Some savvy West Coast rap fans have noticed several albums in Death Row Records catalog are mysteriously missing from digital streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify (with the exception of Tupac Shakur’s albums).
On Sunday morning (March 13), a Reddit thread on the HipHopHeads forum pointed out albums such as Dr. Dre’s 1992 debut The Chronic (which Dre still owns), Snoop Dogg’s 1993 solo effort Doggystyle and Tha Dogg Pound’s 1995 project Dogg Food were no longer available on streaming platforms, begging the obvious question: What happened?
ALL DEATH ROW ALBUMS HAVE BEEN REMOVED OFF SPOTIFY WHY
— Dobson ? (@ByDobson) March 13, 2022
Snoop Dogg acquired the Death Row Records brand last month, and he’s been toying with the idea of making the iconic imprint a (non-fungible token) NFT label. Less than a week after acquiring the brand from MNRK Music Group, he revealed his plans to bring Death Row into the metaverse during a Clubhouse conversation.
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“Death Row will be an NFT label,” he said.“We will be putting out artists through the metaverse. Just like we broke the industry when we was the first independent to be major, I want to be the first major in the metaverse.”
Several people speculated the albums are simply going through licensing changes, while others were furious Snoop is even thinking about the NFT option.
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“This page is also completely blank lol,” one person wrote alongside a link to the label’s Apple Music page. “Guess Snoop’s purchase will be changing a few things before the albums go back up.”
Another added, “So, thanks to Snoop Dogg promoting NFT shit and making Death Row Records an NFT record label, all the releases except 2Pac’s, will be removed from Spotify and so on. This is actually bullshit, that means no more Dre’s Chronic on Spotify. NFTs need to die, fucking stupid movement.”
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As for Snoop Dogg, he hasn’t publicly addressed the Houdini act — at least not yet. But he’s already getting flak for it on social media. On Friday (March 11), Snoop was promoting a project called Death Row Mix: Vol. 1 when someone hopped in his mentions with, “Bruh I can’t listen to Gin and Juice on Spotify no more. What happen??”
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Check out more of the reactions below.
Bruh I can't listen to Gin and Juice on spotify no more… What happen????
— Joseph Salmon (@JosephS15126861) March 12, 2022
i love snoop dogg but he just took all of death row records shit off of every platform to turn it into a fucking nft label
— b (@trdarthbob) March 13, 2022
no wait it def was im reading abt it apparently Snoop bought Death Row Records back trying to revive the label so maybe its stuck in some sort of the limbo bc Dre still owns the rights to it but has no stake in the label
— des ⛷️ (@dezzyyXX) March 12, 2022
First thing Snoop Dogg does as owner of Death Row Records is drop an amazing album. Second thing he does is take all past Death Row albums off of streaming services. Bad business move. NFTs suck. pic.twitter.com/S5HD9x0xHy
— Blake Holmer ?? (@BlakeHolmer1) March 13, 2022
So, thanks to Snoop Dogg promoting NFT shit and making Death Row Records an NFT record label, all the releases except 2Pac's, will be removed from Spotify and so on. This is actually bullshit, that means no more Dre's Chronic on Spotify. NFTs need to die, fucking stupid movement.
— WYRRUS (@iamwyrrus) March 13, 2022
Snoop bought Death Row Records and for some reason they got rid of The Chronic and Doggystyle. Now you can only listen to them if you already had the songs on a playlist. And some songs (e.g. Serial Killa and Fuk wit dre day) are just completely unavaliable. pic.twitter.com/9bogbxTq4U
— Screeeee96 (@screeeee96) March 13, 2022
LOL can’t believe Snoop removed all Death Row Records albums (excluding 2Pac’s) from streaming to make it an NFT label. Stupidest decision ever. No more Doggystyle or The Chronic (for now)
With this and DONDA 2 etc I feel like pirating music is gonna be the norm again. Nostalgic
— Harvey Gold (@HarveyGoldMusic) March 13, 2022
if they move all the death row records to the meta verse or make them nfts or some stupid shit like that i hope it fails miserably
— Owen? (@mac_intern) March 13, 2022
People were so hyped that Snoop Dogg bought out Death Row Records, just for him to take major albums off steaming services in an attempt to turn them into NFT’s LMAO
— Phil (@FilipmyCup) March 13, 2022
who knew snoop would somehow run death row records worse than suge knight with this NFT album shit
— moo (@jeffmukau) March 13, 2022
This the saddest day ever for me bc 80% of the music I have in my playlists is from death row records which means 80% of my music in my playlists are gone
— Lemonayyee (@Lemonayyee) March 13, 2022
