MCA BUYS UP PART OF RAP LABEL.

Byline: Russ Britt Daily News Staff Writer

Five months after Time Warner Inc. deemed Interscope Records too hot to handle, MCA Inc. found value in the controversial rap label and purchased half the company Wednesday for $200 million.

The label, which is home to such stars as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Nine Inch Nails, bolsters MCA's growing music division. But MCA shelled out roughly double what Interscope co-chiefs Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field paid, which was estimated at $100 million to $125 million, to get out of their distribution agreement with Time Warner.

The pact reunites Interscope with Doug Morris, chairman of MCA's music division, who was head of Time Warner's music group. Morris was ousted from Time Warner last year in a shake-up of the division.

"It's a deal made out of the relationship between Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine," said one knowledgeable source. "When (Morris) said, 'Trust me,' (to MCA), it had a great deal of bearing."

MCA, which owns several labels including MCA Records Nashville, GRP Recording Company, Geffen Records and Universal Records, is trying to build up its music division. The company has not made the major acquisitions other entertainment firms have made in recent months and is losing a key creative force, Steven Spielberg, who is leaving to start his own studio.

"Interscope Records has continually proven itself to be one of the most creative and innovative labels in the music business," Morris said in a statement. "Interscope's cutting-edge rock and alternative artists, when combined with the rosters of Geffen Records and MCA Records, will give MCA one of the most powerful rock rosters in the world today."

But MCA now faces the question of what to do with such artists as Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and Shakur, controversial figures who have incurred the wrath of political figures and attracted the attention of law enforcement.

Shakur was released from prison in October after serving eight months on a sexual abuse conviction. A jury deadlocked Wednesday on manslaughter charges against Broadus after acquitting him and his bodyguard Tuesday on murder charges.

Time Warner sold Interscope under heavy criticism from such figures as GOP presidential candidate Sen. Robert Dole for marketing rap labels which advocate violence.