Death Row Auction Items Revealed + label sold for 18 million

[Elano]

A complete listing of the Death Row Records items being auctioned this month has been released and the public is free to place bids.
More than 400 pieces from the renowned label will be made available for interested buyers.

Items being auctioned include the actual Death Row Records electric chair, Suge Knight's cigars and engraved humidor, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's "Source Awards," paintings, framed pictures, Tupac Shakur memorabilia, framed gold and platinum records, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Versace items, fitness equipment and more. (Death Row Auction)
The auction will have strict purchase regulations.

There is a $200 cash registration fee, fully refundable. 25 percent cash, cashiers check, credit card required on award of bids. A 13 percent buyers premium will be added to all sales. Balance due before removal. No checks-accepted. This auction is open to the public inspection: Friday, January 23rd from 10 AM to 3 PM. Auctioning is scheduled to take place Sunday, January 25 at 11:00 a.m. at 1930 W. Malvern Avenue, Fullerton, California. (Press Release)
There will also be another auction a week prior.

The assets of Death Row Records, once the thriving home to artists such as Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, are going back on the auction block Jan. 15 as part of a Chapter 11 proceeding.

http://deathrowauction.com/

The assets of Death Row Records, once the thriving home to artists such as Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, are going back on the auction block Jan. 15 as part of a Chapter 11 proceeding.

Death Row initially filed for Chapter 11 protection in April 2006 and that July, the California Judge overseeing the filing ordered a bankruptcy trustee to take over the label. In February 2007, the Warner Music Group was named the stalking horse bidder, but pulled out.

Koch Records replaced WMG, but it too backed out. Sources in both companies say due diligence showed that inadequate record keeping made it difficult to ascertain the label's valuation, let alone whether it was worth the $25 million bid both had made. This time, the auction will include a trove of recordings discovered since the original auction.

Subsequently, an investment group called Global Music agreed to buy Death Row in June 2007, but that deal collapsed amid fighting between investors, who ultimately were unable to raise the necessary financing. Global Music Group "destroyed" the Death Row legacy and has turned it into "a joke," label co-founder Lydia Harris tells Billboard.

Some potential bidders are said to be worried about crossing ex-Death Row boss Marion "Suge" Knight. However, Harris, who started Death Row with Knight and incarcerated ex-husband Michael "Harry O" Harris in 1991, says "It isn't about them being scared. It's about money and greed."

"Everybody wants to hide behind the fear of Suge Knight -- the fear is something they are latching on to -- but all them still do business with him," Harris tells Billboard. "At the end of the day, he's still living, he made people a lot of money and opened doors for a lot of them. It isn't about them being scared. That's what people need to realize. These people still deal with Suge everyday. It's the money. It's the greed."

Harris battled Knight for years for a share of Death Row and won a $107 million judgment in 2005, which was one of the factors that tipped the label into Chapter 11. She remains one of many creditors waiting to see whether an auction of Death Row assets will provide any return.

Meanwhile, Harris is focusing on her newly launched independent label, Lady Boss Entertainment. She signed the New Jersey-based hip-hop duo Movin Music Platoon (MMP) in June 2008. Their single, "Picture Wit Me" featuring Jim Jones, premiered on New York radio station Hot 97 in October, and their debut album, "Make It Flurry," to be distributed via Universal Music Group and Bungalow Records, is scheduled for a mid-'09 release.

And although she wouldn't give any concrete details, Harris will also re-edit her recently released DVD, "Married to the Game," and book of the same title, to include information that she says she was legally forced to exclude due to the ongoing court case with Knight. "We have an audio version of the book too," she says, "and a soundtrack to the DVD will be released as well."

As an aspiring singer, Harris plans to release a single, "What Would You Do," in April. The track will appear on the DVD soundtrack, as well as her as-yet-untitled debut album, slated for later this year.

[es-jay]

PsychoHustla is currently stealing his Mum's purse.

[EFFeX]

As an aspiring singer, Harris plans to release a single, "What Would You Do," in April. The track will appear on the DVD soundtrack, as well as her as-yet-untitled debut album, slated for later this year.

Ain't no one checking for this chick or her music, give us the unreleased Death Row classics!

[Jaydc555]

I don't get what she means about gmg making death rows legacy a joke.they only succeed in making themselves look like a joke.

[you gon always be my latin queen bitch]

haha

PsychoHustla is currently stealing his Mum's purse.

[west koasting]

Need some crooked I items or aint interested

[Elano]

Blender magazine reports the entire remaining Death Row Records catalogue has been auctioned off for $18 million. It is believed a Canada-based company, Wide Awake Holdings, placed the winning bid. As reported earlier on HipHopDX, the lot contained master recordings from Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and various other members of the famed label .
The purchase price presents numerous questions--the first being what caused the price to drop from Warner Music Group's initial $25 million bid in February of 2008 ? The lowered price comes despite the lure of the additional unreleased music, as well as a significant amount of memorabilia.

