Death Row Records

It, it just seems a little strange to me.

I mean, I know that one day I turned on Netflix and Raw just like automatically started, and Jacob was out there in all full red, and I'm like, "What is this? 1996 Death Row?" Like, what is-

is-[laughs]

... that is happening here.

Shakur was with Suge Knight in Vegas to attend the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight.

After an altercation in their hotel lobby, Shakur and Knight got into their black BMW to make their way to Knight's Death Row nightclub.

The car was stopped at a red light around 1115. when a white catalog pulled up alongside them and opened fire.

Shakur was struck once in the arm, once in the thigh, and twice in the chest.

Mm-hmm.

Death Row.

But he did a s- a song with, um, Daz-

Did they squash that-

Yeah.

And basically, I think he stole one of Tupac's friends' death row chains.

Yeah, yeah.

They must have mugged him and stuff.

Yeah.

but this is the life to live isn't it like it was a blurred line between you know showman you know entertainment and stuff and then the gang life you can't do both you can either do gang life or be a singer actor you know rapper or whatever

apparently one of the so Death Row who was basically the record label owned by Suge Knight that Tupac was signed to Owned by you.

Yeah.

I want to own my own masters.

But at the end of the day, if Snoop Dogg has death row records or cube has a label and they're able to give you a deal and take you to a major label for distro, or even just keep you independent through them for a couple of projects.

Well, I don't think so many artists would turn that down if they had the opportunity.

I don't think a Jason Cash, an Airplane James, Epic Must Die, ATM Danny, I don't think those artists are turning down Snoop, a Death Row deal at this moment, or a deal from Cube at this very moment.

The problem with that is, I can't, the problem with that is, How sustainable is that going to be when I can't turn around and produce you to be the level of a little baby for these new artists that are coming up that are making millions of dollars? Unless you have conflict in the labels.

And we've dealt with that before also.

Under the mistaken belief he was immune from charges, Davis later admitted in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was in the car with Shakur's shooter, but did not technically pull the trigger.

This was all done in defense of Davis's nephew, Orlando Baby Lane Anderson, who assaulted Death Row Records associate Trayvon Trey Lane.

Tupac then retaliated with an assault towards Davis's nephew.

which was captured on security cameras and all the rest was dealt with in the courts.

Too low down, G's gone crazy.

Death Row is the label that pays me.

Unfeasible, so please don't try to fade me.

But back to the lecture right here.

All these things were happening around this time, right? So there was a vibrant hip hop scene, but we didn't fit in with the G-Funk.

And we weren't from the lineage of what had just happened at Death Row.

And so we were labeled backpack rappers, yes, because coming from the West Coast, they weren't used to the lyrical prowess of what we were doing.

And so now it was like, it was dismissed at first until we started selling records.

think the adversity and the issues that Dre has overcome It's a testament to what is real about him.

You got to understand, he lost two juggernaut labels, Ruthless and Aftermath.

Ruthless and Death Row before he created Aftermath, right? And then there was also his personal stuff that he had went through in order to...

garnish that type of success and notoriety through all that adversity.