Dr.Dre Files Suit On The New Death Row

[Stephan Bobb]

Dr. Dre Files Suit on the New Death Row

*The company that bought Death Row Records when it was in bankruptcy, is getting a taste of record industry politics.

Andre Young, better known to the world as Dr. Dre, filed a suit in federal court in Los Angeles against WIDEawake Death Row Records and its parent companies, Thursday.

The producer is claiming the label failed to pay royalties and released a new version of his iconic album “The Chronic” without his permission.

Young claims he hasn’t been paid royalties on the original “The Chronic” album since he split with Death Row in 1996, the lawsuit states.

The AP says Young’s lawsuit claims his attorneys notified the new owners that he was owed royalties, but they have never paid him. He also claims the label issued “The Chronic Re-Lit” and a greatest hits collection without his permission or the proper rights.

WIDEawake Death Row Records has also sold digital copies of “The Chronic” without having the proper rights, the lawsuit states. Young’s original contract with Death Row didn’t include digital distribution rights, according to the suit.

“When it came to paying artist royalties and honoring limits on Dr. Dre recordings that could be released, the “new” Death Row Records, to quote our client, ‘forgot about Dre,’” Young’s attorney Howard King said in a statement. “This lawsuit will make sure they remember.”