Death Row’s New Owner Speaks

[akcranker - The Dangerous Crew Movement]

Copied from chronicvacation.com


Death Row’s New Owner Speaks
Posted on 30 January 2009 by Eddie G

The Wall Street Journal sat down for an interview with the new owner of Death Row Records, who happens to be a soccer mom from Toronto.  Yes, the plot thickens…

Source: The Wall Street Journal

“On Jan. 16, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles signed off on the $18 million sale of Death Row Records’ assets to Toronto-based entertainment development firm WIDEawake Entertainment Group Inc. WIDEawake Chief Executive Lara Lavi, who in addition to striking hip hop gold bears the honor of being deemed “the coolest aunt ever” by her nieces and nephews, chatted with Bankruptcy Beat on Jan. 21 about the acquisition.

For all Death Row Records’ success, its history has been marred by lawsuits and violence. Given such a tumultuous past, what appeal did the assets hold?

You can’t grow up in the United States and not be aware of what happened. The tragedy of [slain rapper] Tupac’s death … many other people’s deaths, people getting hurt, people getting sued – this is not America at its best. However, under all that is an art form that has clearly been legitimized in the mainstream circles and still has a very broad reach globally.

[We need] to have a healing process with the Death Row artists and that is probably one of my first priorities … to systematically talk to the artists that have quality catalogs in the Death Row asset purchase and get things on a better level. … They deserve better than this. Their product has been sitting in a bankruptcy proceeding for the past three years. Much of it hasn’t seen the light of day. All of the emphasis has been on the prior owner [Marion “Suge” Knight] and management problems. It’s very easy to forget that the Death Row collection of music and artists is really the Motown of West Coast rap. This is major oral history for many, many Americans.

The state of today’s credit markets means a lot of deals aren’t getting done. How were you able to line up financing?

There is a real misconception that the money has dried up. What has happened is there’s a market adjustment that’s occurred that’s now required people to be fiscally responsible, to look even more carefully at who will manage this investment.

What plans does WIDEawake have for the Death Row assets?

Our goal is to make sure that fans’ first taste of the new Death Row is stuff that’s fresh. There’s so much video and artwork and music that’s never been seen by fans. … We’re going to put a Death Row online destination store site together.

What is your favorite song or album in the Death Row catalog?

There is an irony to a singer/songwriter/entertainment lawyer/soccer mom now being the chief of this thing, but I will say the classics: [the legendary Dr. Dre album] “The Chronic,” anything that Snoop Doggy Dogg was doing in the early days, the Tupac, all the Petey Pablo stuff, the Kurupt stuff. I’ve been married for many, many years to an African-American man [producer Maurice Jones Jr.]. … I’ve had the blessing of being exposed to music that perhaps my upbringing would not have suggested would be possible.

Are you concerned that Suge Knight will influence or interfere with your efforts to talk to artists and get them on board?

Mr. Knight is a business man. And I think he comes from a community with these artists, and they know each other and they’re going to continue to know each other. It’s not about what he influences but how we go forward as a team to create a new day for Death Row. Hip hop artists and rap artists and folks that have grown up from Compton to Queens – they’re not about talk; they’re about action. They’re going to wait and see what we do, and we’re going to earn their trust.

Suge doesn’t own this thing anymore. As long as we keep pulling it back to that, it makes it very hard to go forward, and it’s painful for the artists. I really want these artists to feel good.”

[stillinrehab]

Its cool to hear her sayin she'll release all that stuff but its gunna take action over words to get people over again.... I just wonder if shes planning on making it a full label again or just selling the memorabilia and milking it for some of her money back....

[EFFeX]

I hate to sound like a stan, but honestly, if her plans don't involve unreleased Crooked I music I don't even care. We've got the Dre music, the Snoop, the DPG, the Pac, etc... Let's hear some Crook now.

[RhyanG]

Who wants to bet that Kilo2 is trying to get a job with this label? Anything deathrow related that kids there like a groupie ass stan...

[acgrundy]

hopefully she leaves the music as is, and doesn't add a "modern" touch

[EFFeX]

hopefully she leaves the music as is, and doesn't add a "modern" touch

I'm pretty sure her investment loses it's value once she does that.

[KrazySumwhat]

 i guess its good news if it means all the unreleased material will actually finally get released. iam not sure if i'd bother with any new deathrow artist, if that even would happen, but yeah, would be cool to get all that old unheard stuff.

[2euce 7even]

i would love to hear any unreleased song by paradise,b-rezell,murder IV hire,bloody mary,redrum,etc. 
i hope the release all these unheard jewels and leave it OG and don´t remix it.

[hrsmn_london]

Well, now we can finally here all of this music.

Good news, right!?

As long as they don't fuck around with the music.

[Mygla]

i would love to hear any unreleased song by paradise,b-rezell,murder IV hire,bloody mary,redrum,etc. 
i hope the release all these unheard jewels and leave it OG and don´t remix it.

lol, that's whose unreleased songs you'd wanna hear?

[es-jay]

i would love to hear any unreleased song by paradise,b-rezell,murder IV hire,bloody mary,redrum,etc. 
i hope the release all these unheard jewels and leave it OG and don´t remix it.

lol, that's whose unreleased songs you'd wanna hear?

do they actually have released music? lol.

[C-BLUE]

tomica wright part 2

[Okka]

If they release some new unreleased music, i just hope they don't fuckin remix them.

[TDOT]

Like everybody, I would be down for some unreleased shit as long as they don't fuck around with it at all. But I don't really care for the lesser known guys, I wanna hear some of that Crooked, Snoop, Dre & Pac shit that's been locked up for so long. Also, i'm sure nobody would care for any new artists that they think they can sign. Deathrow is long gone, they shouldn't try and bring that shit back. The only people who still care, are the people who wanna hear the old shit.

[DPGC23]

LAUGHIN@ DO THEY HAV ANYTHIN RELEASED, ONTHOS ARTISTS

DOPE SHIT THO MAN, CAN'T WAIT

DPGC23