Early last year, Snoop Dogg purchased the label he formerly recorded on, Death Row Records. The man who used to own the imprint, Suge Knight, recently said that the rapper may have acquired it fraudulently.
According to an interview the incarcerated Knight conducted with TMZ, he said that the bankruptcy hearing that was held was a violation of the law. He also feels that Death Row would never be what it was without his guidance and leadership.
Knight is serving 28 years in prison after being found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He’s presently paying his debt to society at CA State Penitentiary.
When questioned about Snoop owning the label, he had something to say. In his response, he was confident that he would retake ownership.
“Well, if he do, I doubt that. First of all, you gotta look at it like this: I am Death Row. So, I’m quite sure when it’s said and done, All Eyez On Me and Makaveli will definitely come back to me, and the rest of the stuff.”
He said the man who fronted the money for the label initially, Michael Harris,
was involved in the transaction and that Snoop could only purchase the label due to his attorney not showing up for the court date, so they lost by default.“But one problem with that is: Snoop has a partner, which is Michael Harris. They committed fraud, they bankruptcy fraud. I didn’t lose my company by doing anything wrong; they went in and the lawyer didn’t show up, and they got a default judgment.”
“I settled the judgment. They turned around and said I didn’t settle the judgment. But they committed bankruptcy fraud which we just found out for sure last week. When they filed for bankruptcy in ’95, they said it didn’t have anything to do with Death Row.”
The former executive went as far as calling the transaction illegal, insisting that what transpired shouldn’t occurred.
“You can’t commit bankruptcy fraud and settle and do those type of things … It’s called illegal, it’s a crime. You can’t take the person who committed the worst crime of the century, taking Death Row from Black people and try to give it to white people, and think he gonna grab Snoop and they gonna get it back. It doesn’t work like that.”
Last year, the global investment firm Blackstone announced that the iconic Gin & Juice rapper acquired the Death Row Records brand and name from MNRK Music Group. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
After taking the catalog off streaming platforms, Snoop announced in March that it had returned. Billboard reported that he signed a new deal putting Death Row classic records back on streaming platforms. On March 9, he took to Twitter to inform fans that we could start hearing the classic Death Row catalog again.