Kirkland Helps Reunite Snoop Dogg, Death Row in Blackstone Sale

Kirkland & Ellis helped reunite Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records as a Blackstone-controlled company said it’s selling the brand to the rapper-turned-entrepreneur.

Seth Traxler, Kirkland’s co-lead of the global technology and intellectual property transactions practice, led a team from the law firm advising the seller, MNRK Music Group, along with IP transactional partner Shellie Freedman and corporate partner Peter Martelli, the firm said in a statement.

MNRK, the song publishing and recording company controlled by Blackstone private equity funds, announced the Death Row sale Wednesday. The sale is expected to include the label’s entire music catalog, Bloomberg News reported, including artists such as Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, Shad “Lil Bow Wow” Moss, and the late Nathaniel “Nate Dogg” Hale and Tupac Shakur.

Snoop’s 1993 debut album, “Doggystyle,” helped Death Row become a prominent hip hop label before it went bankrupt over a decade ago. Blackstone acquired the label last year as part of its $385 million purchase of a music business owned by toymaker Hasbro Inc.

Traxler and Kirkland representatives didn’t respond to inquiries about their work on the transaction. A Blackstone spokesman said he was unaware of who handled legal work for Snoop on the deal.

David Kenner, an Encino, Calif.-based litigator who has been a longtime legal adviser to Snoop—who performed at Kenner’s 80th birthday last year—and Death Row didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Blackstone has been a longtime Kirkland client. Traxler last year was among a group of Kirkland lawyers representing Blackstone on its $1 billion investment in Hipgnosis Song Management Ltd.

The deal provided funds for Hipgnosis to acquire music rights and manage catalogs, including 80% of Kenny Chesney’s recorded music royalties, which Hipgnosis completed in January. Hipgnosis is owned by industry executive Merck Mercuriadis, a former manager for Beyoncé Knowles and Guns N’ Roses.

Snoop, 50, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr., has numerous business interests.

He’s provided financial backing to Swedish payments and banking startup Klarna AB, as well as Dutchie LLC, a technology platform for cannabis dispensaries recently valued at nearly $4 billion.

Snoop is also a co-founder of cannabis investment firm Casa Verde Capital LLC, which has invested in Dutchie and Portugal’s AceCann LDA.

In January, Snoop gave a gold and diamond Death Row chain to former NFL star Eli Manning for his birthday. Snoop will give a halftime performance this weekend at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.