Welcome to Death Row: The Uncensored History of the Rise & Fall of Death Row Records in the Words of Those Who Were There.
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Welcome to Death Row: The Uncensored History of the Rise & Fall of Death Row Records in the Words of Those Who Were There.
“An explosive account of one of the most fascinating and controversial periods in music history. Details the rise and fall of Suge Knight's empire in page-turning detail…..offering brand new revelations from this combustible era." –Ben Westhoff, The Guardian UK
Death Row Records exploded on the music scene in 1993 with a “gangster rap" sound that took world by storm. Yet despite its unprecedented success with stars such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, it quickly unraveled in a firestorm of rivalries, greed, violence and scrutiny by the media and the government as Marion “Suge" Knight's unconventional business methods increasingly mirrored the violent, hard-edged themes of its music.
Based on the award winning documentary film, WELCOME TO DEATH ROW is the complete and untold story of this unique enterprise, told entirely in the words of the people who were there.
This is the story of the rise and fall of the notorious Death Row Records label, told as an oral history through first-hand accounts of the people that lived it. It is vastly expanded with compelling (and sometimes incendiary) accounts not heard in the documentary film. The text also incorporates the story of the high-risk quest to complete the film in the face of relentless death threats, music industry bullying, threatened litigation, financial extortion, and street gang intimidation.
Called “the most dangerous story in the history of the music business" WELCOME TO DEATH ROW chronicles how director Savidge and producers Steve Housden & Jeff Scheftel navigated a surreal world comprised of Crips & Bloods, crooked lawyers and cocaine kingpins, ‘gangsta' rappers and thuggish music executives, and how the team persuaded the key players to tell their story under the threat of retaliation from every element.
The making-of narrative is interwoven with vastly 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. The stories that made it into the film pale in comparison to those revealed here, including details of an unpaid debt of $3.5 million to a Colombian drug lord which helped fund Death Row Records, the dealings with Interscope Records, and the bizarre involvement of OJ Simpson prosecutor Chris Darden.
Universal Pictures' STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was developed as a follow up to the WELCOME TO DEATH ROW film by its producers, acquiring the story rights and with author S. Leigh Savidge creating the first drafts.
