I got 5 on Snoop's Source Award....

So Death Row has been auctioned off for a cool $24 milli to Global Music Group. President of GMG Susan Berg just made a killing, and probably isn't really aware of it.
The purchase puts her in control of all the recordings ever released on the label, including groundbreaking albums from the likes of Tupac Shakur (All Eyez On Me, 9x Platinum and counting...) Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle 4x Platinum, Tha Doggfather 2x Platinum) and Dr. Dre (The Chronic 3x Platinum). Berg now also owns the rights to twenty unreleased 'Pac tracks which could quite possibly (definately will) be brought together and released as an album.

Hold up, let's backtrack a little bit. She just bought the rights to All Eyez On Me, Doggystyle and the Chronic, as well as who knows how many other artists and albums, for $24 million?
God damn, now that's a crate digger.

Suge Knight sold the label after a judge ordered him to sell off all his assets to the highest bidder after a bankruptcy situation. The situation stemmed from an incident back in 2005 when Suge Knight was forced to pay a staggering $107 million to ex-partner Lydia Harris who claimed that he had kept her profits before being removed from the label. The payout led Knight to file for federal bankruptcy in 2006.
So that's all interesting enough, but the real gold is in the details.
Along with the company itself, the assets of the company were sold off too. All of them. Everything from the TV's, to the furniture, to SNOOP DOGG AND DR. DRE'S SOURCE AWARDS. Now there's a sweet paperweight. Imagine your crew rolls round, "hey bro, what's that award up there?" "oh, nothing important, just Dre's Source award for Best Producer".
Peep these photos of stuff that was sold off, courtesy of deathrowauctions.com



Anyone for N.W.A's platinum record plaque?


The Infamous P.I.G picture, which Suge Knight commissioned during the height of the East Coast/West Coast beef.


Now this has to be the weirdest item. "The Liberator" wedge, great new angles on Sex!
Why was this just hanging around, still in package, at the Death Row offices? Pretty expensive wedge too, $280. Damn.


I could rock Suge's hat, no doubt.

Along with this sweet booty, lucky punters made off with:

~ The Death Row Records Electric Chair ($12,000, if you're wondering)
~ Suge Knight's Cigars & Engraved Cases
~ Numerous Tupac Shakur collectable items
~ 300,000 Saleable CD's in Original Packaging (some CD's were selling for as little as 4c apiece)
SO what's the lesson here? Don't screw your business partners out of their earnings, because they will crush your company and take all your money. BUt the ensuing auction will be a bonanza. Here's hoping that the new owners don't try to squeeze every last drop of cash out of Pac's memory like Suge did.
Peace,
Broke.