Drama Continues for Death Row

[kuruptlon]

Lara 'Suge' Lavi


Is it possible Lavi is just Suge Knight wearing all sorts of makeup to make him a big white bitch.

They are about the same size, just think about it.

[JohnnyL]

how much?

the sales were higher than i expected

Amid the infighting, Death Row managed to get only two albums and a box-set collection of songs to the market. The first was a remastered version of Dre's The Chronic, while the second was a rarities collection from Snoop Dogg. Neither was a huge commercial success — Thompson-So says The Chronic sold 50,000 copies in 2009, while Snoop Dogg's album sold only 30,000.

remember when people said that re-releasing the Chronic was a bad idea?

 Well, I think it could have been a bigger success, had the sound quality been good and if they had been able to release it the way they wanted to.  We were originally supposed to get unreleased Dre tracks on there, but they took them off to avoid being sued.  Then....they got sued anyway. lol  Maybe they should have just put the Dre songs on there and said "fuck it."

[Jaydc]

Lara 'Suge' Lavi


Is it possible Lavi is just Suge Knight wearing all sorts of makeup to make him a big white bitch.

They are about the same size, just think about it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.That would be amazing.

[Quadruple OG]

Lara 'Suge' Lavi


Is it possible Lavi is just Suge Knight wearing all sorts of makeup to make him a big white bitch.

They are about the same size, just think about it.

could be on a future episode of "Undercover Boss" on CBS for all we know

[Blasphemy]

hen Jones's album Elanoed to sell, and with the label hemorrhaging cash, New Solutions brought in a new executive to fix the problem. Thompson-So, a former Bay Street banker with connections in Hong Kong, was asked to find an acquisition that could improve cash flow, make the company more attractive for a sale, and help get the lender out of a bind. Though it hardly seemed like an obvious choice for a private bank, Thompson-So felt Death Row fit the bill.

LOL @ THE Boldz

[kuruptlon]

Lara 'Suge' Lavi


Is it possible Lavi is just Suge Knight wearing all sorts of makeup to make him a big white bitch.

They are about the same size, just think about it.

could be on a future episode of "Undercover Boss" on CBS for all we know

hahahah awesome.

[Jimmy H.]

Well, I think it could have been a bigger success, had the sound quality been good and if they had been able to release it the way they wanted to.  We were originally supposed to get unreleased Dre tracks on there, but they took them off to avoid being sued.  Then....they got sued anyway. lol  Maybe they should have just put the Dre songs on there and said "fuck it."

I don't think knowingly releasing stuff you don't have permission to would help the company at all. Again, I know we're thinking as fans on this one but while we would get what we want, the company would be in even worse shape.

[JohnnyL]

Well, I think it could have been a bigger success, had the sound quality been good and if they had been able to release it the way they wanted to.  We were originally supposed to get unreleased Dre tracks on there, but they took them off to avoid being sued.  Then....they got sued anyway. lol  Maybe they should have just put the Dre songs on there and said "fuck it."

I don't think knowingly releasing stuff you don't have permission to would help the company at all. Again, I know we're thinking as fans on this one but while we would get what we want, the company would be in even worse shape.

 Yeah.  I meant that in jest, and partially out of frustration because it seems like the company's cursed. It seems like no matter what they do, they can't catch a break.  On one hand, I don't even feel bad for them when they put out stupid shit like that last Kurupt cd.  But on the other hand, I feel like they were at least trying to put out something for the fans with the Dre, Snoop and Ultimate Box set cds.  Even though those projects fell short of what they should have been.

[Jimmy H.]

It felt like there were some good intentions over there but there was definitely some inner turmoil within the label from jump. The enitial interviews with them seemed promising in terms of what they wanted to do but once product started hitting the shelves, they went into "smoke screen" mode pretty quickly.

As far as anything involving Dr. Dre or Tupac's estate, we need to put this one into perspective. Think of all the artists that were over there at Death Row that didn't make a penny off that music. You'd have to realistically assume that the few who did get away with control of their music are not the kind who are just gonna hand it over to whatever new label out of the kidness of being millionaires who want to give away free shit to the fans. They want their paycheck like anybody else. The moment, a business man takes getting low-balled with a grin, everybody starts fucking him for his money. It's human nature.

[JohnnyL]

It felt like there were some good intentions over there but there was definitely some inner turmoil within the label from jump. The enitial interviews with them seemed promising in terms of what they wanted to do but once product started hitting the shelves, they went into "smoke screen" mode pretty quickly.

As far as anything involving Dr. Dre or Tupac's estate, we need to put this one into perspective. Think of all the artists that were over there at Death Row that didn't make a penny off that music. You'd have to realistically assume that the few who did get away with control of their music are not the kind who are just gonna hand it over to whatever new label out of the kidness of being millionaires who want to give away free shit to the fans. They want their paycheck like anybody else. The moment, a business man takes getting low-balled with a grin, everybody starts fucking him for his money. It's human nature.

