Crooked I had refuted the notion that he is in any way signed to Death Row Records, an assertion made by the new CEO of the iconic label founded by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight.
A comment by Lara Lavi, CEO/President – Wideawake Deathrow LLC, seemed to suggest that Crooked I was still on the label.
“…Everybody on the roster, those deals expired in the nineties. The only two really are Crooked I and Danny Boy right now; they’re always really technically on the roster,” Lavi said in an interview published on Monday. “We’re negotiating with them right now to do a new contract signing because they both have current projects. Danny has an R&B album and a Gospel album and Crooked I has an amazing project with King Tech, supported by Sway.”
However, Crooked I denied any new relationship and stated that Lavi only mentioned Wideawake, not Death Row, in his dealings with her.
He did acknowledge the relationship between the two entities.
“I cut ties from Death Row Records in 2004 legally. All my contractual ties were cut. She’s [Laura Lavi] a nice lady,” Crooked I told AllHipHop.com. “As far as Death Row is concerned, that’s going backward in my career. No disrespect to her. She has the old music.”
Crooked I maintained that the endured an extensive and expensive legal process to get off of Death Row Records.
“I have no contract with Death Row. I went through 11 months of court [to get freed contractually],” he concluded.
Crooked I recently released an album with his group Slaughterhouse that has been met by critical acclaim from Hip-Hop fans.
