The Return of Death Row Records

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What up jiggas? Remember Death Row Records? Tupac's label? Of course you do, how could you not? It's been a while"¦

The defunct label was at one point one of the most influential and powerful around, and behind it, one of the baddest dudes in the game, Suge Knight. The west coast label was responsible for making gangsta rap of the 90s popular, and truly at the top of its game at the time, giving us such classics as Snoop's Doggystyle and Dr. Dre's The Chronic. Suge and his label were also at the epicenter of the East vs. West rap wars that tragically claimed the lives of Biggie and Tupac. Death Row's glory days continued to deteriorate with even more losses including the decisions of Dre and the D-O-double-G to walk. Lots of shadiness surrounds the history of Death Row and its legacy has been one of violence and corruption. The label's sordid past will forever be tied to Suge, who has pretty much receded into obscurity, only to resurface when he's being sued, his assets are being auctioned, or has new set of charges brought against him. I know, homeboy is a real class act. But let's not forget that without him, white jewish girls from the valley like me might never have been able to bump the jams the epic label popularized, and hip-hop altogether might be a lot different today.

Guess what, wanksters? Death Row is back. But Suge is out of the picture and John Payne has stepped up as the label's leader and wants you to know that things are going to be very different this go-around. Don't worry, they're not going totally Disney-soft on us. It's still all about hip-hop and they still have the iconic electric chair logo (Side note: one of the items in the US Bankruptcy Court administered auction of Suge's possessions last year was an electric chair"¦ a REAL one). Mr. Payne has revived the label with the intention of cleaning up its image and giving back to fans. With that, Death Row 2.0 has been releasing albums from the Vault by those artists who put the label on the map, such as Dre's The Chronic Re Lit, as well as collector's edition box sets. They've also been developing some new material and will release a new album from Danny Boy in April. Could this be the beginning of the second coming of Death Row as the leading label on the hip-hop front? We'll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, let's get nostalgic, cuz it ain't nuthin but a G thang baaaabay!

-Emily Green

@green_emily