 You make some good points.  I think part of the problem was that the people who bought Death Row and the people who backed them financially underestimated just how many problems they were going to inherit by taking on ownership of Death Row, both in terms of bad blood with former employees and just general disorganization with the catalog.  I really feel that their original intention at Wideawake/Death Row was to honor Dre's wishes in an attempt to try to build a relationship with Dre in the future. I think had that not been the case, they would have just released those unreleased Dr. Dre tracks with "The Chronic: Re-Lit."  So I think, at least at the time, their intention was to do the right thing by Dre. Unfortunately at some point, something either changed or went wrong.  Dre not getting paid for his work is inexcusable and I have no idea why things turned out that way.  I don't know if it was an intentional attempt to rip Dre off or maybe something else.  I don't know if it was something Lara Lavi was responsible for, or maybe something that went wrong during the transition from Lavi running things to the people who are currently in charge.
 

[Jimmy H.]

You make some good points.  I think part of the problem was that the people who bought Death Row and the people who backed them financially underestimated just how many problems they were going to inherit by taking on ownership of Death Row, both in terms of bad blood with former employees and just general disorganization with the catalog.  I really feel that their original intention at Wideawake/Death Row was to honor Dre's wishes in an attempt to try to build a relationship with Dre in the future. I think had that not been the case, they would have just released those unreleased Dr. Dre tracks with "The Chronic: Re-Lit."  So I think, at least at the time, their intention was to do the right thing by Dre. Unfortunately at some point, something either changed or went wrong.  Dre not getting paid for his work is inexcusable and I have no idea why things turned out that way.  I don't know if it was an intentional attempt to rip Dre off or maybe something else.  I don't know if it was something Lara Lavi was responsible for, or maybe something that went wrong during the transition from Lavi running things to the people who are currently in charge.

Maybe but I doubt it. Them not releasing tracks that aren't legally cleared has nothing to do with extending an olive branch. They couldn't have put the songs out if they wanted to. Suge tried doing it and the release got blocked before it even went to press. They released nearly every unreleased Dre track they legally could and even promoted Crooked I spitting over an old beat as being "produced by Dr. Dre". They may have had good intentions but they never had a conversation with Dre directly on where he felt so they were going on assumptions there. How using his name and likeness to promote your company and releasing poorly-mixed studio scraps on projects is supposed to appease him is anybody's guess. Like I said, we are fans so obviously, we want the music any way we can get it but when you deal with Dr. Dre or Tupac, these aren't just simple one phone call clearances. Both of these artists are represented by people with millions of dollars invested in their brand name. The public opinion on any Dre material, authorized or not, that hits the shelves, could have a direct effect on how his value is perceived. It would be the same if outside companies were trying to sell old recordings of Eminem or Lil Wayne. Obviously if your paper work is legit and you've got the right legal and business people working for you, it won't matter but to think the artist, producer, or his record company is going to appreciate the move if they haven't okayed it is naive thinking at best.

[JohnnyL]

You make some good points.  I think part of the problem was that the people who bought Death Row and the people who backed them financially underestimated just how many problems they were going to inherit by taking on ownership of Death Row, both in terms of bad blood with former employees and just general disorganization with the catalog.  I really feel that their original intention at Wideawake/Death Row was to honor Dre's wishes in an attempt to try to build a relationship with Dre in the future. I think had that not been the case, they would have just released those unreleased Dr. Dre tracks with "The Chronic: Re-Lit."  So I think, at least at the time, their intention was to do the right thing by Dre. Unfortunately at some point, something either changed or went wrong.  Dre not getting paid for his work is inexcusable and I have no idea why things turned out that way.  I don't know if it was an intentional attempt to rip Dre off or maybe something else.  I don't know if it was something Lara Lavi was responsible for, or maybe something that went wrong during the transition from Lavi running things to the people who are currently in charge.

Maybe but I doubt it. Them not releasing tracks that aren't legally cleared has nothing to do with extending an olive branch. They couldn't have put the songs out if they wanted to. Suge tried doing it and the release got blocked before it even went to press. They released nearly every unreleased Dre track they legally could and even promoted Crooked I spitting over an old beat as being "produced by Dr. Dre". They may have had good intentions but they never had a conversation with Dre directly on where he felt so they were going on assumptions there. How using his name and likeness to promote your company and releasing poorly-mixed studio scraps on projects is supposed to appease him is anybody's guess. Like I said, we are fans so obviously, we want the music any way we can get it but when you deal with Dr. Dre or Tupac, these aren't just simple one phone call clearances. Both of these artists are represented by people with millions of dollars invested in their brand name. The public opinion on any Dre material, authorized or not, that hits the shelves, could have a direct effect on how his value is perceived. It would be the same if outside companies were trying to sell old recordings of Eminem or Lil Wayne. Obviously if your paper work is legit and you've got the right legal and business people working for you, it won't matter but to think the artist, producer, or his record company is going to appreciate the move if they haven't okayed it is naive thinking at best.

