Source: Ronald Martinez / Getty
Iconic Death Row Records albums The Chronic & Doggystyle have disappeared from all of the streaming platforms over the weekend, fueling speculation over the label’s moves after its catalog was acquired by Snoop Dogg.
According to Billboard, many noticed the absence of Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking debut and Snoop’s own seven-time platinum album release from popular music streaming services over the past weekend. The other Death Row album that was unavailable is Dogg Food, the 1995 debut album by Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. The CD and vinyl versions of those albums are also absent from the Death Row Records website.
However, the Death Row albums done by 2Pac, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, remain available on the services as they’re not part of the catalog that was obtained by Snoop earlier this year. When contacted by press outlets, representatives for Snoop as well as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music did not issue a response.
The “Doggfather” rapper has been avidly talking about his plans once he acquired the catalog from MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music), which was managed by the Blackstone group. Those plans apparently involve NFTs, and wanting to make the new Death Row label an NFT label.
He did release a collaborative effort with music startup Sound XYZ to release a special mix of Death Row tracks on the web3 platform on Monday (March 14th). According to Sound XYZ, the initial release of 1,000 NFTs of that mix quickly sold out and led to their website crashing. A secondary release market was being planned, according to reps for the startup.
Sources close to the situation do claim that The Chronic and Doggystyle will return to streaming services as they’re major earners on those platforms. The catch is, those same sources say it will happen on an unspecified date later this year.
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