How great is this?

Tupac Shakur rapping a verse from "Keep Ya Head Up" to a classroom. Charisma, skill, heart, authority.

The most celebrated gangsta rap record label sold recently for $24 million. The label that spawned such hits records as “Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic,” Tupac Shukaur’s “All Eyez On Me,” and Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle,” is now owned by Global Music Group. Picked up at a bankruptcy auction, the once proud label is now a new toy for a relatively unknown music company.

Death Row’s past owner, Suge “I got knocked out with one punch” Knight was forced to file for bankruptcy when the label collapsed. Loaded with debt, a federal judge appointed a bankruptcy trustee to take over the label and ready it for auction.

According to Global Music CEO Anthony Davi Jr., the label is going to try and find the most profitable ways to use the vault of rap tunes and that they should have an announcement soon.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Karma can be a real bitch. Live like a thug and you stay broke like one too.

My question is why Dre did not take his supposed millions and buy back his catalog?All of those whispers of the couple who purchased the Death Row catalog, being a front for Dre and Snoop sounds bogus to the kid. That would be a straight power move for Dre who can't seem to make hits anymore.

Could you imagine Detox with some new Pac vocals? Hip Hop lost.

via Breitbart

NEW YORK (AP) - Death Row Records, the hip-hop label that released seminal gangster rap albums by Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, has been auctioned for $24 million.The New York-based Global Music Group Inc. said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday that on June 24 it purchased Death Row, including its enviable back catalog and current artist contracts.

The purchase concluded the roller-coaster saga of one of hip-hop's most famous labels. Under owner Marion "Suge" Knight, Death Row sold tens of millions of albums in the heyday of early `90s rap—its artists often flashing the spoils of the high life in music videos—before collapsing in debt and mismanagement.

A former couple, Lydia and Michael Harris, claimed they helped found the label, and won a judgment of $107 million, which they tried to collect in 2006. Unable to pay, Death Row and Knight filed for bankruptcy in April 2006, claiming debts of more than $100 million.

In 2006, a federal judge ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Death Row Records, saying the label had undergone gross mismanagement. Knight's decision to file for bankruptcy protection staved off a move by the court to appoint someone to take control of the record label and his assets.

Global Music Group, an independent label, takes ownership of albums including Dr. Dre's "The Chronic," Shakur's "All Eyez on Me" and Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle."

Other assets are believed to include unreleased material from Shakur that could result in another posthumous release from the rapper.

Knight has a history of legal problems. He was convicted of assault in 1992 and placed on probation, then jailed for five years in 1996 for violating that probation.

He was returned to jail in 2003 for again violating parole, this time by punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub. He was released the next year.

In 2006 under questioning from his creditors, Knight denied having money tucked away in foreign countries. His bank account then contained just $11.

Global Music CEO Anthony Davi, Jr., said the label planned to get "the best economic results of the catalog and provide long term stewardship of the artists' work." The company plans to later announce details of its plans for Death Row.

(image via PhotoBucket)

Death Row Records, the hip-hop label that released seminal gangster rap albums by Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, has been auctioned for $24 million.

The New York-based Global Music Group Inc. said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday that on June 24 it purchased Death Row, including its enviable back catalog and current artist contracts.

The purchase concluded the roller-coaster saga of one of hip-hop's most famous labels. Under owner Marion "Suge" Knight, Death Row sold tens of millions of albums in the heyday of early `90s rap — its artists often flashing the spoils of the high life in music videos — before collapsing in debt and mismanagement.

A former couple, Lydia and Michael Harris, claimed they helped found the label, and won a judgment of $107 million, which they tried to collect in 2006. Unable to pay, Death Row and Knight filed for bankruptcy in April 2006, claiming debts of more than $100 million.

In 2006, a federal judge ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Death Row Records, saying the label had undergone gross mismanagement. Knight's decision to file for bankruptcy protection staved off a move by the court to appoint someone to take control of the record label and his assets.

Global Music Group, an independent label, takes ownership of albums including Dr. Dre's "The Chronic," Shakur's "All Eyez on Me" and Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle."

Other assets are believed to include unreleased material from Shakur that could result in another posthumous release from the rapper.

Knight has a history of legal problems. He was convicted of assault in 1992 and placed on probation, then jailed for five years in 1996 for violating that probation.

