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Death Row Records (formerly Future Shock Entertainment and Tha Row Records) is an American record company founded in 1991 by Marion “Suge“ Knight, Andre “Dr. Dre“ Young, Tracy “The .“ Curry, and Richard “Dick“ Griffey. Death Row signed many popular West Coast hip hop artists during the early to mid-1990s, such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Outlawz, The Lady of Rage, MC Hammer, Young Soldierz, Sam Sneed, LBC Crew, RBX, Nate Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound. Most, if not all, departed from the label after the murder of Shakur and the incarceration of Knight in 1996. The loss of key management and talent of Death Row Records from early 1997 and onwards resulted in a decline in terms of being a powerful hip hop record company in the industry, despite attempts from the last remaining founder and CEO at the time, Suge Knight, which included signing new talents and releasing many compilations of previously unreleased content recorded by ex-Death Row artists. The label filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and was auctioned to entertainment development company WIDEawake Entertainment Group, Inc. for $18 million in 2009. Death Row has sold nearly 150 million albums worldwide and generated close to $750 million in revenue.
