Snoop Dogg Admits Not Getting A Chance To Buy Death Row 'Hurt' Him

Snoop Dogg isn’t okay with the fact that he didn’t get a chance to own the label he helped build.

Source: Stephen J. Cohen / Getty

In a new interview with GQ, the Long Beach legend opened up about recently being named executive creative consultant at Def Jam, discussing what led him to take on that role.

“I wanted it. I went looking for this job because I wanted to be the CEO of Death Row Records and basically take over the merchandise and rerelease their music, do documentaries, and possibly do my life story,” he explained.

At first, Snoop approached former Death Row Music owners eOne Music in an attempt to buy Death Row, but they said that they weren’t looking to sell. Not long after, the Blackstone Group purchased the label, which Snoop said “hurt” him.

Instead of just giving up, though, Tha Doggfather decided to pivot, leading him to work with Def Jam.

“I knew that Def Jam didn’t have a CEO, and I didn’t want to be the CEO, but I wanted to be in the position of consulting and creativity,” he said. “So I set up a meeting and got with Lucian [Grainge, the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, which owns Def Jam].”

Even though their first meeting didn’t go so well, by their third, they were able to figure something out.

“See, I was thinking Death Row Records—movies, merch, television, catalog…The Chronic, Doggystyle, Murder Was the Case, All Eyez on Me,” he explained. “It was all that s**t I was going to… then I flipped it, like, ‘Def Jam bigger and better than Death Row any muthaf**kin’ way.’ So I called LL Cool J: ‘LL, what’s happening with your life story?’”

If anyone knows how to adapt to a changing industry, it’s Snoop Dogg.