It's May 11, 2024, 08:14:57 AM
Quote from: eyeball on February 12, 2017, 04:20:50 PMDoes the Change The Game Remix with Jay Z and co exist with DJ Clue hollering like an angry lemur? Don't think so. That remix was made specifically for Clue's album.
Does the Change The Game Remix with Jay Z and co exist with DJ Clue hollering like an angry lemur?
Death Row died when 2Pac did...Suge went to jail and everyone started leaving the label after that, all those compilations never sold except for Pac's
A debut at #15 is not bad by any stretch
#15 Debut is Great for having "Gangsta Rap" radio song only in LA markets and a couple small westcoast stations -- "Change The Game Remix" was the big song off this album and I remember radio stations giving clue credit for the track but saying the album was available on both places and some bought the Death Row version for the track while others bought the Clue album (FYI, the Death Row version didn't have the shoutouts allover it). For what it's worth Above The Law's manager said it was 500k at the time (I think what he said happened was they shipped GOLD worldwide)
#15 Debut is Great for having "Gangsta Rap" radio song only in LA markets and a couple small westcoast stations
The "Still I Rise" is a Death Row album, it has the logo smacked on it and Suge owns the publishing on those tracks -- pulling promo just means they did exactly that, they pulled back advertising dollars because of a disagreement with Amaru.
"R U Still Down" was a Death Row album that was released by Amaru Records -- those were mostly all Death Row material on that album that because of a court ruling allowed Afeni to release it on Amaru (same thing happened with Nate Dogg album when he released it, those were Death Row recorded tracks)
"Until the End of Time" Debuted at #1 LONG after 1996 -- it was supposed to promote the new artists -- Tha Realest, Eastwood, Soopafly, Top Dogg, El Dorado, Crooked I, Ray J, NINA, etc. all had material for this album
Death Row had GARBAGE promotion after they lost Interscope -- Interscope was pushing Top Dogg hard in magazines and ready to give him the big push in 1998 before Suge and Jimmy got into a disagreement and they broke it off
Suge was also getting ready to push Soopafly really hard too -- and he had the "Cindafella" track in rotation on The Box and BET -- again, it comes down to shitty promotion
There's no way to deny Interscope/Universal would have promoted Suge's stuff a shit ton better than the garbage he got at Koch Records -- Suge got so-so average promotion by Priority Records in the short stint with Chronic 2000 (Priority could get a single in rotation, but they couldn't push like Interscope where it was basically guaranteed spins)
The second generation got a shit deal -- for a superstar label like Death Row Records, those distribution deals were garbage after Priority
Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM#15 Debut is Great for having "Gangsta Rap" radio song only in LA markets and a couple small westcoast stations -- "Change The Game Remix" was the big song off this album and I remember radio stations giving clue credit for the track but saying the album was available on both places and some bought the Death Row version for the track while others bought the Clue album (FYI, the Death Row version didn't have the shoutouts allover it). For what it's worth Above The Law's manager said it was 500k at the time (I think what he said happened was they shipped GOLD worldwide) Your recollections seem extremely suspect. For starters, the remix of “Change the Game” wasn’t a single. The original version off Jay’s album was. I’m sure some stations played it but neither Clue nor Suge was pushing it for spins. Also, radio station DJ’s generally don’t talk about the tracks and what albums they are off of when they spin music unless the artist or label is at the station promoting it. I doubt it was on any major radio station’s daily play list and if it did end up getting spun, the DJ wasn’t randomly stopping to give the listeners’ a tutorial on what albums it was available on. The song itself was not a Death Row song. It was a Clue track that Suge licensed so he could advertise a Jay-Z feature. JT the Bigga Figga and Daz also licensed it for the “Game 4 Sale” soundtrack. And FYI to your FYI… every released version of the remix has the DJ Clue tags over it including the Death Row one. Given that Clue’s label never pressed a radio single for it, I’m calling bullshit on your story. Your creative imagination is building up an elaborate revisionist history to make every move that Death Row does seem like it happened on a grander scale. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM#15 Debut is Great for having "Gangsta Rap" radio song only in LA markets and a couple small westcoast stations Here is where your defense contradicts your argument. If Death Row is still a hot label, why is there single only getting played in the West Coast market? 2Pac is still hot so his shit is getting played. Death Row on their own isn’t. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM The "Still I Rise" is a Death Row album, it has the logo smacked on it and Suge owns the publishing on those tracks -- pulling promo just means they did exactly that, they pulled back advertising dollars because of a disagreement with Amaru. Incorrect. Their logo isn’t on the back cover and Suge isn’t listed as executive producer. They didn’t pull because of a disagreement with Amaru either. Amaru and Death Row both pulled their names off of it over issues from the success of “Greatest Hits”. Amaru and Death Row felt Interscope was profiting off their participation but not contributing enough money to marketing and promotion. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM "R U Still Down" was a Death Row album that was released by Amaru Records -- those were mostly all Death Row material on that album that because of a court ruling allowed Afeni to release it on Amaru (same thing happened with Nate Dogg album when he released it, those were Death Row recorded tracks) Wrong again. “R U Still Down” contains no recordings from Pac’s Death Row days. This is his early Interscope material from 1993-94 (outtakes from Thug Life, his song from Poetic Justice soundtrack, tracks he recorded in between Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. and Me Against The World). Nate Dogg’s situation was different. He did record an album with Death Row but he retained the rights to his solo work and was allowed to shop it elsewhere like King T did with his Aftermath project. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM "Until the End of Time" Debuted at #1 LONG after 1996 -- it was supposed to promote the new artists -- Tha Realest, Eastwood, Soopafly, Top Dogg, El Dorado, Crooked I, Ray J, NINA, etc. all had material for this album You’re once again taking massive creative liberties here. Death Row was going to release this on their own with their artists but it was planned as a four-disc box set called “The Vault” with “Untouchable” featuring Crooked I as the single in early 2001. Amaru blocked it and split it into two different albums and took over creative control on it with Interscope backing them. It didn’t sell off the strength of Death Row as most of the references to Death Row were taken off and artist involvement was minimal. Whether those artists you named were all going to be included is anyone’s guess but it sounds like you’re once again trying to play up your imagined version of how things were going to happen. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM Death Row had GARBAGE promotion after they lost Interscope -- Interscope was pushing Top Dogg hard in magazines and ready to give him the big push in 1998 before Suge and Jimmy got into a disagreement and they broke it off They had garbage promotion because there was nobody to oversee the label and push new artists. The albums with 2Pac’s name and likeness on them like his albums and movie soundtracks sold because 2Pac was still hot, not because of who Interscope was “pushing hard in magazines” or whatever Death Row song you remember secretly getting airplay all over the place. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM Suge was also getting ready to push Soopafly really hard too -- and he had the "Cindafella" track in rotation on The Box and BET -- again, it comes down to shitty promotion Promotion only does so much. You’ve created this exaggerated idea that all the labels have to do is “push” something while ignoring all the other elements that go into it. Snoop didn’t become a star because Interscope decided to push him after he recorded an album. He was already on numerous Dre singles and videos and doing award show appearances before they even started working on his album. Lady of Rage had a massive hit single and her album didn’t do anything, Obie Trice had a commercial for himself in the opening of the first single off one of Em’s albums and still got put behind 50. Just because they played somebody’s video a couple times during a block for a rap video show or gave them a write-up in a magazine doesn’t mean they had proper momentum to be a star. None of the artists that came after 1996 were built up to sell anywhere near what the artists before them did. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM There's no way to deny Interscope/Universal would have promoted Suge's stuff a shit ton better than the garbage he got at Koch Records -- Suge got so-so average promotion by Priority Records in the short stint with Chronic 2000 (Priority could get a single in rotation, but they couldn't push like Interscope where it was basically guaranteed spins) It’s pointless to argue because Koch was where they were at. You’re still buying into the illusion that just because it’s Interscope that Jimmy Iovine will wave the magic wand and make it a hit. The labels themselves are a big factor (hence why G-Unit Records broke more artists than Shady Records despite them both being on Interscope and Eminem being the bigger artist). Death Row went south because all of their established artists were gone and their CEO went to prison. Quote from: love33 on February 15, 2017, 10:28:54 PM The second generation got a shit deal -- for a superstar label like Death Row Records, those distribution deals were garbage after Priority That’s because the label had nothing to sell. They chose to sever ties with all the artists who people associated with Death Row during its peak period. Everything that people loved about Death Row was still selling, courtesy of the the Up in Smoke tour. When those artists stood next to Xzibit and artists like that, people took notice. That’s how it is. The brand is only as strong as the stars connected to it. You can have the biggest hit movie in the world. If all the stars and producers jump ship and don’t do the sequel, the odds of it being a hit become more difficult. It has nothing to do with distribution or how hard the studios push. The studios aren’t pushing because they don’t want to invest money when they don’t forsee a return.