[~Lucien~]

^^^Who's the girl in the picture?

[DTG Entertainment]

I feel sorry for whoever purchased it.

[Jaydc555]

Why would you feel sorry?

[DTG Entertainment]

Why would you feel sorry?

They didn't get hardly anything. Most of the catalog is still hidden by Suge Knight.

[Elano]

The assets of Death Row Records, said to include master recordings of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, were auctioned yesterday (Jan. 15) for $18 million to Canadian development company WIDEawake Entertainment Group.

Because of the less-than-expected acquisition price, the only creditor likely to capture a return after lawyers and other Chapter 11 administrative fees are paid is the Internal Revenue Service.

That means other creditors, including unsecured ones like co-founder Lydia Harris, will be left out in the cold. Harris isn't content with the verdict.

"This was all a scam from the beginning," a disgruntled Harris tells Billboard. "Everyone wanted me to bring judgment down, and so I brought on the case. But now I'm not getting paid because I'm an unsecured creditor? Yet, administrators are getting paid and Suge [Knight]'s bills are still getting paid? If it wasn't for me no one would be getting money. They made sure it happened this way because I was the biggest creditor. There must be some internal thing going on and I'm obviously not in on it."

According to Harris, Conquest Media, an online marketing and branding company, made an undisclosed bid yesterday, but the judge overruled it because it wasn't filed on time.

As previously reported, Death Row initially filed for Chapter 11 protection in April 2006, and that July, the California judge overseeing the filing ordered a bankruptcy trustee to take over the label. Along the way, three companies put bids in on Death Row, all three valued at about $25 million. But the first two -- stalking horse Warner Music Group and its replacement Koch Entertainment -- both pulled out when due diligence showed that inadequate record-keeping made it difficult to ascertain the label's valuation, let alone whether it was worth the $25 million bid both had made.

An investment group called Global Music agreed to buy Death Row in June 2007, but that deal collapsed amid fighting between investors, who ultimately were unable to raise the necessary financing.

Harris battled Knight for years for a share of Death Row and won a $107 million judgment in 2005, which was one of the factors that tipped the label into Chapter 11.

WIDEawake Entertainment Group Inc., based in Toronto, has had nominal exposure to the U.S. market. Lara Lavi, the company's founder and CEO, is a lawyer, songwriter and entrepreneu, who founded the company in 2006 to work in a variety of media, including film and music. WIDEawake has distribution in Canada through Universal Music.

Lavi says WIDEawake does not have distribution in the U.S. and has not determined which company it will partner with to distribute the Death Row catalog.

"We have some ideas," she says, adding that the label has been in contact with companies in the U.S. about potential distribution. "We're very respectful of Death Row's legacy and when the time is right we'll announce that."

Lavi acknowledged there is significant unreleased material included in the deal, including tracks by Shakur, Dr. Dre and others. "There's probably more that hasn't seen the light of day than has," she says. Lavi says announcements on the unreleased material are forthcoming. In the case of the Shakur material, the company will work closely with his estate.

Lavi would not disclose who WIDEawake's investors are, other than to say the company has financing to secure the Death Row deal. She says the value of the acquisition makes sense considering "it is a clear deal. There's no debt to worry about." WIDEawake lists its investors as Mississauga, Ont.-based New Solutions Capital.

Lavi says she is unconcerned about any potential involvement of Knight, the label's co-founder. "He's moved on," she says, noting he has started a new label.

For her part, Harris also recently launched an independent label, Lady Boss Entertainment, which she had planned to continue funding with the money she hoped she'd be awarded in the settlement. Now, Harris says she's looking for investors to "make it what Death Row was supposed to be. I need people who believe in me."

"My head is spinning right now. I feel like a victim," says Harris. "They took all this time and tried to attack me, now there's no money for unsecured creditors. Now I wonder if it was all worth it. But I'm definitely not giving up. I never thought I would end up with anything. I'm going to keep pushing."

[Booz]

Lavi acknowledged there is significant unreleased material included in the deal, including tracks by Shakur, Dr. Dre and others. "There's probably more that hasn't seen the light of day than has," she says. Lavi says announcements on the unreleased material are forthcoming. In the case of the Shakur material, the company will work closely with his estate.

Somehow I guess that there will be Rihannas and other people on those songs remixed by some wacky basement boy.

[Jaydc555]

Well hopefully the non 2PAC stuff will be untouched.but you can garauntee anything with 2pacs name on it will be butchered by afeni

[es-jay]

Why would you feel sorry?

They didn't get hardly anything. Most of the catalog is still hidden by Suge Knight.

lol, is that fact or speculation?

i think we all know which.