JUDGMENT DAY FOR DEATH ROW NEAR WITH EXODUS OF TOP RAPPERS.

Byline: Neil Strauss The New York Times

The six-year reign of Death Row Records, one of the music industry's most profitable and controversial labels, may be coming to an end.

Since its chief executive, Marion ``Suge'' Knight, began serving a nine-year sentence for parole violations last year, Death Row's empire of gangsta rap has slowly been unraveling. The deterioration of its position accelerated this month as it lost most of its remaining successful acts and is on the verge of losing its distribution deal with Interscope, half of which is owned by Seagram's Universal Studios.

Since a record label has few assets beyond its executives, its acts and its distribution arrangements, the losses suffered by Death Row have raised serious questions about its future.

Last week, Snoop Doggy Dogg announced that he was leaving Death Row because he felt his life was in danger and Death Row's ``business is gone.'' The artist known as Kurupt, of the group Tha Dogg Pound, has left Death Row and is negotiating with A&M Records for a distribution deal for his own label, Wall Street Records.

Tha Dogg Pound was the only remaining act on Death Row to have a No. 1 album, and it followed John McClane, the talent scout who originally brought Death Row to Interscope, and who began working at A&M late last year.

And Nate Dogg, one of Death Row's top songwriters and rappers, has also started his own label, Dogg Foundation Records, which will be distributed through Polygram and will release his first solo record.

Beginning of trouble

This continues an exodus that began in March 1996, when Dr. Dre, producer, rapper and president of Death Row, became the first major artist to leave the label.

Death Row Records had flourished for years while becoming the poster child for violent, misogynist rap lyrics. Attacks by prominent figures like former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole and former Education Secretary William Bennett prompted Time Warner Inc. to sell its stake in Interscope.

But one of the biggest blows to Death Row came when Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Los Angeles in the fall of 1996.

With the label's roster, reputation and cachet in disarray, Interscope Records, the company that earned much of its profits and controversial reputation from its distribution deal with Death Row, will be parting ways with the label next week, as has been rumored since the fall.

Death Row, which has sold some $100 million in records annually, has attributed this to pressure from Seagram, which declined to comment. In addition to its artist losses, lawsuits by such creditors as American Express, the imprisonment of its chief executive and a flurry of other scandals, Death Row and some of its executives have also been under investigation in the last year by federal authorities for weapons trafficking, drug dealing, tax evasion and money laundering. A spokesman for Death Row denied these activities.

Same Priority

As it is disentangling itself from Interscope, Death Row, according to the business manager of one of its artists, is entering a new distribution deal with Priority Records, once the country's largest independent label (and now in the midst of a takeover by EMI, which already owns half of the label). Bryan Turner, the president and chief executive of Priority, however, denied any new deal with Death Row.

In the past, Priority distributed releases rejected by Interscope, like the recent No. 2-selling ``Gang Related'' soundtrack.

``Our distribution deal with Death Row is ongoing and has been in place since 1992,'' Turner said. ``It includes the catalog and other specific projects. Those projects are on an album-by-album basis and are determined by several factors, including their commercial potential.''

Priority Records has long been a home for controversial independent rappers shut out by major record conglomerates. When Ice-T left Time Warner during the controversy over his recording ``Cop Killer,'' he made a deal with Priority, though his career has been in a slump since. EMI's interest in Priority, Turner said would not change its relationship with Death Row.

``We put out records,'' he said. ``That's what we do. What we don't do is judge what some people should listen to and others shouldn't. Artists have a right to express themselves, consumers have a right not to listen if that is what they choose.'' A spokesman for EMI refused to comment on the label's attitude toward Death Row.

New life for Death?

But many in the rap community say that the era of Death Row is not over. Miller London, a former Motown executive and the president of Urban Network, was supposed to move into Death Row's offices this year and restore order.

In the end, he declined the job, but he did some consulting for the label and said, ``They do have a considerable amount of product that I did hear during my time as a consultant that could bring them back to the forefront.''

Miller cited the debut album from former Dogg Pound member (and cousin of Snoop Doggy Dogg) Daz Dillinger, ``Retaliation, Revenge and Get-Back,'' which features cameos from Tupac Shakur and Kurupt and is to be released on March 17, as one of the label's most anticipated releases. This year, Death Row will also be releasing records by Shakur's former associates the Outlawz, producer J-Flex and r&b singer Michel'le.

A spokesman for the label added that Death Row is still active and has just signed two new acts to multimillion-dollar deals: a Texas football player known as the Chocolate Bandit and a rapper known as YGD from Los Angeles. Regarding Snoop Doggy Dogg's comments, the spokesman said that last year Snoop Doggy Dogg and his lawyer renegotiated their contract, which calls for them to produce six more records for Death Row. ``As of today, he's still on the label,'' he said.

Snoop Doggy Dogg has, however, been seen having meetings at Polygram-owned labels and has been advised by his lawyer that he is no longer obligated under his Death Row contract and that the agreement is no longer valid, according to a person involved in the negotiations.

Bakari Kitwana, author of ``The Rap on Gangsta Rap,'' also felt that the industry was sending Death Row to the electric chair too early.

``Suge has been an innovator not just in rap, but in the music industry in general,'' he said. ``He's broken all the barriers. I don't think him losing a few artists or being locked up is going to change that.

``People underestimate him, and I wonder if Snoop is underestimating him,'' Kitwana added. ``There's no lack of talent around.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Snoop Doggy Dogg says he's leaving Death Row Records out of concern for his own safety.

(2) The 1996 death of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas added to the disarray at Death Row.