Ice Cube Regrets Not Working More With Dr. Dre

[Jimmy H.]

Yeah i agree with alll what U wrote: Death Row sold CD's when it was Dre, Pac, Snoop project. That's why Suge tried to put out 4-disc set with Pac material and single with Crooked I. This would help him so much and maybe the situation could change a lot.  

It would have a momentary solution, in my opinion. They weren't going to launch breakout acts off of Pac when he wasn't alive to help with promotion. Think about how many singles and videos The Outlawz had with Tupac and they didn't get become household names off of that. You need a lot of things in place to break a new act and Death Row didn't have the capabilities for it at the time.

Death Row lost good distributor - Interscope, they moved to A&D (or somethin like this) and then to Koch...
 

They didn't move to D3 right after Interscope. They spent several years with Priority. Interscope was still distributing Pac's albums.

Man look at Dysfunktional Family Soundtrack - you have big names like Ja Rule, Young Buck, Jay-Z, Juvenile, Ashanti and sold shit. Because of distributor - the same situation was with Kurupt's Streetz Iz a Mutha. CD was so hyped but wasn't in music stores, that's why reached only gold, not platinum.  

Young Buck wasn't a big name when that album dropped. He had done one song for 50's first album and was starting to fuck with G-Unit but his name wasn't as such that having him on there would have been some huge deal.  Jay-Z had one song on there and it was a remix of a song he already put out. Ja had a verse on a posse cut. These were names but they weren't contributing hit songs.

[adi760]

Come on don't compare Outlawz to Crooked. No one of them has character and is confident. Crooked waa always much more respected and important person. And I agree that Suge didn't use much potential as they could - Ja should be bigger part of project, like Jigga. One big video with cameo apparances from Murder Ink and Rockafella and it's done. But nope, we get Still Tha Row (even if it's dope ass video and song).
And which one CD distributed Priority?

[Jimmy H.]

Come on don't compare Outlawz to Crooked. No one of them has character and is confident. Crooked waa always much more respected and important person.

It's not as much a comparison as it is an example to illustrate that just because you are prominently featured on albums, videos, and even significant hit singles for a popular artist does not automatically mean you are going to be a breakout act. Whether Crooked is more respected or important is entirely irrelevant.

And I agree that Suge didn't use much potential as they could - Ja should be bigger part of project, like Jigga. One big video with cameo apparances from Murder Ink and Rockafella and it's done. But nope, we get Still Tha Row (even if it's dope ass video and song).

I don't agree. Just making one video with someone isn't going to revitalize your entire label and establish a whole project, especially when that artist is not signed to your label. Breaking acts requires a lot of factors playing out for you and I don't think the stars were lining up for Suge at that point to make that happen. It's not enough to just have a feature from a hot artist or production from a dope producer, the project itself needs to be well put together and handled properly. Ja Rule was on his way down the sales ladder when Suge was starting to work with him and Jay was just doing a favor for Suge in exchange for getting to sample that Makaveli record on his last LP. These were stock contrasts to "Above The Rim" where Suge was able to get two hit singles ("Regulate" and "Pour Out A Little Liquor") to appear first on his soundtrack before they came out on the albums for the outside artists. If he was able to get Jay's version of "Bonnie and Clyde" featured on a Row compilation before Blueprint 2 used it, he might have had something.

And which one CD distributed Priority?

Priority began distributing Death Row product in 1996 with "Greatest Hits". Interscope still distributed a couple of albums after that (Gridlock'd soundtrack, Lady of Rage) but those were likely albums that Death Row still owed them in deals made before Priority came in. Priority would go on to distribute Gang Related 0ST, Daz's RR&GB, Hung Jury, and Chronic 2000. Starting with Too Gangsta For Radio, they were independent through D3, which eventually merged with Koch. Interscope would continue distribute all the Pac albums they did and Priority partnered with them on Snoop's "Death Row - Greatest Hits" in 2002 since they had Snoop signed at the time.