West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: woof on May 13, 2010, 09:13:02 AM
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http://www.vibe.com/content/new-death-row-no-suge-no-drama-more-2pac
What happens when the most notorious gangsta rap label Death Row Records is resurrected as a Canadian-based catalogue imprint? VIBE connects the dots to find out the future of the once-feared West Coast power.
Death Row Records. The name alone evokes the early ‘90s dominance of the most profitable and controversial gangsta rap label in music history. The groundbreaking West Coast imprint is known just as much for its classic roster of game-changing, influential talent (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, 2Pac) and its notorious, two-fisted CEO Suge Knight as it is for brazen tales of recording studio beatdowns, gang-related beefs, arrests, and murder. Which is why the 2009 acquisition of the once mighty imprint by Toronto-based company Wideawake Entertainment was met by a perplexed reception.
Now the Canadian company is working to clean up the legacy of the bankrupted Death Row, with a series of high-profile catalog releases and projects. “We had an $18 million debt so things are going to be done a certain way,” Wideawake/Death Row President John Payne tells VIBE of the company’s no-nonsense strategy. Payne’s ties to the label goes back to 1991 when he worked as a studio engineer for Knight and Dr. Dre, who first founded the company operation under the banner Future Shock before it went on to sell more than 50 million albums.
“The good thing about Death Row is the music has always stood the test of time,” Payne continues. “You can pick up albums like The Chronic and Doggystyle and still listen to them. But the problem with the label is people as well as the media have dwelled on the negative. It’s kept Death Row in a one-dimensional place. So in order to sell records, they pushed negativity when it wasn’t necessary because the artists were talented enough to let that speak for them. We would like to give Death Row it’s fair chance to be seen and heard correctly without the drama, murder or court cases.”
Payne says that one revelation he took away while going through the hundreds of unreleased tracks from the Death Row vault was the surprising quality of R&B music left over. The first release from the revamped label, crooner Danny Boy’s It’s About Time, is already in stores. The Atlanta-based singer joined Death Row when he was 15-years-old, and went on to record classic tracks with 2Pac (“I Ain’t Mad At Cha,” “Picture Me Rollin,’” “Toss It Up”).
“We are trying to do reach out to all the Death Row artists who never got their chance,” says Payne. “A lot of people are not aware of Danny Boy beyond 2Pac. We have his participation, so that’s great.”
For Danny, the chance to finally release his Death Row debut album is bittersweet. “I would never go back to Death Row as an artist,” says the vocalist, who was one of the last artists to remain by Suge Knight’s side following its successful ‘90s run. “There were so many good things that came from that situation, but there was also so much pain. Suge was like a father to me, but he also treated me dirty. I understand the business, and I knew that Wideawake was a catalogue company that has control over a lot of my material. So I thought it would be a great business move to put myself in position to do business with them.”
But while Wideawake/Death Row is open to do business with other former Death Row artists, Payne says that there’s one individual you won’t see working with the imprint: Suge Knight. The once feared music mogul has experienced a litany of legal drama, personal issues and public embarrassments including a 2002 prison conviction for violating parole, a 2006 bankruptcy and a 2009 beatdown he suffered during a 2009 NBA All-Star party.
“Suge has no connection to the label whatsoever,” Payne adamantly maintains. “It’s out of bankruptcy…it’s not his label. He has no influence and he cannot tell us what to do. But I did personally speak to him a few weeks ago after hearing about all the stuff that’s been going on in his life. We were friends a long time ago in the beginning. He called me and we just chatted. I wish the guy well.”
While it’s not clear if Wideawake/Death Row will find future chart success, the label is swinging for the fences with some of its upcoming releases. In addition to Danny Boy, an unreleased June album featuring Long Beach, California rapper and Slaughterhouse member Crooked I will hit the shelves. There’s also the much-talked about unreleased debut from former Dr. Dre protégé and producer Sam Sneed, who found success with his 1994 hit “U Better Recognize” and co-produced such Dre classics as “Keep Their Heads Ringin,’” and “Natural Born Killaz.” But the company is really banking on a posthumous project from late music icon 2Pac set for this Christmas.
“This is unreleased 2Pac…no remastering or remixing,” Payne says of the set. “The songs are from a collection of tracks that were recorded during his Death Row days around All Eyez On Me. I believe that these songs could have been 2Pac’s next record if he were still alive.” —Keith Murphy
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Got to admit, this sounds great. Now if they can just pull it off. I hope they drop that "Hoodstar" track list pretty soon, too. It's just a little over a month away and we still don't know what's on it.
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great news!
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Promising, no mention of the dogg pound though !