Your recollections seem extremely suspect. For starters, the remix of “Change the Game” wasn’t a single. The original version off Jay’s album was. I’m sure some stations played it but neither Clue nor Suge was pushing it for spins. Also, radio station DJ’s generally don’t talk about the tracks and what albums they are off of when they spin music unless the artist or label is at the station promoting it. I doubt it was on any major radio station’s daily play list and if it did end up getting spun, the DJ wasn’t randomly stopping to give the listeners’ a tutorial on what albums it was available on. The song itself was not a Death Row song. It was a Clue track that Suge licensed so he could advertise a Jay-Z feature. JT the Bigga Figga and Daz also licensed it for the “Game 4 Sale” soundtrack. And FYI to your FYI… every released version of the remix has the DJ Clue tags over it including the Death Row one. Given that Clue’s label never pressed a radio single for it, I’m calling bullshit on your story. Your creative imagination is building up an elaborate revisionist history to make every move that Death Row does seem like it happened on a grander scale.
Here is where your defense contradicts your argument. If Death Row is still a hot label, why is there single only getting played in the West Coast market? 2Pac is still hot so his shit is getting played. Death Row on their own isn’t.
Incorrect. Their logo isn’t on the back cover and Suge isn’t listed as executive producer. They didn’t pull because of a disagreement with Amaru either. Amaru and Death Row both pulled their names off of it over issues from the success of “Greatest Hits”. Amaru and Death Row felt Interscope was profiting off their participation but not contributing enough money to marketing and promotion.
Wrong again. “R U Still Down” contains no recordings from Pac’s Death Row days. This is his early Interscope material from 1993-94 (outtakes from Thug Life, his song from Poetic Justice soundtrack, tracks he recorded in between Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. and Me Against The World). Nate Dogg’s situation was different. He did record an album with Death Row but he retained the rights to his solo work and was allowed to shop it elsewhere like King T did with his Aftermath project.
You’re once again taking massive creative liberties here. Death Row was going to release this on their own with their artists but it was planned as a four-disc box set called “The Vault” with “Untouchable” featuring Crooked I as the single in early 2001. Amaru blocked it and split it into two different albums and took over creative control on it with Interscope backing them. It didn’t sell off the strength of Death Row as most of the references to Death Row were taken off and artist involvement was minimal. Whether those artists you named were all going to be included is anyone’s guess but it sounds like you’re once again trying to play up your imagined version of how things were going to happen.
They had garbage promotion because there was nobody to oversee the label and push new artists. The albums with 2Pac’s name and likeness on them like his albums and movie soundtracks sold because 2Pac was still hot, not because of who Interscope was “pushing hard in magazines” or whatever Death Row song you remember secretly getting airplay all over the place.
Promotion only does so much. You’ve created this exaggerated idea that all the labels have to do is “push” something while ignoring all the other elements that go into it. Snoop didn’t become a star because Interscope decided to push him after he recorded an album.
