“An explosive account of one of the most fascinating and controversial periods in music history.
It details the rise and fall of Suge Knight’s empire in page-turning detail…offering brand new revelations from this combustible era.”
From the makers of the documentary film Welcome To Death Row comes a book of the same name, detailing the raw, uncut, high-risk quest of telling the most dangerous story in the history of the music business.
Featuring exclusive interviews, transcribed archival footage, and explosive commentary from the most powerful voices who sold nearly 50 million records and built a hip hop music empire to the tune of $750 million. Voices like Suge Knight, Easy E, Dr Dre, D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and more.
Without Death Row Records, there would be no Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, or even Jimmy Iovine. After years of making music, the collaboration between Dre and Iovine led to the creation of the Beats by Dre headphones brand, which rapidly grew into a multi-billion dollar enterprise, later acquired by Apple, and led to the recent unveiling of Apple Music, with Iovine at its helm.
Facing relentless death threats, music industry bullying, threatened litigation, financial extortion and street gang intimidation, Welcome To Death Row chronicles how Xenon Pictures, led by director S. Leigh Savidge and producers Steve Housden and Jeff Scheftel, navigated a surreal world comprised of Crips & Bloods, crooked lawyers, cocaine kingpins, ‘gangsta’ rappers and thuggish music executives. Their mission was to tell an untold story, but they soon came to realize their digging began to expose a group of people from humble beginnings who became untouchable millionaires capable of doing and saying anything they wanted.
If you’ve already seen the film, the book will open your eyes to the entire story. If you haven’t, you’re in the right place, because this is the vastly expanded story, with compelling and incendiary accounts not heard in the documentary film. The untold stories revealed in this book, include details of how Death Row Records may have been initially funded by a Colombian drug lord for $3.5 million, a debt that was never repaid. The book also includes expanded interview excerpts with over 60 former Death Row rappers, promoters, music executives, producers, managers, publicists, lawyers and drug dealers – all eyewitnesses to the label’s phenomenal success, internal battles and violence, and its inevitable crash.
At one point, Suge Knight was the most powerful figure in the hip hop world. It's safe to say that you don't get to the...Posted by Welcome to Death Row on Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The Most Dangerous Story In American Music, told in the words of those who were there.
A few of the elements of the book:
— Details of numerous visits with incarcerated cocaine dealer Michael Harris —original founder of Death Row Records— who attempted to wrest control of the documentary away from Xenon.
— Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine’s alleged involvement with Harris and his fears of being included in the film.
– An odd late-night meeting with O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden, who had formed a brief alliance with Michael Harris’ wife Lydia.
– A thug-turned-music executive threatening an interviewee (with a smuggled handgun) —after the interviewee had mentioned details about the Tupac shooting on-screen.
.@icecube's lyrics/words have inspired millions. Will #StraightOuttaCompton do the same? http://t.co/dE1EG2iHJj pic.twitter.com/pzqK1qPVfY
— Welcome To Death Row (@WelcomeDeathRow) August 14, 2015
Michael “Harry O” Harris, whose cocaine empire funded the fledgling label.
Jimmy Iovine and Marion “Suge” Knight in happier times.
Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls’ wife, Faith Evens. Their alleged dalliance, bragged about by Tupac on his records, would have deadly consequences.