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wonder what Afeni's attitude to the 2pac release is.. i know Crooked I isn't in favour of his stuff being released
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2pac for christmas ... 8) 8) 8) 8)
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wonder what Afeni's attitude to the 2pac release is.. i know Crooked I isn't in favour of his stuff being released
crook is backing the hood star release and i hope amaru won't block the 2pac album. imagine the first album since makaveli 7day in original form. our dreams can come true
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wonder what Afeni's attitude to the 2pac release is.. i know Crooked I isn't in favour of his stuff being released
crook is backing the hood star release and i hope amaru won't block the 2pac album. imagine the first album since makaveli 7day in original form. our dreams can come true
he said on his twitter recently that he wasn't supporting it at all
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“This is unreleased 2Pac…no remastering remixing,” Payne says of the set.
You gotta be fucking kidding me. WideAwake is one giant FAIL.
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wideawake promised 2pac in june but now we get crooked i, he's dope, but hardly a suitable substitute ::)
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imagine the first album since makaveli 7day in original form. our dreams can come true
From what I understand, it's twelve songs picked at random from what's left of the DR material that has not already been released. It stands to reason that it will sound like the other releases so it's hardly a dream come true but I'll be happy for what I can get.
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Dont understand why they havent dropped the tracklist for hood star before.
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wonder what Afeni's attitude to the 2pac release is.. i know Crooked I isn't in favour of his stuff being released
crook is backing the hood star release and i hope amaru won't block the 2pac album. imagine the first album since makaveli 7day in original form. our dreams can come true
he said on his twitter recently that he wasn't supporting it at all
The last I heard he wasn't "thrilled" about it, but of course opinions could have changed.
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Crook is just scared of anything jeapordizing his new situation with Eminem so he is doing his best to distance himself from anything Death Row related.
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Crook is just scared of anything jeapordizing his new situation with Eminem so he is doing his best to distance himself from anything Death Row related.
Even if that is the case, you can't really blame him for wanting to leave Death Row in the past. It definitely has a negative vibe surrounding it.
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Crook is just scared of anything jeapordizing his new situation with Eminem so he is doing his best to distance himself from anything Death Row related.
Even if that is the case, you can't really blame him for wanting to leave Death Row in the past. It definitely has a negative vibe surrounding it.
Im one of his biggest fans but he comes off like a hypocrite signing off on the album and then a few months later denouncing it, what happened in the last few months to change his mind?. He's getting paid and his fans get to purchase a physical Crooked I album for the first and maybe only time ever, I can see him ignoring the album but telling people not to buy it or support it is bullshit on his part.
Why did he agree to the album then in the first place?
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Crook is just scared of anything jeapordizing his new situation with Eminem so he is doing his best to distance himself from anything Death Row related.
Even if that is the case, you can't really blame him for wanting to leave Death Row in the past. It definitely has a negative vibe surrounding it.
Im one of his biggest fans but he comes off like a hypocrite signing off on the album and then a few months later denouncing it, what happened in the last few months to change his mind?. He's getting paid and his fans get to purchase a physical Crooked I album for the first and maybe only time ever, I can see him ignoring the album but telling people not to buy it or support it is bullshit on his part.
Why did he agree to the album then in the first place?
I don't recall him agreeing to releasing the album in the past at all.
I remember reading an article where he said he MIGHT be interested in releasing past material under the "Wide Awake" label, but not the actual "Death Row" label.
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Crook is just scared of anything jeapordizing his new situation with Eminem so he is doing his best to distance himself from anything Death Row related.
Even if that is the case, you can't really blame him for wanting to leave Death Row in the past. It definitely has a negative vibe surrounding it.
Im one of his biggest fans but he comes off like a hypocrite signing off on the album and then a few months later denouncing it, what happened in the last few months to change his mind?. He's getting paid and his fans get to purchase a physical Crooked I album for the first and maybe only time ever, I can see him ignoring the album but telling people not to buy it or support it is bullshit on his part.
Why did he agree to the album then in the first place?
I don't recall him agreeing to releasing the album in the past at all.
I remember reading an article where he said he MIGHT be interested in releasing past material under the "Wide Awake" label, but not the actual "Death Row" label.
There is an interview here on Dubcnn with the girl who designed the Hoodstar album cover, she said Crook signed off on the album and the artwork months ago, his only request was that there be no red on the cover. Not to mention Crook was always talking about blocking the album, so evidently he agreed to the release.
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“This is unreleased 2Pac…no remastering remixing,” Payne says of the set.
No remastering? So just the same old WideAwake attitude then - get tracks, burn to cd, release cd! Hopefully all the 2Pac tracks were recorded well and have no quality issues. Will be good to hear this in December.
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wideawake promised 2pac in june but now we get crooked i, he's dope, but hardly a suitable substitute ::)
I'd say he's more than suitable. I've been waiting on some physically-released Crooked I solo material for forever. I tend to believe we've heard the best of Pac's unreleased DR material already.
