Death Row Records had owed Tupac a staggering 17 million dollars from album sales.
Platinum producer and former friend of Tupac, Delray Richardson, spoke in detail about how the record company Death Row had screwed over Tupac on multiple occasions, owing about 17 million dollars to the great rap artist before his death in 1996. Richardson shared his insight on “The Art of Dialogue” Youtube channel, recalling multiple companies and people benefiting from 2Pac’s work.
Richardson revealed that Tupac and the major record label Death Row Records had never actually signed a contract for the artistic rights on Tupac’s songs and albums. The company released arguably Pac’s greatest album – “All Eyez on Me” in 1996, shortly before the death of the rap legend. Delrey recalls that before his death, Death Row had owed Tupac a staggering 17 million dollars from album sales. With no written contract, however, the rapper was never able to get his hands on the money he had earned.
Things get even messier, however, as Richardson went on to explain how the CEO of Death Row, Suge Knight, not only never presented Pac with his rightful earnings, but he would also use part of the money to fund the spendings of other artists, related to the label. Richardson remembers the label paying more than 50 thousand for Michel’le Toussa’s Range Rover, as well the mortgage for the mansion of Tupac’s lawyer David Kenner and part of Nate Dogg’s child support. All of the upper-mentioned payments were made from Tupac’s budget.
Death Row’s dealings behind Tupac’s back went even further, however, as Richardson points out that the label company had struck a deal with clothing manufacturer Globex, to create and sell merchandise with the great artists’ name on it, without Shakur ever giving the company permission to use his rights. Pac had acted timely and fired David Kenner, hiring a new lawyer, who Shakur instructed to agree on a deal with a different manufacturing company. Upon his death, the deal between Pac and the company had been completed.
After Tupac’s death, his mother was able to restore at least a bit of justice and defend her son’s legacy. Richardson spoke about Afeni Shakur winning a massive court case against Death Row, which resulted in a massive 7 million dollars being attributed to Tupac’s mother. Afeni also won a case for half a million dollars against the manufacturing company Globex, fighting for the honor of her son like a true mother would.