The labels themselves are a big factor (hence why G-Unit Records broke more artists than Shady Records despite them both being on Interscope and Eminem being the bigger artist). Death Row went south because all of their established artists were gone and their CEO went to prison.
That’s because the label had nothing to sell. They chose to sever ties with all the artists who people associated with Death Row during its peak period. Everything that people loved about Death Row was still selling, courtesy of the the Up in Smoke tour. When those artists stood next to Xzibit and artists like that, people took notice. That’s how it is. The brand is only as strong as the stars connected to it. You can have the biggest hit movie in the world. If all the stars and producers jump ship and don’t do the sequel, the odds of it being a hit become more difficult. It has nothing to do with distribution or how hard the studios push. The studios aren’t pushing because they don’t want to invest money when they don’t forsee a return.
Not entirely true -- There was a lot of stuff on that album that came from Death Row -- take for instance the Jon B. track -- here's MTV talking about him recording it at Death Row studio -- http://www.mtv.com/news/1430675/jon-b-talks-about-working-with-tupac/
"Until the End of Time" Debuted at #1 LONG after 1996 -- it was supposed to promote the new artists -- Tha Realest, Eastwood, Soopafly, Top Dogg, El Dorado, Crooked I, Ray J, NINA, etc. all had material for this album -- some ended up coming out on the mixtape by Death Row and others came out on Tupac "Nu-Mixx for the Streets" which featured a banger from Crooked I & 2Pac -- Tha Realest songs leaked out later but were scrapped from UTEOT and the Nu-Mixx album because of contract issues with the label
Originally, Daz was the Lead Producer for Death Row Records when these projects were in the beginning stages, and Suge KICKED Daz off the label, and BIG HUTCH aka Cold187um, who did the Too Gangsta For Radio, Eddie Griffin, and Dogg Pound album, tookover for Daz -- Afeni didn't know Hutch, wasn't really familiar with his work, and didn't have the same type of trust for him as she did Daz, who she knew thru Pac, and Daz was one of Pac's biggest producers -- NINA was also supposed to be heavily featured on this project -- the conclusion was they decided to try to keep it with "artists and producers pac knew" with a little bit of commercial flavor with a couple modern artists (jazze pha, trick daddy, etc.) to appeal to the new crowd for sales
Interscope had the promotion machine ramped up on YGD "The Top Dogg" and then when Tha Row lost Interscope, all the buzz with Top Dogg went away too when they pulled the rug out -- Imagine if Top Dogg dropped on Interscope, Daz followed with "RAW" on Interscope, then they followed with Tha Realest & Crooked I, then laid down a NINA album, Eastwood, & Ray J -- there would've been some hits with that group just like G-Unit!
Completely Not True -- They played this song in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, it was allover Power 106 -- this was a HUGE Hit, "R-O-C with the D-P-G", they performed it Live at Shows! Huge track that Remixed a Huge Track!
As I said, their distribution was TERRIBLE -- the LA Radio Play was the Hometown local airplay -- you can have the hottest artists in the world, but if you have no promotion, you aren't getting spins and it's going to be really really hard to sell -- 2Pac's Death Row material was distributed by Interscope/Universal, everything else was distributed by Koch/D3 (Small basement label with NO Promotion)
Also, Nate Dogg's publishing was all 'Suge Publishing' -- the court ruling said Nate could release the album on his own but Suge also had rights to Nate's music recorded on the label and the publishing ("Suge Publishing") -- Suge kept ALL the publishing for ALL his artists -- he's one of the Only Executive Producers to OWN everything that was recorded at his label in some capacity.
