Dr. Dre's Lawsuit Against Death Row Records Gets Scrapped

Dr. Dre's lawsuit against Death Row Records hit a major wall this week, when the judge threw out most of his claim against the company. The suit focused on the reissue of "The Chronic," Dre's breakout hit of the early 1990s. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder said that the artist can only sue for unpaid royalties, and that his claims of false advertising and copyright infringement were without merit.

In the suit, Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, sued the company that brought Death Row out of bankruptcy. The new firm's name is WIDEawake Death Row Entertainment LLC, who was set to release "The Chronic Re-Lit & From the Vault," in addition to a greatest hits CD.

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Rappers Turned Actors

Acting Up:
Queen Latifah, Will Smith and Ice Cube may be some of the most bankable black actors in Hollywood. But they are also hip hop royalty. These Grammy Award winners lead a growing list of rappers who caught the acting bug. Check them out.

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Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Queen Latifah
Real Name: Dana Elaine Owens
Notable Acting Roles: 'Jungle Fever,' 'Living Single,' 'Set It Off'' 'Chicago'
Factoid: The New Jersey native spent five years as magazine editor Khadijah James on the hit television sitcom 'Living Single,' but this Grammy Award winning Cover Girl spokesperson was marked as an actress to watch when she scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Matron Mama Morton in the movie 'Chicago,' based on the hit Broadway musical.

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Ice Cube
Real Name: O'Shea Jackson
Notable Acting Roles: 'Boyz N the Hood,' 'Barbershop,' 'Are We There Yet?' 'Friday'
Factoid: This former N.W.A. rapper got his start as Doughboy in the John Singleton directed Academy Award-nominated film 'Boyz N the Hood' before starring in and producing his own comedy 'Friday' as well as family-friendly fare like 'Are We There Yet' and its sequel.

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: DMX
Real Name: Earl Simmons
Notable Acting Roles: 'Belly,' 'Exit Wounds,' 'Romeo Must Die'
Factoid: Once a chart-topping rap superstar, DMX, who reportedly suffers from a bipolar disorder, has spent most of the past five years in and out of jail, which has side-lined his budding acting career -- not to mention the possibility of starring in an official sequel to the Hype Williams-helmed cult classic 'Belly' alongside fellow rapper Nas.

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Ice T
Real Name: Tracy Marrow
Notable Acting Roles: 'New Jack City,' 'New York Undercover,' 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'
Factoid: Talk about a 360. Once a controversial gangsta rapper with the song 'Cop Killer,' Ice T is a household name -- thanks to his role as NYPD Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuloa on the police drama 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.' Series co-creator Dick Wolf reportedly cast him in after seeing his NAACP Image Award-winning portrayal of drug dealer Danny Cort on 'New York Undercover.'

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Will Smith
Real Name: Willard Christopher Smith, Jr.
Notable Acting Roles: 'Independence Day,' 'Six Degrees of Separation,' 'Men In Black' and 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'
Factoid: At 40, not only is this 'Parents Just Don't Understand' rapper one of only two hip-hop artists to receive an Academy Award nomination in an acting category (Queen Latifah is the other), but Smith is the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in domestic box office and have all eight open at #1.

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Nas
Real Name: Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones
Notable Acting Role: 'Belly'
Factoid: In both a pivotal scene in 'Belly' and on a song called 'One Love' from his 1994 album 'Illmatic,' this New York lyricist talks about a character named 'Shorty,' who shoots from the roof of a Queens project building.

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Method Man
Real Name: Clifford Smith
Notable Acting Roles: 'How High,' 'The Wackness,' 'The Wire'
Factoid: According to 'The Wire' series creator David Simon, the Wu Tang Clan member's character Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff was the father of Randy Wagstaff, a young boy in the final two seasons of the Emmy-nominated HBO drama, but the relationship was never explored on the show.

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Diddy
Real Name: Sean John Combs
Notable Acting Roles: 'Raisin in the Sun,' 'Monster's Ball'
Factoid: Although his early days forming Bad Boy Records were portrayed on the silver screen by actor Derek Luke in the Notorious B.I.G. biopic 'Notorious,' Diddy has worked tirelessly so that he would be taken seriously as a thespian. Since starring in 'A Raisin in the Sun' on Broadway and then taking a bit role in the critically-acclaimed indie 'Monster's Ball,' the hip hop mogul has been cast in the upcoming movie 'Get Him to the Greek.'

Rappers Turned Actors

Stage Name: Mos Def
Real Name: Dante Terrell Smith
Notable Acting Roles: '16 Blocks,' 'Brown Sugar,' 'The Italian Job,' 'Cadillac Records,' 'Monster's Ball'
Factoid: The Brooklyn native studied theater at New York University and also starred in the 2002 Tony Award-nominated and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play 'TopDog/UnderDog.'

Rappers Turned Actors

Dre argued that the use of his image in the rereleased album signified that he endorsed the product, when he had not. Snyder ruled that the new version of the album used the same cover image as the original, which didn't imply that Dre was endorsing the product currently.

"The Chronic" was a highly successful project, selling 4.5 million copies in the US, and a total of eight million copies worldwide. This was, however, only Dre's second-best selling album. His second album, "The Chronic 2001," sold over seven million copies in the United States alone. He also has substantial stakes in other artists like 50 Cent and Eminem, who've both sold millions of copies themselves. Dre is the ultimate businessman, with a net worth of roughly $150 million. Given that he is worth so much, one might wonder if his lawsuit over $75,000 in unpaid royalties is just to settle a grudge and make it public that he's not endorsing this album.

What made me most proud of Dr. Dre and the way he has conducted his career is the fact that he, Snoop and Diddy all showed the maturity to make it out of the turbulence of the mid-1990s. The East Coast - West Coast feud had created a media-driven frenzy where every hip hop fan had taken a side in this deadly and unproductive game. The struggle culminated with the deaths of Biggie and Tupac, but could have easily led to the deaths of other artists, namely Diddy, Snoop and Dr. Dre. One thing that appeared to separate these artists (as well as Ice Cube) from the likes of Suge Knight, Eazy-E and others who saw their downfall, is a level of intelligence and vision which led them to release their lives from the drama occurring all around them.

Years later, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop and Diddy have become legends, "OGs," and respected elder statesmen in the world of hip hop. But this is not to say that they aren't battle tested by the insanity of the 90s, which will surely make for quite a few interesting epic feature films. Dr. Dre deserves to be respected.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.