Above
The Law
, one of the pioneering West Coast Hip-Hopgroups to come out of Eazy E’s Ruthless Records fold, have
announced that they are officially signed to Suge Knight’s
Death Row imprint. Above The Law group members Big Hutch
aka Cold 187um, KM.G AKA Vin Loco and DJ K-oss, severed
their ties with Tommy Boy in 1998, due to lack of promotion,
marketing and "basic enthusiasm."
After breaking
from Tommy Boy, the group formed West World records and
released Big Hutch’s debut solo album Executive Decisions
and Above The Law’s seventh album "Forever-Rich
Thugs." The group
was approached by several major labels (including their
former label Ruthless Records) about a new record deal,
but according to group leader Big Hutch, "instead of
taking two steps forward these deals would have had us going
three, four steps back."
According to
Big Hutch, the group hadn’t been given the creative control
and financial backing since the death of Eazy E. "Ruthless
owed us a lot of money and still do. We tried to renegotiate
a deal with Ruthless and Ruthless fronted on us. So Enter
CEO of Death Row Records, Suge Knight, who is looking to
reestablish Death Row Records as a leading powerhouse in
Rap. Suge made an offer that the group couldn’t refuse.
"Suge saw the light," Hutch continued. "A
lot of people don’t realize that Suge used to manage Above
The Law when we were on Ruthless in the early days when
he managed us and D.O.C. I love Ruthless and what we built,
but you gotta move on. She (Tamika Wright) sold the label
anyway, so it is what it is."
Having full
creative control, distribution promotion and marketing,
the group feels all is in place for them. "Suge knows
how our whole collective operates," said Big Hutch.
"We see eye-to-eye on how we want Above The Law to
be presented to the streets, the people, and the industry.
He’s giving us the artistic freedom we haven’t
had in years."
Hutch has also
announced that he has formed an production team for Death
Row Records. Big Hutch and Darren Vegas have formed The
Executioners. Big Hutch over saw the production of a handful
of songs on the new Dogg Pound 2002, which is slated for
a July 31st release.
"We gonna
peel some caps back for real, cause Suge is letting us do
our thing," Hutch said. "We are really getting
focused with this Death Row Record cause you know we wanna
come out punishing fools. Certain fools we think out there
need punishment."
