Suge Knight

chief executive officer; founder; music producer

Personal Information

Born Marion Knight, Jr., on April 19, 1966, in Los Angeles, CA; professionally known as "Suge"--short for "Sugar Bear"--Knight; son of Marion (a truck driver, former college football player, and R&B singer) and Maxine Knight; married Sheritha (a rap manager); children: one daughter.
Education: Attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Career

Worked as a bodyguard and a concert promoter; formed a music publishing company, 1989; Death Row Records, cofounder and CEO, 1991, renamed company The Row, 2001; contracted Interscope Records as a distributor, c. 1992; Suge Knight Management, founder, 1994; adapted "Murder Was the Case" single from Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggy Style album into a short film, 1994; Let Me Ride Hydraulics (car customization shop), cofounder, 1994; Club 662, Las Vegas, NV, owner, c. 1994; signed with Time Warner, 1995; Time Warner-Interscope relationship dissolved, 1995; incarcerated, 1995-2001.

Life's Work

Large and imposing at 6'4" and 315 pounds, Suge Knight, also known as "Sugar Bear," was a major force in rap music. As cofounder of Death Row Records, he swayed established fan favorites to join his label while successfully signing new talents. Within three years of the company's founding in 1991, Knight's clients garnered three multi-platinum albums. Grammy Award-winning artist Dr. Dre's The Chronic; Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggy Style; and the Above the Rim soundtrack effectively placed Knight and the burgeoning, multimillion dollar Death Row enterprise on the very tip of the rap music mountain. The controversial 1995 release of Dogg Food by newcomers The Dogg Pound helped keep Death Row at the peak.

Suge was born Marion Knight, Jr., in 1966; he was raised, along with his two older sisters, in a two-bedroom house in the rough Compton area of Los Angeles. His father, a truck driver originally from Mississippi, was a former college football tackle and R&B singer who inspired Suge's passion for music and sports. As a child, Knight was given the nickname "Suge" by his father because of his sweet, good-natured temperament. Knight's mother, Maxine, told Spin magazine's Chuck Philips, "My son is the type of person who still sends me roses all the time."

When Knight was in high school, he devoted most of his energy to playing football and securing an athletic scholarship to college, which he hoped would lead to a National Football League (NFL) contract. Knight made the dean's list at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, and in 1985 he won the Rookie of the Year title there on defense. His former coach told Philips, "He was Super Bowl material, the kind of guy you love having on your side." After college, Knight went to Japan with the Los Angeles Rams for a preseason exhibition game. He quit football, though, in favor of concert promotion work when it became clear that he would not have a stellar career in the NFL.

Knight's promising future was almost derailed in 1987, when he was arrested for auto theft, carrying a concealed weapon, and attempted murder. He pleaded no contest and was placed on probation. Knight was arrested again in 1990, for battery with a deadly weapon, but this time the charges were dismissed. He told Philips, "Ain't nobody perfect in this world except God. We all make mistakes. Sometimes you end up in the wrong place at the wrong time."

After working as a bodyguard and making a name for himself on the concert circuit for a while, Knight formed a music publishing company in 1989 and assigned composition work to a small group of unknown songwriters. Within a year, he made a significant amount of money from ownership rights to several songs on white rapper Vanilla Ice's successful debut album. Knight then expanded into artist management realm, representing turntable maestro DJ Quik and solo artist the D.O.C. Through these musicians, Knight met Dr. Dre, who was then a member of the rap group N.W.A. [Niggers With Attitude]. Dre was popular for creating and producing the material on N.W.A.'s albums Straight Outta Compton and Efil4zaggin, the first number-one hard-core rap album on the nation's pop chart.

Hood or Robin Hood?

According to Knight, Dre's contributions garnered more than six million units in sales for N.W.A.'s record label, Ruthless Records, yet Dre and fellow group member Ice Cube were short on cash. Ice Cube quit N.W.A. because he felt he was not being properly compensated for his work. Knight was able to verify Ice Cube's suspicions. Discovering that other Ruthless musicians were being paid less than the standard industry rate for their contributions, Knight bypassed Ruthless's management and negotiated a deal with their distributor, Priority Records, in 1990.

Knight was able to secure releases for Dre and two other Ruthless musicians which, in the long run, benefitted all of them handsomely. The manner in which Knight engineered the releases was a point of contention, however. Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, former N.W.A. member and then-president of the Ruthless label, claimed in court that he signed the release contracts under duress after Knight and two henchmen had threatened him--as well as his general manager--with pipes and baseball bats. DeVante Swing of the R&B group Jodeci was quick to come to Knight's defense when speaking with Philips: "I know Suge's got this reputation for being a guy who goes around strong-arming, but I think those rumors just come from jealous people. The thing is, he's a real sharp negotiator, and he won't let anybody walk over him or any of his artists--and a lot of people resent that."

