and without paying him royalties, BUT if Wide Awake/Death Row released it in digital formats, then Dre was entitled to 100% of the profits.  So from that, it sounds like the master rights are divided between Death Row in physical media and Dr. Dre in digital downloads.  Suge Knight had no ownership interest in Wide Awake and had no involvement in the lawsuit, because the 2006 Death Row bankruptcy and 2009 bankruptcy auction wiped out all of Suge Knight's ownership interest of Death Row.  Source; me. I'm a bankruptcy attorney and have read up on the case.  Furthermore, now that E1/Deathrow released the Chronic on streaming services on 4/20/20, I'm assuming they've come to some sort of agreement with Dre.

So you're telling me that out of all of the DR music Suge isn't tied into any publishing at all? I can understand losing the rights to the master recordings but you're telling me bankruptcy trump's copyright law?

A little off topic but...
Do you know anything about a lifetime management agreement Suge is suppose to have with Dre?

[Tony Trey]

So you're telling me that out of all of the DR music Suge isn't tied into any publishing at all? I can understand losing the rights to the master recordings but you're telling me bankruptcy trump's copyright law?

A little off topic but...
Do you know anything about a lifetime management agreement Suge is suppose to have with Dre?

Yes, bankruptcy trumps copyright.  Copyright is just another type of ownership, just like owning land, a car, a business, etc.  When a company or a person files bankruptcy, what they're saying is "Judge, I don't have enough income to pay my debts, so please release me from paying those debts" and in exchange the judge says "Okay person or company, we can do that, but if you have assets that the court can sell to pay a portion of those debts, that's what we're going to do."  Copyright ownership is just another asset the court can sell.  I've actually had a few clients who had to disclose copyrights and in those cases, the court didn't sell the copyrights because they were basically worthless.  In Death Row's case, the copyrights and masters were worth literally millions of dollars, which were then used to pay down portions of Death Row and Suge Knight's debts.

As to a lifetime management agreement, I've never heard that before, but I'm trying to read up on it now. 

UPDATE:  Okay, so Suge made a claim that Dre, in order to leave Death Row, agreed to turn over to Suge (a) his publishing and copyright to The Chronic, (b) his 50% ownership interest in Death Row, and (c) Dre agreed to a lifetime management fee of 30% of whatever he earned in the entertainment business.  Suge made these claims in court during the 2016 wrongful death lawsuit from when he ran that guy over and killed him on the set of Straight Outta Compton.  Suge was alleging Dre actually hired that dude to kill Suge in order to not pay Suge millions owed from the Apple Beats sale.  Suge produced no evidence of any of this and the court dismissed his claim.  He lost.  Dre does not owe Suge any money.  Suge does not have Dre tied to a lifetime management agreement.  It was more Suge Knight bullshit.

[Rudki]

Thanks for the summary on the livestream.

Would love to have this all materialise.