Death Row Records Is Now Owned By Hasbro

Death Row Records is now owned by … Hasbro, the global toy company. The legendary record label was, of course, created in 1991 by Suge Knight, Dr. Dre, and The D.O.C., and quickly became a worldwide powerhouse after classic albums by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, and others. But Dre left, Tupac died, Suge is STILL in jail, and the label crumbled.

In 2006, Suge and Death Row filed for bankruptcy and ultimately Death Row was auctioned off to WIDEawake, an entertainment development company, for $18 million. Under WIDEawake, Death Row released some previously unreleased tracks that they still owned, but in 2012, the company that owned WIDEawake filed for bankruptcy, leading to Canadian entertainment company Entertainment One (also known as eOne) buying the rights to Death Row’s catalog.

And now, Entertainment One has been bought out by Hasbro for $4 billion, and along with it, whatever is left of Death Row Records.

Hasbro, of course, owns some of the most well-known brands in the world including Transformers, Monopoly, G.I. Joe, and more. Their primary interest in eOne was to acquire brands like Peppa Pig.

What, if anything, Hasbro plans to do with Death Row remains to be seen.