Shining Knight

After Dre was released from his obligations at Ruthless, he and Knight founded Death Row Records, complete with a logo featuring a man strapped to an electric chair, a sack covering his head. "We called it Death Row," Knight told Vibe's Kevin Powell, "'cause most everybody had been involved with the law. A majority of our people was parolees or incarcerated." For nearly one year, they searched for a major label willing to distribute their product, eventually landing a deal with Interscope Records.

In 1993 the label grossed more than $60 million and had released two of the most significant rap albums of the year: Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggy Style. The following year, Death Row released the motion picture soundtrack Above the Rim. The album featured Dre's younger brother, Warren G. and sold more than two million copies to earn double-platinum status. The three albums set the stage for Knight's vision of Death Row as "the Motown of the '90s," referring to the formerly Detroit-based empire whose releases of the 1960s and 1970s once dominated the airwaves. Well on its way, Vibe has since described Death Row as "the most profitable, independently owned African American hip hop label of the 1990s."

Knight was able to convince R&B musicians Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, and DeVante Swing of MCA-owned Uptown Records to sign west coast management deals with him. In addition to doubling their royalty rates, Knight secured greater creative control for the musicians, landed them substantial back payments, and upgraded their contracts. Knight also tossed in a $250,000 white Lamborghini for one of the musicians to sweeten the deal. Snoop Doggy Dogg asserted in the interview with Philips, "Suge is the best businessman I could have ever hoped to hook up with... . He keeps the music real... . He's got an ear to the street."

Knight is not without his detractors, however. Besides Eazy E's shouts of foul play, the D.O.C. and rapper RBX left Death Row alleging nonpayment. Butas top-selling rapper and actor Tupac Shakur assessed in an interview with Vibe's Powell, "Suge's cool. A lot of cowards are trying to make like Suge's the scourge of the industry. All Suge's doing is ... making it so rappers can get what they deserve." Shakur was bailed out of prison by Knight in October of 1995; shortly thereafter, he signed with Death Row and Knight's management, adding yet another gold brick to the Death Row foundation. Shakur told Powell, "Death Row to me is like a machine. The biggest, strongest superpower in the hip hop world."

In 1995, shortly before Time Warner received serious criticisms for its links to "gangsta rap," the entertainment conglomerate signed Knight to a lucrative, long-term contract via Interscope Records. But the relationship was dissolved later in the year, when Time Warner yielded to political pressure over the issue of reducing the prevalence of violence, misogyny, and pornographic reference in entertainment; Death Row's output was deemed a big offender.

The motivating factor in the headline-grabbing break up was the debut effort by The Dogg Pound. Dogg Food almost immediately charted at number-one in the popular music category. Ironically, the album's success was at least partly spurred by the outcry of such anti-rap denizens as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Republican conservative William Bennett, and National Political Congress of Black Women chairwoman C. Delores Tucker.

Knight actually met with Tucker and others in the summer of 1995 and was urged to make "rap songs more responsible to the black community," according to Bakari Kitwana of The Source. The clashes over what Knight and similar-minded considered censorship eventually led Death Row and Interscope to bring charges of racketeering and extortion against Tucker, who claimed, "Those who say that want to keep Suge and me from talking to each other." Meanwhile, Death Row was headed toward an estimated worth of more than $100 million, and Knight's artist roster, boosted by Shakur, continued to grow.

In keeping with Knight's goal to "establish an organization, not just no record company," as he stated in Vibe, Death Row branched out beyond record production. Knight worked on adapting "Murder Was the Case"--originally a popular cut from Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggy Style album--into an 18-minute film, complemented by a new-and-improved soundtrack album. "Murder Was the Case" was such a hit that plans were made for Dr. Dre to direct future movies for a possible Death Row film company. On other fronts, both Snoop and The Dogg Pound have formed record labels backed by Death Row--Doggystyle Records and Gotta Get Somewhere Records, respectively--and Knight runs a night spot in Las Vegas known as Club 662. He also toyed with the idea of publishing a magazine.

Despite those who accused him of heavy-handedness in his business dealings, Knight was generous towards his community. His many plans for the future include the formation of a union for rap musicians and an organization for veteran soul musicians who need financial assistance. Knight already works in an anti-gang foundation in Compton and hoped to establish an organization that would put young unemployed people to work in the black community. One such venture was Let Me Ride Hydraulics, a car customization shop he formed with Dr. Dre in 1994. During that year's Christmas holiday, Death Row hosted a Mother's Day celebration in Beverly Hills, California, for 500 single mothers, sponsored toy giveaways at churches and hospitals, and doled out turkeys to the needy for Thanksgiving Day.

Regardless of how one feels about it, Suge Knight and Death Row have had an undeniable presence in the popular culture of the 1990s. Knight's drive and skill is an almost unbeatable, unstoppable combination. As Vibe's Kevin Powell has proclaimed: "Suge Knight has the muscle. Dr. Dre has the skills. And with Snoop [Doggy Dog] and now Tupac, Death Row Records has the music industry all shook up."

