Applause for Snoop Dogg’s acquisition of the iconic rap music label Death Row Records has seemingly been drowned out by boos from music lovers who discovered the disappearance of some of the label’s most popular projects. The West Coast emcee is now being accused of ordering the removal for what are feared to be the company’s shift toward an NFT approach.
Fans of artists from the legendary firm, whose roster included Snoop, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, and more were furious when they could no longer find albums like Snoop’s debut album “Doggystyle” or Dre’s solo debut effort “The Chronic” on streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify.
The news comes less than one week after the 50-year-old announced on the popular group discussion app Clubhouse that “Death Row will be a NFT label.” He added, “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.”
Many critics took to their social media pages where they aired out their frustrations over Snoop’s decision, including one Twitter user who wrote, “So, thanks to Snoop Dogg promoting NFT sh-t and making Death Row Records an NFT record label, all the releases except 2Pac’s, will be removed from Spotify and so on.” They added, “This is actually bullsh-t, that means no more Dre’s Chronic on Spotify. NFTs need to die, f-cking stupid movement.”
Another person commented, “very cool of snoop dogg to turn Death Row into an NFT label and take all their legendary albums off of streaming services for no reason.” They added. “I love not being able to listen to my favorite classic rap albums. I hate music actually so this is just f-cking awesome thank you snoop dogg.”
“Since DoggySyle is taken off Spotify it be looking like I need to use my CDs again,” wrote a third person.
Snoop acquired the label from MNRK Music Group last month. At the time he noted that he was “thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value.” Snoop has yet to address the missing albums.
