Toy Company Hasbro Now Owns Death Row Records

By Syakir Roslan • 26 Feb 2020 in News

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Yes, THE Death Row Records which was one of the biggest record labels in the ’90s which undeniably popularised West Coast gangsta-rap, churning out plenty of classic G-funk albums such as The Chronic, Doggystyle and All Eyez On Me to name a few.

The notorious record label also brought to light some of the most legendary West Coast artistes we know and love today including Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound and arguably one of hip-hop’s most significant icons, the late, great Tupac Amaru Shakur (2Pac).

And I’m pretty sure most of you are aware who Hasbro is. If you’re not, they’re the giant toy manufacturing company that made many of our favourite childhood playthings from the Transformers toy line to My Little Pony and even renowned friendship-breaking board game, Monopoly.

It was reported by Vice that on December 30, Hasbro purchased Entertainment One Ltd. (eOne), a Toronto-based multimedia company for a whopping $3.8 billion. The toy company’s motive to purchase eOne was to get the licensing rights to popular children TV shows such as Peppa Pig and PJ Masks. Unbeknownst to them, Death Row Records was one of the properties under the eOne umbrella.

Hasbro chairman and chief executive officer, Brian Goldner, issued a statement regarding the takeover:

“We are excited about what we can do together and see tremendous opportunity for shareholder value creation through this acquisition,” and followed up with, “Our businesses are highly complementary with substantial synergies and a great cultural fit.”

Somehow this acquisition by Hasbro makes sense and doesn’t at the same time. On one hand, WTF is Hasbro gonna do with an extensive catalogue of gangsta-rap bangers that consist of songs like ‘F*ck Wit Dre Day’ and ‘2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted’. From a financial standpoint however, Hasbro could capitalise on both the hip-hop market and toy collectors alike.

Whether it be figures of famous Death Row talents, or a Life-esque board game where you get to be Suge Knight and slowly build your record label into a blossoming gangsta rap empire (that sounds kinda cool now that I think about it), only time will tell what Hasbro has in store for this unexpected asset, if anything at all.