Death Row came into the new millennium with projects like The Chronic 2000 and Too Gangsta For Radio, all out tirades on former artists like Dre and Snoop. They even spearheaded 2Pac soundalike Tha Realest to make these songs, displaying a very lackluster strategy and roster to rebuild after the exodus of their big 3 in the mid 90s. It wasn't good.
In 2002, Suge would rebrand the label "Tha Row", in an attempt to shed some of the dark stigma and bad taste that had come to be associated with the label. Death Row's offices were raided in 2002 regarding a murder investigation, and Suge spent time in prison in both 2002 and 2003, affecting not only the logistics of bringing the label back to relevancy, but also the rebranding look they were attempting to portray to the industry and fans. A XXL cover and feature would reveal who he chose to part of this second dynasty:
We see Suge, with home grown rookies Eastwood, and star "spitter" Crooked I. We see a veteran face from the old days, Kurupt. And we see Lisa Left Eye Lopes, of TLC fame.
Left Eye would tragically die in a vehicle accident in 2002, and her album "N.I.N.A." would never be completed. Her previous solo album "Supernova" did not do well commercially, but the star power and talent with her is obvious.
Most of the buzz this new Row got, was from Crooked I, who got a feature on Ja Rule's Last Temptation, and a feature on a remix to Ashanti's hit "Baby"
In 2003 Death Row would release a soundtrack for Eddie Griffin's stand-up feature "Dysfunktional Family", it peaked at 95 on the Billboard 200. It featured artists like Danny Boy, and Spider Loc. As well as Suge using his connections to get appearances from Ja Rule, Ashanti, and even Jay-Z. A single and video featuring Crook would be released, displaying their new production team's sound, and the sharp lyrical prowess of young Long Beach artist
He would go onto leave the label in 2004, after not being able to get a debut album out.
They also did not shy away from milking 2Pac, as a remix album with their current production team redoing the beats to all of Death Row 2Pac's best songs. It was not received well, and many did not like their new production sound at all.
Eastwood would release nothing, and do nothing of note, although being pretty decent and a good complimentary artist for them. He would also leave.
Kurupt, in a weird case of someone leaving Death Row and coming back, was the only full album release from an artist of the second coming. In 2005, "Against The Grain" was released, to poor sales, and minimal fanfare from Death Row hardcores. Kurupt put out one of his worst lyrical efforts in a time where he needed to step up.
Without a major figure to act as the star of the label in 2005, Suge would link up with his friend, North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo. A new XXL was called for, and we get the last ditch effort of someone who isn't from the West, but that's okay. He was coming off his sophomore album "Still Writing in my Diary" in 2004, which went Platinum, and had the singles Blow Your Whistle and Freak a Leek. A solid enough partnership on paper.
He would go on to release no single, and no album, leaving the label on good terms as Death Row would eventually file for bankruptcy, effectively ending their hopes as far as putting brand new music out again.
All of these artists have compilations of tracks from their Deathrow eras floating around, and some of it is good, and some bad. Pertinent to this topic, are Crooked I and Kurupt's attacks on Snoop Dogg, and Daz and Soopafly (who Kurupt had beef with) Suge would never stop throwing jabs at Snoop during this time.
Conclusion:
I do think in an alternate reality, Suge stays out of jail, instructs all artists (including himself) to refrain from taking shots at enemies. They commit to a release schedule surrounding the big artists first. Maybe Lefteye comes out first, then Crooked I, then Kurupt and Eastwood, and they all have one album out and hopefully have some buzz predominantly off of Lefteye and Crook when Petey Pablo comes out. If Crook blew up like he was supposed to, you now have 3 new stars to build around. But their legal troubles and inconsistency with the music they did put out would hamper any pipedreams like that. By the mid 2000s the industry was firmly in another place, and despite having all the pieces set up, "Tha Row" did nothing to force a re-entry to the mainstream.
In 2002, Suge would rebrand the label "Tha Row", in an attempt to shed some of the dark stigma and bad taste that had come to be associated with the label. Death Row's offices were raided in 2002 regarding a murder investigation, and Suge spent time in prison in both 2002 and 2003, affecting not only the logistics of bringing the label back to relevancy, but also the rebranding look they were attempting to portray to the industry and fans. A XXL cover and feature would reveal who he chose to part of this second dynasty:
We see Suge, with home grown rookies Eastwood, and star "spitter" Crooked I. We see a veteran face from the old days, Kurupt. And we see Lisa Left Eye Lopes, of TLC fame.
Left Eye would tragically die in a vehicle accident in 2002, and her album "N.I.N.A." would never be completed. Her previous solo album "Supernova" did not do well commercially, but the star power and talent with her is obvious.
Most of the buzz this new Row got, was from Crooked I, who got a feature on Ja Rule's Last Temptation, and a feature on a remix to Ashanti's hit "Baby"
In 2003 Death Row would release a soundtrack for Eddie Griffin's stand-up feature "Dysfunktional Family", it peaked at 95 on the Billboard 200. It featured artists like Danny Boy, and Spider Loc. As well as Suge using his connections to get appearances from Ja Rule, Ashanti, and even Jay-Z. A single and video featuring Crook would be released, displaying their new production team's sound, and the sharp lyrical prowess of young Long Beach artist
He would go onto leave the label in 2004, after not being able to get a debut album out.
They also did not shy away from milking 2Pac, as a remix album with their current production team redoing the beats to all of Death Row 2Pac's best songs. It was not received well, and many did not like their new production sound at all.
Eastwood would release nothing, and do nothing of note, although being pretty decent and a good complimentary artist for them. He would also leave.
Kurupt, in a weird case of someone leaving Death Row and coming back, was the only full album release from an artist of the second coming. In 2005, "Against The Grain" was released, to poor sales, and minimal fanfare from Death Row hardcores. Kurupt put out one of his worst lyrical efforts in a time where he needed to step up.
Without a major figure to act as the star of the label in 2005, Suge would link up with his friend, North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo. A new XXL was called for, and we get the last ditch effort of someone who isn't from the West, but that's okay. He was coming off his sophomore album "Still Writing in my Diary" in 2004, which went Platinum, and had the singles Blow Your Whistle and Freak a Leek. A solid enough partnership on paper.
He would go on to release no single, and no album, leaving the label on good terms as Death Row would eventually file for bankruptcy, effectively ending their hopes as far as putting brand new music out again.
All of these artists have compilations of tracks from their Deathrow eras floating around, and some of it is good, and some bad. Pertinent to this topic, are Crooked I and Kurupt's attacks on Snoop Dogg, and Daz and Soopafly (who Kurupt had beef with) Suge would never stop throwing jabs at Snoop during this time.
Conclusion:
I do think in an alternate reality, Suge stays out of jail, instructs all artists (including himself) to refrain from taking shots at enemies. They commit to a release schedule surrounding the big artists first. Maybe Lefteye comes out first, then Crooked I, then Kurupt and Eastwood, and they all have one album out and hopefully have some buzz predominantly off of Lefteye and Crook when Petey Pablo comes out. If Crook blew up like he was supposed to, you now have 3 new stars to build around. But their legal troubles and inconsistency with the music they did put out would hamper any pipedreams like that. By the mid 2000s the industry was firmly in another place, and despite having all the pieces set up, "Tha Row" did nothing to force a re-entry to the mainstream.
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made no sense for either party. At that point Petey was coming off a huge smash hit and Suge hadn’t had a hit since Pac died almost ten years prior.