He was returned to jail in 2003 for again violating parole, this time by punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub. He was released the next year.

In 2006 under questioning from his creditors, Knight denied having money tucked away in foreign countries. His bank account then contained just $11.

Global Music CEO Anthony Davi, Jr., said the label planned to get "the best economic results of the catalog and provide long term stewardship of the artists' work." The company plans to later announce details of its plans for Death Row.

Ok, so what happens now!? Who is still on Death Row? Does anybody know...?

[Source]

Fundada em 1991, por Marion Suge Knight, a Death Roll já abrigou artistas como Snoop Dogg, MC Hammer, Bow Wow, o próprio Tupac Shakur e Dr Dre, que foi co-fundador da empresa. Em maio desde ano, entrou em leilão por falência, declarada após quitar dívida de US$ 104 milhões à Lydia Harris, mulher de um dos primeiros investidores.

Tesouro

Em fevereiro deste ano, foi anunciado que maior parte dos ativos da Death Roll são relativos a Tupac Shakur, tanto antigo quanto inédito. Por deter tal material do artista de rap que mais vendeu discos no mundo (75 milhões de cópias), o conteúdo da gravadora é uma espécie de tesouro cultural e comercial.

No entanto, o lançamento de qualquer conteúdo requer aprovação da Evergreen Copyrights, que detém os direitos do catálogo, e dos familiares de Shakur. Esperançosamente, David Schulfhof, co-CEO da Evergreen disse à Billboard Music que "aprova todos usos" do material e que "se eles forem espertos, entrarão em contato conosco logo".

For more here.

A bankruptcy judge ordered that Death Row Records formerly owned by Marion Suge Knight be put up on the auction block to be sold. Well yesterday Global Music Group president Susan Berg dropped the $24million and walked away new owner of the label and its most prized possessions, Snoop, Dre, and Tupac's masters plus another 20 unreleased joints by him. And we still say after all of this, Karma still might not be done with this cat.

Fifteen years ago, John Singleton released the second film in his "hood trilogy" with the tender, road love story, "Poetic Justice.

Released July 23, 1993, the film told the story of a young woman, who witnesses the murder of her first and only boyfriend. Justice (Janet Jackson) decides to forget about college and become a South Central Los Angeles hairdresser. Avoiding friends, the only way for her to cope with her depression is by composing beautiful poetry. On her way to a convention in Oakland, she is forced to ride with an independent-minded postal worker, Lucky (Tupac Shakur) whom she has not gotten along with in the past. After various arguments between them and their friends, they start to discover that their thoughts on violence, socially and domestically, are the same. Justice may finally feel that she is not as alone as before.

Making only a modest $27.5 million, the film was Jackson's vehicle and she gave a solid performance. But it was Shakur whose sensitive and tender performance that really made the film work. It was this film that made many in Hollywood take notice that he possessed significant range to really be a player in this business.

Nestled between "Boyz 'N the Hood" and "Baby Boy," Singleton three films introduced many filmgoers to his neighborhood and city through his intimate and personal lenses.

Yea I'm all about Pac today...but I thought I was alone on this song...I LOVED The Show Soundtrack! There were only two of us that had it and oh, did we kill it! lol

We ask what other gangsta rappers she liked. And that’s when Keys drives a steamroller through the wall.

“‘Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other,” she says, putting down the sandwich. “‘Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.”

Come again? A ploy by whom?

She looks at us like it’s the dumbest question in the world. “The government.”

Oh, my! While I love the Notorious B.I.G., I didn't realize that he was a pawn, or perhaps even a player, in a deadly, genocidal game.

But wait!

...Alicia says Tupac and Biggie were essentially assassinated, their beefs stoked “by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing.”

OK, it all makes sense now. Biggie never wrote a political lyric in his life so far as I know, but apparently, he was not a pawn. If he was going to make the jump from "Juicy" to leading the Revolution with Defense Minister Tupac at his side, he must have been on to his government Puppet Masters, working undercover, accepting their filthy money and record contracts and playing along with their gangsta games so that he could destroy them from the inside before leading the Revolution from without.

