West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: KURUPTION-81 on September 28, 2003, 07:33:21 AM
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cm_millionaire at www.hitemup.com posted this in the forum, i thought it was an interesting article.
(The following is an article I have spent all night writing, it's quite long but I'd really appreciate it if you took the time to read and give me some feedback. All opinions expressed are those of my own.)
Death Row records was once a powerhouse in the rap industry. Suge Knight was a tycoon in the business, deep down everybody knew the company originated from the roots of the blood money embodying gang culture but fuck it, no one gave a shit because the music coming out of those speakers sounded so damn fresh!
The Chronic, Doggfather, All Eyez On Me, MK7DT......all classic albums in their own rights, all shaping the cultural revolution spanning race and gender that we call hip hop. Respectively, each album has achieved what very few albums have or will ever be able to match on wax. They have defined the period that has since come to be known as "When the West was won". Since that time however, with the exception of the Bi-Coastal Aftermath / Shady roster most rap critiques concur that the Left Side is no longer the best side and that the current Row records has absolutely nothing in common with it's pioneering predocessor.
It's even debatable if Suge Knight really runs the firm anymore, after all, theres only so many orders one man can give from behind a cell wall? The current cappo in charge is Kurupt. With all due respect to Young Gotti, surely he has next to no skill beyond the studio that could possibly make him experienced enough to run a label like Tha Row? Right? Wrong! The new Row that Crooked I seems to proudly hype so much in every one of his underground tracks (C'mon! the poor kid even has to distribute his own mixtapes) is in fact a disorganised destructured faceless cog in a machine once known for making good hit records and selling them a multi million times over. In this sense - Kurupt is a perfectly studied Cappo Di Tutti customised for the label.
Redspyder, Danny Boy, Eastwood, Virginia Slim and Crooked I. Those names probably don't ring a bell for your average 'In Da Club' bopper but for hardcore rap fans those names symbolise the future of West Coast Rap. Dangerously, those same names that were on the tips of every cat's tongue in a California studio a while back have since faded with time. The sad thing is, due to Tha Row's ineptitude to coherently promote an album with a *sigh* godforbid half decent distribution deal, a large roster of incredible new wave talent in hip hop is being denied the national exposure they so rightfully deserve and it's a sad sad situation.
If we are to believe the internet rumours, the scene is set for Crooked I to jump the sinking ship for clearer waters sometime at the beginning of next year. It is thought that his labelmates would be in hot persuit. Addittionally with Suge Knight constantly in trouble with the law, even if by some remarkable mirace, Crooked's much anticipated album does hit the stores before 2009, few would champion that one particular horse for chart topping success because in short the label is in ruins.
The visards have worked well over the years but now like the allies in auschwitz, the real truth is slowly slowly starting to emerge from the cracked walls within the label's Beverly Hills base. Suge Knight would have you believe it's a palace, a mansion in modesty perhaps. In reality, the landspace is one of the cheapest in the whole area, the furnishing is fracared and the carpet is ripped. Those bullets spinning from the warm revolver chambers a few months ago served to further wound a species almost extinct once and for all. The legend of Death Row records, home to the greatest rap star of all time Tupac Shakur is on the verge of being tossed into the echelons of time forever. The memories will however stay.
...Club 662...that misty night in Vegas that is almost a Death Row folklore....The drop tops...Tupac shouting out for his beloved label....holding them matches in the 'Toss It Up Video'....California Love....Dre and Snoop at house parties in the garden.....G Thang.....Those funky baseball caps....The mastadon that was once the most feared man in the industry Suge Knight....Those classic albums.....
It's all history. To Death Row records...You can change your name as much as you wish but face facts, it's all over. It was good while it lasted. Saviour the memories. Drop the remainder of Pac's catalogue and in the words of Pac himself "Let's Get the fuck up outta here."
R.I.P 'The Once Notorious untouchable Death Row Records.'
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you don't have to be a genius to figure this one out....
Dre left
Pac died
Suge went to prison
kurupt left
nate left
snoop left
daz left
need I say more on why deathrow records collapsed.
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you don't have to be a genius to figure this one out....
Dre left
Pac died
Suge went to prison
kurupt left
nate left
snoop left
daz left
need I say more on why deathrow records collapsed.
that pretty much sums everything up heh
Offtopic: That girl in your pic...it looks like she farted cuz there's bubbles behind her ;D
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^ ROFL
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suge ate to much kethCup
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Good article
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Also you've forgot to put in RBX and the DOC gettin' off
the label as another factor cause back in the time of the
Chronic and Doggystyle those two where main writers.
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Also you've forgot to put in RBX and the DOC gettin' off
the label as another factor cause back in the time of the
Chronic and Doggystyle those two where main writers.
Makes me think of some RBX-lines
"Me and D-O-G and D-O-C,set and made lyrics to replenish your fame like Gatorade.."
"Let them ride,cause I wrote that for Dre.."
but as true as this is,the factor of RBX leaving may not have been so disastrous as he left in '95 and DR was succesful till '97 or so.
D.O.C. leaving was definately a great loss for DR as well of course. (the guy couldn't do much more then writing lyrics after all as sad as the reason why is)
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great article, but i still have hopes that deathrow can start doin better (not blow up like 96) but to start releasing albums in 2004
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you don't have to be a genius to figure this one out....
Dre left
Pac died
Suge went to prison
kurupt left
nate left
snoop left
daz left
need I say more on why deathrow records collapsed.
that pretty much sums everything up heh
Offtopic: That girl in your pic...it looks like she farted cuz there's bubbles behind her ;D
lmao
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you don't have to be a genius to figure this one out....
Dre left
Pac died
Suge went to prison
kurupt left
nate left
snoop left
daz left
need I say more on why deathrow records collapsed.