By Jonathan Landrum Jr., Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Snoop Dogg has taken over a popular record label that launched his stellar career.
The rapper-mogul acquired Death Row Records' brand from MNRK Music Group, which is controlled by a private equity fund managed by Blackstone, the i nvestment firm announced Wednesday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Snoop Dogg said he's excited about acquiring the label's brand.
"I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value," the 50-year-old Snoop Dogg said in a statement. "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."
Snoop Dogg found his springboard to success during the 1990s while on Death Row Records. The label was founded in 1992 by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, the D.O.C. and Dick Griffey in the immediate aftermath of the breakup of N.W.A.
David Kestnbaum, a senior managing director at Blackstone, said he's looking forward to seeing Snoop Dogg at the helm of Death Row.
"We are excited to put the Death Row Records brand back in the hands of a legend like Snoop Dogg," Kestnbaum said. "We wish him success in the years ahead as the brand moves forward under his leadership and vision."
The label's records, including Dre's first solo album "The Chronic" and Snoop Dogg's debut "Doggystyle," are considered classics of the hip-hop genre that defined an era.
Tupac Shakur became the label's star artist later in the '90s before he was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996 while riding in a car driven by Knight. Shakur's death brought on decline for the label, which led to decades of decline for Knight himself.
Knight lost Death Row after it went into bankruptcy in 2006. He served time in prison and had a knack for being near violence that eventually caught up with him.
"Snoop is clearly the executive to take Death Row into its next 30 years," said Chris Taylor, president and CEO of MNRK Music Group.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More