Nothing in "Big Poppa" could have given him away. Nothing in "#!*@ You Tonight" could have tipped off this sinister cabal that he was on to them. Indeed, he did everything to cover his tracks by telling the world that he had "Mo Money Mo Problems" and hence would be too preoccupied to do any rabble-rousing.

So how did they find out, and decide it was time for him be liquidated?

He must have been betrayed.

But by who? Puff Daddy is the obvious choice--too obvious, I think. Plus there can be no doubt that the pain that shines through every note of "I'll Be Missing You" is all too real.

Biggie had a lot of friends and associates. It could be just about anybody. Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony; Lil' Kim; Too $hort--it can be maddening running through all of the possibilities.

However, one possibility sticks out.

Who worked with Biggie on Life After Death, right before he was assassinated?

Who has had legal troubles for his entire career, but always seems to slip out of them?

Who was acquitted of 14 counts just the other day, to the astonishment of everyone?

During the "#!*@ You Tonight" sessions, Biggie must have been tired. Late at night, alone in the studio with someone he thought he could trust, Biggie slipped. The weight of the world on his shoulders, he confided to his duet partner his secret plans to lead the Revolution.

His duet partner knew that certain incriminating videotapes were out there and eventually one would be made public. He was scared for his own skin.

He dropped a dime.

That's right. R. Kelly betrayed Biggie like Judas betrayed Jesus. Instead of thirty pieces of silver, he was given a guarantee by The Government that he would never have to pay his debt to society for his endless parade of perverted behaviors.

The cleanup crew stepped in. And in a hail of gunfire, the world was robbed of the next great black leader.

"I Believe I Can Fly"? Oh, yes, you can fly all right, R. Kelly. Just like you flew the coop, because you sang like a bird.

Playa hater.

For this post Click Here:

He’s remembered for his tragic death more than his fulfilled life. But today marks what would have been Tupac Shakur’s 37th birthday. Hip-hop historian Davey D takes a minute to remember the life of this Outlaw.

Rollin down the street smokin’ indo and sippin’ on Gin and juice didn’t do Snoop Dogg’s wife justice. Shante Broadus, the rapper’s wife of 11 years, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence over the weekend. Police pulled her car over, booked her, and gave her notice to appear in court.

Ice Cube is known for his legendary ice grill and his bodyguards guards seem to have the same bite. Cube’s muscle flexed on photographers outside of the Los Angeles Airport. Luckily for the snappers, today was a good day. No one got hurt.

As a young man, he battled greatly with the pressures of success, money, fame, and the street life that defined his culture. Growing up, I could hear in his lyrics and see on his face the struggles between good and evil that went on with his soul. Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 and died on September 13, 1996. He was only 25 when he died but he seemed to have lived a much longer life.

Here is a clip that I wanted to share with everyone that shows a bit of that struggle within himself despite the high level of wisdom and maturity that he possessed at an early age:

Ray Note: Seth and I had the honor of meeting and having dinner with Afeni Shakur during our days at Temple University. She is a very kind and generous person who boldly shares her mother wit with the younger generation. After speaking with her in great depth, there is no wonder how Tupac became the man that he was.

Afeni now heads the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Please visit the site for more information or to support the foundation.

Σαν σήμερα ο Tupac Shakur θα γιόρταζε τα γενέθλια του. Εμείς απλά θέλουμε να του ευχηθούμε Χρόνια Πολλά και το αναφέρουμε γιατί δεν τον ξεχνάμε ποτέ . Σήμερα θα ήταν 37 χρονών.

*Metalseek: A search engine for ALL your heavy metal web content needs. [simplespark]

*Tupac Shakur would have been 37 today. Also, he apparently runs a restaurant in an Indonesian food court.

*Esquire collects the best t-shirts at Bonnaroo. Also, Esquire has a lot to learn about retarded ads. I am crying. On the inside. And outside.

*Slate examines network news shows' theme music. [snarkmarket]

*Miley Cyrus has been posting pics of herself hanging out with a BOY on her MySpace page. Uh oh. [buzzfeed]

*The New York Times' review of the Hold Steady's new album, "Stay Positive": "[a] lean, unstoppable fourth album."

*Video: New Mates of State video, for "My Only Offer." HAS PARENTING KILLED THIS BAND? [getty images]

*Local: Hyder Ali is a Minneapolis hip-hop group. I'm just saying.