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Crook is just scared of anything jeapordizing his new situation with Eminem so he is doing his best to distance himself from anything Death Row related.
Even if that is the case, you can't really blame him for wanting to leave Death Row in the past. It definitely has a negative vibe surrounding it.
Im one of his biggest fans but he comes off like a hypocrite signing off on the album and then a few months later denouncing it, what happened in the last few months to change his mind?. He's getting paid and his fans get to purchase a physical Crooked I album for the first and maybe only time ever, I can see him ignoring the album but telling people not to buy it or support it is bullshit on his part.
Why did he agree to the album then in the first place?
I don't recall him agreeing to releasing the album in the past at all.
I remember reading an article where he said he MIGHT be interested in releasing past material under the "Wide Awake" label, but not the actual "Death Row" label.
There is an interview here on Dubcnn with the girl who designed the Hoodstar album cover, she said Crook signed off on the album and the artwork months ago, his only request was that there be no red on the cover. Not to mention Crook was always talking about blocking the album, so evidently he agreed to the release.
Yes, I read this interview.
I have a few problems with what was said in it, but really don't feel like going into it.
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wonder what Afeni's attitude to the 2pac release is.. i know Crooked I isn't in favour of his stuff being released
Crooked I is in favor of not releasing albums period.
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“This is unreleased 2Pac…no remastering remixing,” Payne says of the set.
No remastering? So just the same old WideAwake attitude then - get tracks, burn to cd, release cd! Hopefully all the 2Pac tracks were recorded well and have no quality issues. Will be good to hear this in December.
That's what I'm saying man. It looks like we're gonna get some tracks that sound like they came off Evolution. No remastering??? Most of the tracks probably weren't mastered in the first fucking place and didn't have a final mixdown. This is not what the fans have been waiting decades for John Payne. Fans would be way more happy if the tracks were given to a competent mixing engineer and then given to a competent mastering engineer before the release so the tracks actually sound finished. We just don't want new beats and features. Make it sound like it would have if Death Row would have released it when Pac was alive.
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I never knew suge got beat down last year at the nba allstar game...
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I never knew suge got beat down last year at the nba allstar game...
Ya by some guy that was affiliated with Konvict Music. About a month later that same guy had a safe robbed from his house and $200k worth of shit was in it. He told police that the people that robbed him said it was payback from Suge or some shit, but just like the yukmouth incident, it just kinda faded away and Suge was never charged with anything.
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man, no mention of the LBC Crew album?! you're tellin me that LP wouldn't do better than danny boy?
thats the only thing I want, someone has got to release that thing in its entirety already. i really need "not get wet" and "dippin in my lo lo" in real CDQ (among others)...
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“Suge has no connection to the label whatsoever,” Payne adamantly maintains. “It’s out of bankruptcy…it’s not his label. He has no influence and he cannot tell us what to do. But I did personally speak to him a few weeks ago after hearing about all the stuff that’s been going on in his life. We were friends a long time ago in the beginning. He called me and we just chatted. I wish the guy well.”
Suge called him.. after no contact for 18 years.. cause they were friends.. in the beginning.. it was a few weeks ago after hearin all about all the stuff goin on in his life..
Sounds like Payne had a really touching moment with Suge after Suge had reached out to him.. lol
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man, no mention of the LBC Crew album?! you're tellin me that LP wouldn't do better than danny boy?
thats the only thing I want, someone has got to release that thing in its entirety already. i really need "not get wet" and "dippin in my lo lo" in real CDQ (among others)...
Dippin In My Lo Lo was actually released on a Bay compilation. I can't remember the name of it. There were 2 releases of it and the LBC Crew track was only on the original release if I remember correctly. So if you can find somebody with that compilation to rip it in FLAC or 320 for you, there you go.
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I grew up on the westcoast but i mean its 2010.... it would of been nice 10 years ago when the west had a mini resurgence but now... fuck it.
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man, no mention of the LBC Crew album?! you're tellin me that LP wouldn't do better than danny boy?
thats the only thing I want, someone has got to release that thing in its entirety already. i really need "not get wet" and "dippin in my lo lo" in real CDQ (among others)...
Dippin In My Lo Lo was actually released on a Bay compilation. I can't remember the name of it. There were 2 releases of it and the LBC Crew track was only on the original release if I remember correctly. So if you can find somebody with that compilation to rip it in FLAC or 320 for you, there you go.
really? i wonder if somebody can hook it up
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Dippin In My Lo Lo was actually released on a Bay compilation. I can't remember the name of it. There were 2 releases of it and the LBC Crew track was only on the original release if I remember correctly. So if you can find somebody with that compilation to rip it in FLAC or 320 for you, there you go.
Do you remember the tittle of this compilation?
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I'm trying hard to remember what it was. Dippin In My Lo Lo was probably my least favorite LBC Crew song so I didn't pay much attention to it.