Snoop Dogg’s 30-year career came full circle when he acquired Death Row Records, the label that signed him in 1992.
Snoop Dogg has outdone himself. He was already set to make a bold statement during the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show alongside fellow hip-hop icons Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. But four days before game day, Snoop acquired Death Row Records — the label Dr. Dre co-founded, and even more poetically, the label where Snoop began his now unrivaled career.
Of course, just as every other move that has cemented the man born Calvin Broadus as an eternal pop culture icon, this reunion was merely a matter of time in the West Coast rapper’s eyes.
After being named an executive consultant for Def Jam last summer, Snoop explained to GQ‘s Elliott Wilson why Death Row was his original end-game, saying, in part:
“I went looking for this job because I wanted to be the CEO of Death Row Records and basically take over the merchandise and rerelease their music, do documentaries, and possibly do my life story. But then eOne Music [which owned Death Row Music until April 2021] didn’t want to give me action at it. So then I asked could I buy it? And they acted like they didn’t want to sell it. Then they sold it [to the Blackstone Group], and the man in me was hurt, but the businessman in me said, Okay, I got to find something else to do to take this energy of mine that I’m holding on to. I knew that Def Jam didn’t have a CEO, and I didn’t want to be the CEO, but I wanted to be in the position of consulting and creativity.“
Snoop’s Digital Footprint
- Instagram followers: 67.9 million
- Twitter followers: 19.5 million
- Spotify monthly listeners: 21.7 million
- Acting credits: 261
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Musical Milestones
- Grammy nominations: 16
- Platinum records: 15
- Top-10 Billboard Hot 100 singles: 11
- No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 singles: 3
- No. 1 albums: 3
Business Highlights
- Founded the skateboard company Snoop Dogg Board Company in 2005
- Launched Leafs by Snoop in 2015, with eight original cannabis strains — and then pursued a partnership with Canopy Growth
- Sold 250,000 copies of cookbook From Crook to Cook in 2020 alone, despite it being published in October 2018
- Closed in on $100 million for his Casa Verde Capital‘s second investment fund in December 2020
- Starred alongside unlikely BFF Martha Stewart on Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Party Challenge, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding host for a reality or reality competition program
- Turned his experience coaching youth football team Snoop’s Steelers — playing within his Snoop Youth Football League — into the Netflix docuseries Coach Snoop
- Dipped into sports commentary with a job as an NFL analyst for Peacock
- As reported in January, brand-name hot dogs appropriately named “Snoop Doggs” are in the works
- Filed a trademark for Snoop Doggie Doggs, indicating plans to sell pet products in the future
Now that the 50-year-old mogul has willed his Death Row dream into existence, his first move toward reviving his metaphorical childhood home is releasing album B.O.R.D. (“Bacc on Death Row”) on Friday. (Next, we beg for him to sign Stewart to a recording contract.)
As relayed by The Hollywood Reporter, the album drop is in partnership with blockchain vehicle Gala Games and “its newly launched division, Gala Music, will be home to three bonus tracks from B.O.D.R.” (Death Row previously entered the NFT space last May).
Snoop’s “Stash Box” NFTs hit the Gala Music store shortly after news of his Death Row acquisition hit, fittingly at 4:20 p.m. PST. Aside from the obvious marijuana-scented relevance, it serves as further proof that Snoop has always been right on time.
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