Yes, "The Vault" was a rumor, and they decided to break it up into 2 double albums because they concluded they would sell more than someone having to shell out $100 for a Rap Album (which is what they wanted to do and release it around Thanksgiving to make Christmas money)
The main disagreement is that originally Above The Law was going to be HEAVILY INVOLVED with the direction, packaging, and the total delivery of the albums -- Amaru didn't feel comfortable with Big Hutch running the whole show for Suge -- Originally, Daz was the Lead Producer for Death Row Records when these projects were in the beginning stages, and Suge KICKED Daz off the label, and BIG HUTCH aka Cold187um, who did the Too Gangsta For Radio, Eddie Griffin, and Dogg Pound album, tookover for Daz -- Afeni didn't know Hutch, wasn't really familiar with his work, and didn't have the same type of trust for him as she did Daz, who she knew thru Pac, and Daz was one of Pac's biggest producers -- NINA was also supposed to be heavily featured on this project -- the conclusion was they decided to try to keep it with "artists and producers pac knew" with a little bit of commercial flavor with a couple modern artists (jazze pha, trick daddy, etc.) to appeal to the new crowd for salesuote]\
Interscope/Universal largely controlled the mainstream radio and anything they sent out to radio stations got mad plays.
No artist went platinum on D3 Records -- Soopafly could've had at least a hit record or sold at a minimum GOLD if he was on Interscope Records -- Suge Knight's Deal with Ted Fields and Jimmy Iovine is what pushed Gangsta Rap into white suburbia -- No Gangsta Rap label ever went as far as Death Row did with around the clock MTV videos, MTV News, spins allover the USA, award shows, etc. all pushed by the Interscope machine -- Suge, Ted, & Jimmy had a deal -- Suge just go do the music and Jimmy & Ted will handle ALL the promotion, set up interviews, MTV airplay, MTV specials, furnish all singles to radio outlets
Soopafly didn't have that type of Luxury with D3, not EVEN close!
The Game became a multi-platinum superstar, Young Buck, Lloyd Banks sold records, & Yayo got spins and features allover the radio under Interscope umbrella -- that's thousands of more exposure than Soopafly got with garbage Koch -- Interscope had the promotion machine ramped up on YGD "The Top Dogg" and then when Tha Row lost Interscope, all the buzz with Top Dogg went away too when they pulled the rug out -- Imagine if Top Dogg dropped on Interscope, Daz followed with "RAW" on Interscope, then they followed with Tha Realest & Crooked I, then laid down a NINA album, Eastwood, & Ray J -- there would've been some hits with that group just like G-Unit!
The biggest artist on Cash Money Records was Juvenile at one point -- fast forward years later and it's Lil Wayne who turned into a Dynasty, then Drake and Nikki Minaj took it over -- Tha Row had Top Dogg, Soopafly, Tha Realest -- then Suge revamped the roster to Crooked I, NINA, Ray J, Kurupt, & Eastwood -- That's not a bad core of players by ANY stretch -- And to say those artists are garbage is just flat out dishonest.
it's amazing how Irv Gotti took Eastwood & Crooked I & had people buzzing allover them "Nexxt Niggaz," "Connected," "Baby" -- Irv Gotti had these guys rolling --
I'm not saying the new generation was "better than" or even equal to, but they never got the same opportunities the first generation of Row artists had with all the Daily Video spins, MTV promotion, MTV News updates, magazine promotion, radio airplay (as you mentioned, even less than average talent like Lady of Rage got mad spins!)
R U Still Down? was an Interscope album with unreleased 2pac recordings prior to 1995. The track you're talking about was recorded while 2pac was on Death Row in 1996 and wasn't released until 97 I think.
So many lies and falsehoods from this love33 character
First of all, I remember hearing "Change The Game Remix" allover Power 106, and I traveled to Detroit and they had it regularly in the playlist on WJLB 97.9 -- It was also played on Hot 97 in NY, go look it up it was on their playlist
Next, Top Dogg WAS promoted heavily by Interscope when he was on Death Row, in fact his hit track "All About U" was featured on MTV, The Box, and BET.