 I agree that them not releasing the Dr. Dre tracks wasn't just out of the goodness of their hearts.  Obviously, no one was trying to get sued.  Although, actually I believe the reason those songs were blocked from release to begin with, was part of a settlement Suge and Dr. Dre agreed to back when "Suge Knight Presents: The Chronic 2000" was released.  If I remember correctly Suge was given permission to use "The Chronic 2000" name in exchange for agreeing not to release unreleased Dr. Dre tracks or any Dr. Dre mp3s or tracks that were not originally part of "The Chronic."  Had that agreement not been made, I would assume Death Row would still have the legal right to release those tracks (at least until Dre had proven otherwise in court).  I'm only bringing that up to illustrate that up until that settlement was reached those unreleased tracks were property of the original Death Row.   
 My assertion that Lara Lavi was trying to build a relationship with Dre is largely speculation although it is what she said in interviews when promoting "The Chronic: Re-Lit."  But since no one knows what Lavi's real motivation was except Lavi herself, I would definitely concede that that's just speculation.
 I still think you raise good points clearing Dre and Tupac tracks.  But playing devil's advocate, I suppose if you were in charge of Wideawake/Death Row, you would have to balance avoiding potential law suits against sitting on a potential gold mine that you legally own but have no right to release.  In a perfect world, they could have talked to Dre, convinced Dre to handle the remastering process and help with the marketing, and appropriately compensated Dre for his time.  Unfortunately, nothing ever works out that simple.

[Jimmy H.]

But playing devil's advocate, I suppose if you were in charge of Wideawake/Death Row, you would have to balance avoiding potential law suits against sitting on a potential gold mine that you legally own but have no right to release. 

But it wouldn't even be a potential gold mine. It would be like releasing a song with a guest rapper's vocals when that rapper's label did not clear it or sampling a song without permission. Look at what happened with Truth Hurts' debut. You might legally own material but you also need the legal right to release it. Once an artist signs with a label, the label has final say on everything. Dre is one of Interscope's biggest money-makers and I'm sure they don't want anyone else making dollars off Dre if it ain't benefiting them in the long run.

I also don't think unreleased music is as valuable as we all make it out to be. People want to hear it because it's music from a certian time period that we've never heard before but the publishing for the pre-released classic catalog is still where the money will be at. With the right marketing, an album of unreleased music will sell but when it comes to radio/club spins and movie/commercial/video game licensing, "Gin N Juice" and "Nuthin But A G Thang" will probably make more money than say, "Ho Hopper" or "Head Doctor".

[J$crILLa]

the label has been fucked since pac got shot. period.

[JohnnyL]

But playing devil's advocate, I suppose if you were in charge of Wideawake/Death Row, you would have to balance avoiding potential law suits against sitting on a potential gold mine that you legally own but have no right to release. 

But it wouldn't even be a potential gold mine. It would be like releasing a song with a guest rapper's vocals when that rapper's label did not clear it or sampling a song without permission. Look at what happened with Truth Hurts' debut. You might legally own material but you also need the legal right to release it. Once an artist signs with a label, the label has final say on everything. Dre is one of Interscope's biggest money-makers and I'm sure they don't want anyone else making dollars off Dre if it ain't benefiting them in the long run.

I also don't think unreleased music is as valuable as we all make it out to be. People want to hear it because it's music from a certian time period that we've never heard before but the publishing for the pre-released classic catalog is still where the money will be at. With the right marketing, an album of unreleased music will sell but when it comes to radio/club spins and movie/commercial/video game licensing, "Gin N Juice" and "Nuthin But A G Thang" will probably make more money than say, "Ho Hopper" or "Head Doctor".

 I agree that it's not a gold mine if you don't have the legal right to release it.  But what I'm trying to say is, I think the people who bought Death Row, bought it at least in part because they believed they were going to be able to sell unreleased tracks from 2pac, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg.  I'm sure they were aware of many of the other artists in the catalog as well.  But I don't think their decision to buy Death Row Records had much to do with gaining access to unreleased Crooked I, , Eastwood, and Petey Pablo tracks.  But I think it's even obvious from the early interviews before "The Chronic: Re-Lit" dropped that they had no idea there was a settlement in place that was going to prevent them from releasing Dr. Dre material.  So after finding that out, they had to rethink their whole approach for re-releasing "The Chronic" album.  And I think finding that out midway through compiling "The Chronic: Re-Lit" really sabotaged that project.  Don't get me wrong, I think Wideawake made a lot of mistakes themselves.  The sound quality on "The Chronic: Re-Lit" wasn't up to par, and you can't hardly blame that on anyone but Wideawake.  But finding out that music from one of the top 3 artists who was ever at the label was completely off limits, couldn't have helped either.
 I can't argue with you on the unreleased music.  I think it's definitely valuable, but I agree that an unreleased Dr. Dre song probably isn't as valuable as a Dr. Dre "greatest hit."