Andre Romell Young,known professionally as Dr. Dre,is an American record producer and rapper. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics,and co-founded and was the president of Death Row Records. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1985,and later found fame with the gangsta rap group N.W.A. The group popularized explicit lyrics in hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s,Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk,a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation and slow,heavy production.
N.W.A was an American hip hop group formed in Compton,California. They were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre,and the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music.
O'Shea Jackson Sr.,better known as Ice Cube,is an American rapper,songwriter,actor,and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popularity,and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990),Death Certificate (1991),and The Predator (1992) were all critically and commercially successful. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.
Death Row Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C.,Dr. Dre,Suge Knight,and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre,Snoop Dogg,Tha Dogg Pound,and 2Pac,during the 1990s. At its peak,Death Row was making over US $150 million a year.
Delmar Drew Arnaud,known professionally as Daz Dillinger or simply Daz,is an American rapper and record producer. As a member of Death Row Records in the early 1990s,he is credited with the label in pioneering West Coast hip hop and gangsta rap for mainstream audiences. Alongside Kurupt,he formed the hip hop duo tha Dogg Pound in 1992,with whom he has released eight albums.
Tha Dogg Pound is an American hip hop duo made up of West Coast rappers Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. They were signed to Death Row Records in their early careers and were key to the label's success.
Murder Was the Case is a 1994 short film and soundtrack album starring and performed by Snoop Doggy Dogg. The 18 minute film was directed by Dr. Dre and Fab Five Freddy and chronicles the fictional death of Snoop Dogg and his resurrection after making a deal with the Devil. The film's title comes from Snoop's song of the same name from his debut album,Doggystyle,which had been released a year earlier.
Priest Joseph Brooks,is a hip hop producer and rapper from Long Beach,California. He is a member of the DPGC.
Tha Doggfather is the second studio album by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on November 12,1996,by Death Row and Interscope Records. After the success of his debut album Doggystyle (1993),Snoop was arrested and charged with murder and in 1995,spent time preparing for the case that went to trial. On February 20,1996,he was cleared of all charges and began working on his second album without Dr. Dre providing work as a record producer. This was Snoop's final album on Death Row until 2022,when he acquired the rights to the Death Row trademarks from MNRK Music Group,releasing BODR the same year. This would also be his last album under the moniker Snoop Doggy Dogg before it was shorted to Snoop Dogg. Recording sessions took place from February 1996 to October 1996,with Suge Knight as the executive producer on the album,alongside the additional production from several record producers such as DJ Pooh,Daz Dillinger,Soopafly and L.T. Hutton;as well as guest appearances from Charlie Wilson,Kurupt,Tray Dee and Warren G,among others.
"Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')",or as a single titled "Dre Day",is a song by American rapper and record producer Dr. Dre featuring fellow American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg,released in May 1993 as the second single from Dre's debut solo album,The Chronic (1992). "Dre Day" was a diss track targeting mainly Dre's former groupmate Eazy-E,who led their onetime rap group N.W.A and who,along with N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller,owned N.W.A's record label,Ruthless Records. In "Dre Day" and in its music video,which accuse Eazy of cheating N.W.A's artists,Dre and Snoop degrade and menace him. Also included are disses retorting earlier disses on songs by Miami rapper Luke Campbell,by New York rapper Tim Dog,and by onetime N.W.A. member Ice Cube,although Dre,while still an N.W.A member,had helped diss Cube first. After "Dre Day," a number of further diss records were exchanged.
"What Would You Do" is the debut single from Death Row Records duo Tha Dogg Pound,released in 1995 as a double A-side,paired with Nate Dogg's "One More Day". The single was released from the soundtrack Murder Was the Case alongside songs by Snoop Doggy Dogg,DJ Quik,Dr. Dre,Ice Cube,Sam Sneed and other Death Row-affiliated artists. The song also appears on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack and the soundtrack for Entourage,and is the only song from that soundtrack which does not appear in the movie Natural Born Killers.
Sam Sneed is an American producer and rapper. He originally got his start working as a producer for K-Solo and the Hit Squad.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was a dispute between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States,especially from the mid-1990s. A focal point of the rivalry was the feud between East Coast–based rapper the Notorious B.I.G. signed by Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label,Bad Boy Records,and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur signed by Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label,Death Row Records. The feud culminated in the murders of both rappers in drive-by shootings within six months of each other;both murders remain unsolved. The rivalry ended with a "peace" summit in 1997 at the behest of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
"The Next Episode" is a single by American rapper-producer Dr. Dre,released in 2000 as the third single from his second studio album,2001 (1999). The track features Snoop Dogg,Kurupt,and Nate Dogg,but only Snoop Dogg is credited. It is a sequel to Dre and Snoop's famous single "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" from the former's debut album,The Chronic.
"Keep Their Heads Ringin'" is a song by American rapper Dr. Dre featuring vocalist Nanci Fletcher. It was the only single released from the soundtrack of the 1995 movie Friday,starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. Although the soundtrack was released on Priority Records,Death Row Records still owns the masters to the song. In the United States,the song topped the Hot Rap Tracks chart and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified gold by the RIAA on May 10,1995,and sold 700,000 copies domestically. It interpolates "Funk You Up" by The Sequence from their 1980 single released under Sugar Hill. F. Gary Gray directed the music video for the song.
J-Flexx is an American former rapper and producer of Death Row Records.
Death Row Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album and second double album released by Death Row Records. Released on November 26,1996,the thirty-three song compilation contains hits by former and then-current Death Row artists as well as previously unreleased tracks and remixes. The album peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum on August 12,1999.
"U Better Recognize" is Sam Sneed's first and only single while he was on Death Row Records. The B-side was "Come When I Call" by Danny Boy.
The 1995 Source Awards were held at the Paramount Theater in New York City on August 3,1995. The awards show was one of the most consequential and infamous events in the history of hip-hop. The show escalated tensions between the East and West Side hip-hop communities,thereby likely catalysing the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls within the following two years. Televised nationally,the show also worsened America's moral panic about the influence of rap and hip-hop on its youth.
