Snoop Dogg Announces Acquisition of Death Row Records

B.O.D.R., Snoop Dogg's first album for his  

newly acquired label drops on Feb. 11.

Thirty years after signing the deal with Death Row Records that launched him to superstardom at age 21, Snoop Dogg is returning to the seminal west coast hip-hop label as its boss.

The rapper announced he acquired the Death Row Records brand from MNRK Music Group, which is controlled by private equity funds managed by global investment firm Blackstone, for an undisclosed sum on Wednesday.

"It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the
founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me," the artist said of the move which puts him in charge of the once prestigious label founded by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, the D.O.C. and Dick Griffey in 1992. "... I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”

Snoop Dogg has pursued ownership of the label, which reigned supreme over rap for a stretch in the 1990s, thanks in part to releases from himself and labelmates Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, for quite some time.

Just last year he told the hosts of the "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" podcast that all of Death Row — which filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was acquired at auction three years later for $18 million by WIDEawake Entertainment and eventually landing at Blackstone and MNRK — should be in his hands.

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“I should be running that sh—t. Just like I’m [in] a position at Def Jam, Death Row means more to me because I helped create that. I think they should give me that and let me run that shit with the merchandise out, with the music all over the world. [Add] some new West Coast acts.”
To celebrate Snoop Dogg is releasing a new album, B.O.D.R., an acronym that stands for “Back on Death Row," on Friday.

Beyoncé Biopic Ballad 'Be Alive' Earns Singer First Oscar Nomination

Kristopher Harris via Wikimedia Commons

Music megastar Beyoncé has 28 Grammy Awards, more than any other performer in history, and tied with legendary producer Quincy Jones for the most overall — but Tuesday the 40-year-old singer found a new frontier to conquer.

Her song, "Be Alive," which she co-wrote with songwriter Dixon for the Will Smith-led biopic "King Richard" about the life of Venus and Serena Williams' father, Richard Williams, earned the artist her first Academy Award nomination.

The nomination was one of six Oscar nods for the movie announced by actor-comedian Leslie Jordan and actor, CEO and producer Tracee Ellis Ross Tuesday via a global live stream as they revealed the nominees for the 94th edition of the Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Will Smith as Richard Williams.

The moment may have been bittersweet for Beyoncé, whose husband Jay-Z didn't make the cut in the same category with "Guns Go Bang," from the black cowboy Netflix epic “The Harder They Fall," but it was well deserved according to the daughter of the film's subject Serena Williams.

 

"When the film came out, there was no other person that could do this song except for Beyoncé. I feel like we've had a similar path in our lives. We've trained since an early age to reach a goal," the tennis pro shared while on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in November, about approaching Beyoncé, whom she's collaborated with before about doing the original song for the movie. "For us it was really only one answer, and she embraced that. There was no doubt in her mind that it belonged to her as well. The original song is amazing, and I love it."

Check out the video below for the complete list of nominations or go to oscars.com.

  

Watch: The Queen Bee Impersonates Adele on 'Carpool Karaoke'

Adele's rendition of Monster, while appearing on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" during a “Carpool Karaoke” segment in 2016, is the stuff of legend.

Both viewers and the musically-inclined host were left impressed by the 15-time Grammy Award winner's effortless flow and familiarity with the subject matter.

At the time the Queen Bee herself even co-signed the performance. She tweeted, "Adele is mad ratchet. I can’t take her #UK #WutsGood,” with the laughing emoji, seeming impressed with the take on her verse.

This past Thursday (Feb. 3) it was Minaj's turn to return the favor. While appearing on the talk show, she did her own take on the superstar chanteuse that was just as stunning.

“First of all, it’s Adele. Second of all, it’s ‘Monster.’ You guys made such an amazing freaking tag team,” Minaj said about the Adele impersination. “That made my day, my year. I probably got a thousand phone calls about that one thing.”

Nicki then got into character as Adele and spoke with a British accent.

“All right, in order for me to channel Adele, I sort of have to think like a black lady in London, right?” Nicki said while getting into the accent.

Adele is mad ratchet. I can't take her😂 #UK #WutsGood

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) January 14, 2016

She continued, “Because the thing is, normally, everybody knows … my British accent is sort of like a posh white lady. A rich white lady, right? But with Adele, I sort of have, like, to transform. She might have used to sell crack. Maybe she used to be hustling nickels and dimes in the hood and then she got her big break.”

Watch the entire video below: