With a $25 million offer on the table, Death Row Records' rich catalog could be in the hands of Warner Music Group or another suitor with deeper pockets later this year.

In the meantime, Dr. Dre, the producer chiefly responsible for the label's former dominance in the 1990s, wants to get paid. The acclaimed producer and rapper has filed several lawsuits over the years seeking unpaid royalties from the label.

But given the label's financial woes--Death Row and cofounder Marion "Suge" Knight filed for bankruptcy in April 2006--Dre has been unable to retrieve those payments.

Now Dre--real name Andre Young--wants to find out the value of the claims he has filed against Death Row. In documents filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, Dre seeks contracts between himself and Death Row, as well as information about revenue from the sale of his recordings, and agreements to release his recordings as part of compilation albums.

The producer was granted an appeal of the bankruptcy court's dismissal of one of his lawsuits last month. He asked the bankruptcy court to make Death Row hand over the documents on Feb. 29 and to order its representatives to be available for deposition on March 7.

The dispute centers around The Chronic, Dr. Dre's acclaimed 1992 album. Dre, who cofounded Death Row in 1991 with Knight and initially held a 50 percent ownership stake in the label, granted Death Row a license to distribute the album in exchange for royalties. In 1996, Young agreed to surrender his ownership interest in the label but retained his right to continue to receive royalties for all recordings released prior to the agreement.

Young has argued that Death Row hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and that it further broke the contract by granting another company distribution rights to his recordings.

The court-appointed administrator running the record label's bankruptcy estate recently asked to sell Death Row's music-related assets to Warner Music Group Corp. for $25 million, subject to higher bids at auction. The sale includes The Chronic as well as several compilation albums featuring Dr. Dre's recordings. Young also wants access to documents related to the company's marketing and sale efforts.