Also, here is the Soopafly video that was in rotation on BET and THE BOX from "The Chronic 2000" & "Dat Whoopty Whoop" (was supposed to be released on DR/DPG Records)
Next,Daz was kicked off Death Row after a visit with Suge Knight in 2000 -- He took Soopafly with him, who was signed to Death Row/DPG Records, and Daz also ran up to the Bay to visit JT The Bigga Figga to teach him how to release indy albums.
Daz was originally supposed to be a strong part of TGFR (obviously he was the lead producer at the label), and instead it featured a new version of "Gangsta Rap" which pulled Daz off and Hutch redid the beat and they added Scarface, then they changed the album to diss Daz and REMOVE Top Dogg -- Top Dogg recorded multiple tracks with Eastwood -- these were all removed -- Also, that version of "Gangsta Rap" got pushed back to Dogg Pound '2002' album -- Crooked I said multiple times right after Daz got booted, he started being a major hater against Crooked after he asked him to leave with him and Crook told him Hell No that he's going to get his album released.
I also remember ThaRow.Com putting singles from "Still I Rise" on there (The Outlawz owed Suge 1 album, and this was it, which is why the album was called 2Pac + "Outlawz" -- "Still I Rise") -- Also, LOOK at the album credits -- SUGE KNIGHT is the Executive Producer -- Source: http://www.angelfire.com/wa/DefRow/a.stillrise.html
And here's where you're wrong -- Suge OWNED ALL HIS PUBLISHING -- he mentioned it OVER and OVER again in Interviews -- Anyone he signed to Death Row, he owned the publishing on in some capacity (either shared or he owned it all)
Suge could only reissue the music "as is", except for the SINGLES, which appeared on compilations ("Keep Their Heads Ringing" was re-issued on Death Row's Greatest Hits)
And Irv Gotti showed he could push Suge's artists
There's a rumor that Suge got pissed about Crook working over there and blackballed him quietly (kept promising him he would drop the album, but really had no plans to drop it)
You give Suge no credit when Death Row was ALL Suge
EVERY other Artist who has left Death Row except Bow Wow, has become worse than they were before --> FACT
Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMFirst of all, I remember hearing "Change The Game Remix" allover Power 106, and I traveled to Detroit and they had it regularly in the playlist on WJLB 97.9 -- It was also played on Hot 97 in NY, go look it up it was on their playlist The fact that you remember hearing it doesn’t go very far. You seem to remember a lot of things that didn’t actually happen like there being a non-tagged version of the song on 2002, which is not the case. As far as looking it up, I have. I see the original version included as a single with a chart position. I don’t see any for the remix so unless you can provide a link, you’re essentially asking me to go look for proof of something that I have never stated. This is your argument, you can provide the links. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMNext, Top Dogg WAS promoted heavily by Interscope when he was on Death Row, in fact his hit track "All About U" was featured on MTV, The Box, and BET. That ISN’T heavy promotion. Death Row had an unreleased video they actually filmed with Tupac in their vaults. Death Row and Amaru were both involved in putting together “Greatest Hits” but since Snoop was no longer on peaceful terms, Death Row pulled him off of the “Hits” version and added Top Dogg as a way to feature a new artist. They did a similar thing with Swoop G by adding him to a pre-existing Snoop video/song for “Head Doctor”. Neither video was a major hit. “Changes” was the hit single off “Greatest Hits”. It’s the one that was pushed as the first single. It was the one that got the most spins on radio and most play as a video. It was nominated for a VMA and was arguably the most popular posthumous hit for Pac. Death Row put out “Unconditional Love” as the follow-up single but that didn’t chart anywhere near as well. To claim that Top Dogg was promoted heavily is preposterous. He was given a short verse on a song that ended up getting put out as a video. They didn’t send him on a promotional tour to premiere or push it. He wasn’t given any major featured articles. He wasn’t given a follow-up single. Hell, this song never charted as a single in conjunction with “Greatest Hits” and am pretty sure it was never released as such. No record of it in Pac’s list of album singles. The Outlawz were a whole lot more singles/videos and even got an album released with Pac and I wouldn’t say they were “promoted heavily” either. I also wouldn’t say they were “heavily promoting” RL because he sang on “Until the End of Time” and was included in the video (which got much more play than “All About U”). Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMAlso, here is the Soopafly video that was in rotation on BET and THE BOX from "The Chronic 2000" & "Dat Whoopty Whoop" (was supposed to be released on DR/DPG Records) Great. Thanks for showing me a video that I already knew existed. Death Row made lots of videos for songs that didn’t get played very much, if at all. I’m not arguing that they didn’t make videos or release singles. I’m challenging you on your argument that they were hits or that Interscope was in the process of “heavily promoting” them. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AM Next,Daz was kicked off Death Row after a visit with Suge Knight in 2000 -- He took Soopafly with him, who was signed to Death Row/DPG Records, and Daz also ran up to the Bay to visit JT The Bigga Figga to teach him how to release indy albums. Daz and Soopafly actually weren’t cool at this time. Big C-Style did an interview talking about how Daz rolled up on him at a swap meet and beat him up. I can’t recall the specifics at this time but they didn’t leave at the same time. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AM Daz was originally supposed to be a strong part of TGFR (obviously he was the lead producer at the label), and instead it featured a new version of "Gangsta Rap" which pulled Daz off and Hutch redid the beat and they added Scarface, then they changed the album to diss Daz and REMOVE Top Dogg -- Top Dogg recorded multiple tracks with Eastwood -- these were all removed -- Also, that version of "Gangsta Rap" got pushed back to Dogg Pound '2002' album -- Crooked I said multiple times right after Daz got booted, he started being a major hater against Crooked after he asked him to leave with him and Crook told him Hell No that he's going to get his album released. “Gangsta Rap” existed in multiple versions but it was never a Daz track. It was produced by Fredwreck originally and was a Kurupt solo. Top Dogg was already getting pushed to the side by the time that “Too Gangsta” came out. He doesn’t have a single featured song on there. Eastwood wasn’t on there either and didn’t get starting pushed as a Death Row artist until much later. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AM I also remember ThaRow.Com putting singles from "Still I Rise" on there (The Outlawz owed Suge 1 album, and this was it, which is why the album was called 2Pac + "Outlawz" -- "Still I Rise") -- Also, LOOK at the album credits -- SUGE KNIGHT is the Executive Producer -- Source: http://www.angelfire.com/wa/DefRow/a.stillrise.html Alright, let’s break this one down real quick before you start confusing yourself again. #1 – Your source is clearly just a link to a fan page. #2 – Even the fan page says that “Death Row/Amaru logos were not included”. #3 – My original quote regarding this was, “Their logo isn't on the back cover and Suge isn't listed as executive producer.” Your fan page backs up what I said. Death Row and Amaru were involved in the creation of this album but not the promotion. Their logos were not included and Suge is not credited as an executive producer so while they may have received proceeds and credit for the album, people were not buying it off the strength of Death Row’s involvement because Death Row was not advertised. If you own the physical album, the CD back cover, the back of the booklet, and the CD itself all give sole copyright to Interscope, 1999. Suge is given publishing credit but there is no mention of Death Row inside other than in the artist thank you’s. Here is the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_I_Rise_(album)It lists label as “Interscope Records”. Death Row/Amaru were obviously involved in the process but the fact remains they withdrew their credit so the album sold because it was 2Pac, not because it was Death Row. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AM And here's where you're wrong -- Suge OWNED ALL HIS PUBLISHING -- he mentioned it OVER and OVER again in Interviews -- Anyone he signed to Death Row, he owned the publishing on in some capacity (either shared or he owned it all) Which would be why he couldn’t put out releases on certain artists. He didn’t own full publishing. He owned the masters. He had publishing credit but Dre, Pac, Nate had publishing as well. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMSuge could only reissue the music "as is", except for the SINGLES, which appeared on compilations ("Keep Their Heads Ringing" was re-issued on Death Row's Greatest Hits) Death Row’s Greatest Hits had Priority music on it because of their working relationship, hence why “No Vaseline” was on there. Death Row owns publishing on it but the rights are shared with different companies. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMAnd Irv Gotti showed he could push Suge's artists No, he didn’t. He showed he could put them in a video. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMThere's a rumor that Suge got pissed about Crook working over there and blackballed him quietly (kept promising him he would drop the album, but really had no plans to drop it) That doesn’t even make sense. Death Row had a working relationship with Murder, Inc. In order for him to work with them, his label would have had to sign off on it. If they didn’t want him to be in a video, they could have also stopped it. It would hurt them more to not clear him for the video. In which case, Murder Inc would have gone in another direction than it would to give him the go ahead and blackball him later. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMYou give Suge no credit when Death Row was ALL Suge I have given Suge credit. I stated that one of the reasons the label fell apart after 1996 was because he was not around to handle the business side anymore. You’re the one crediting all their pre-1996 success to Interscope pushing them. By doing this, you can mold the narrative that they were still hot in the later years but they just didn’t have Interscope to help them when the reality was they just didn’t have a strong creative direction once they hit a cold spot. Quote from: love33 on February 20, 2017, 12:30:50 AMEVERY other Artist who has left Death Row except Bow Wow, has become worse than they were before --> FACT That isn’t a FACT. That’s an opinion. If you look at their peak period from inception until about 1997, you had only a handful of artists/groups who put out albums (Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound) and a few with hit singles (Rage, Nate Dogg). Pac was a superstar BEFORE Death Row and as mentioned whether Death Row was on the release or not, he still sells. Snoop is still a huge star. He continues to chart without Death Row and has remained a household name for 20 years. He’s had more #1 singles off the label, than he has when he was on it. Death Row has put out Snoop projects after 1997, they haven’t sold as well as Snoop’s own projects on other labels. Tha Dogg Pound had a huge hit with “Dogg Food”. If you look at DPG (post-97), here’s the comparison of peak positions for their major label projects. DEATH ROWRetaliation, Revenge, and GetBack (Daz) - Billboard #8 2002 (Dogg Pound) – Billboard #36 Against the Grain (Kurupt) – Billboard #60NON-DEATH ROWKuruption (Kurupt) – Billboard #8 Streetz Iz A Mutha (Kurupt) – Billboard #31Cali Iz Active (DPG) – Billboard #28, #1 Independent Charts Rage had a hit single with “Afro Puffs”. Once the label lost momentum, she put out an album that peaked at #32 with no hit singles. Nate Dogg had one major hit single on Death Row. He went on to have countless more after he left. His solo career never took off either on Row or after it but his contributions to best-selling albums were far more frequent. It wasn’t just the label and Suge making the roster hot, it was the talent working together. Once Dre left, they never had a single new breakout artist (no hit singles or platinum albums).
To claim that Top Dogg was promoted heavily is preposterous. He was given a short verse on a song that ended up getting put out as a video.
Great. Thanks for showing me a video that I already knew existed. Death Row made lots of videos for songs that didn’t get played very much, if at all. I’m not arguing that they didn’t make videos or release singles. I’m challenging you on your argument that they were hits or that Interscope was in the process of “heavily promoting” them.
Top Dogg was already getting pushed to the side by the time that “Too Gangsta” came out. He doesn’t have a single featured song on there. Eastwood wasn’t on there either and didn’t get starting pushed as a Death Row artist until much later.
Daz and Soopafly actually weren’t cool at this time. Big C-Style did an interview talking about how Daz rolled up on him at a swap meet and beat him up. I can’t recall the specifics at this time but they didn’t leave at the same time.
That doesn’t even make sense. Death Row had a working relationship with Murder, Inc. In order for him to work with them, his label would have had to sign off on it. If they didn’t want him to be in a video, they could have also stopped it. It would hurt them more to not clear him for the video. In which case, Murder Inc would have gone in another direction than it would to give him the go ahead and blackball him later.
No, he didn’t. He showed he could put them in a video.