Suge Interrupted

By 1995, Death Row Records had grown to a $100 million a year hip-hop "powerhouse." Along with its reputation for producing chart-breaking gangsta hits, Death Row also had a reputation for having gangsta business tactics. Knight and all his Death Row artists enjoyed their time in the limelight, but suddenly, the light went out when tragedy hit. On September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur, one of Death Row's top acts, was shot in a drive-by shooting while riding with Knight. Just hours before the shooting, Knight, along with Shakur, had engaged in a fight with a Crips gang member. Shakur died several days later, and Knight's role in the fight sent him to prison for violating parole from an earlier conviction. To make things worse, Tupac Shakur's rap rival, Biggie Smalls, was murdered the following year, and there were rumors floating around that Knight was involved.

Death Row faced inevitable financial problems. With Shakur dead, accusations of dirty play, and Knight's nine-year prison sentence, several of Death Row's superstars, including Snoop Dog, left the label and went elsewhere. In addition, an earlier federal investigation for racketeering was still underway, and Interscope Records cut off its ties with Death Row.

Jail Time

While Knight was in prison, Allison Samuels conducted an interview with him for Newsweek. After Knight described how he was learning to play tennis, taking some business classes and computer classes, and reading books, he talked about being put in solitary confinement. Knight denied that he was put into solitary to protect him from attempts on his life, "That's what they wanted people to think. They were doing that to break me down, like they did Mike Tyson." Samuels asked him about his relationship with Shakur and how he felt about Snoop leaving Death Row. Knight took the opportunity to tell how he was there for his friends and artists, how he and Shakur helped each other out, and how he spent four million dollars on a murder charge for Snoop. "When things are going good and the champagne is flowing, you got friends everywhere. But as soon as things get bad, they're gone."

Even while Knight was in prison, Death Row had some money coming in, thanks in part to Shakur's posthumous popularity. From jail, Knight continued his annual Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas toy giveaways. Most of the giveaways went to south-central Los Angeles, where Death Row got its start, and where many of Death Row's artists originated. Knight is committed to giving back to the streets because Death Row is "a street label, recording street artists" wrote the entertainment editors for Business Wire. "So when we give back, we give back to where it all came from."

He also established the Death Row Prisoner Appeal Fund, which provides funding for one prisoner in the State prison system and one prisoner from within the Federal system, to mount an appeal and help to pay attorney fees. And, while watching television in jail one day, Knight saw a news report about a kindergarten playground at the Hillsdale Early Head Start Program in Sacramento that was destroyed by arson. Business Wire quoted Knight, "I saw a report about it on local TV. A playground is the only safe place for kids to play and then somebody comes along and destroys it. A senseless crime that hurts little kids...I called Death Row Records in Los Angeles, told them to find out the cost to rebuild the playground and cut a check to cover it."

Knight served about five years and was then eligible for release. He looked forward to rebuilding Death Row, but the first thing he wanted was an hour-long bath, "I'm sick of showers," he told Allison Samuels of Newsweek. "Then I'm going to get me a double cheeseburger and some chili-fries." But Suge Knight may not be able to resist trouble. According to Entertainment Weekly, Knight threw fuel into the rap wars and threatened to release a video, Suge Knight's The Real Story: Down Low with J. Lo and P. Diddy, featuring Sean "Puffy" Comb's ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. Lopez's lawyers promptly filed a lawsuit to block distribution.

Awards

Multi-platinum Death Row recordings include Grammy Award-winning Dr. Dre's The Chronic, Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggy Style, and the motion picture soundtrack Above the Rim.

Biography

The rap world is no stranger to controversy, but the vast majority involves its recording artists, and perhaps an occasional outbreak of violence at a show. Yet, few industry figures ever attracted the kind of notoriety that Death Row Records label head Marion "Suge" Knight did. A particularly flamboyant and visible executive, Knight built Death Row into the biggest hip-hop label of the early '90s, thanks to a stable of talent that included Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and 2Pac. Death Row brought gangsta rap to the top of the pop charts, and made the West Coast into the epicenter of '90s hip-hop. But along the way, Knight acquired a reputation for using threats of violence as a business tactic, and made little attempt to hide his gang connections. His public feuds with rivals and occasional run-ins with the law seemed to lend credence to his legend, and he was suspected by some of involvement in the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.; though no allegations were ever proven, elaborate conspiracy theories swirled in the wake of police failure in both investigations. By that time, Knight was already serving hard time for a parole violation, which effectively crippled Death Row. He returned to the music industry upon his release, though it remains to be seen if he will ever enjoy a similar level of success.

Marion Knight was born April 19, 1966, in the tough Compton area of Los Angeles; his trademark nickname was short for "Sugar Bear." As a youth, he was involved with the Mob Piru Bloods street gang, and during his later years was frequently seen wearing their colors. However, he remained an excellent student and athlete, so much so that he won a football scholarship to UNLV, where he also made the dean's list. After school, he played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams for a short time, but couldn't quite make the grade. Instead, he found work as a concert promoter and a bodyguard for celebrities including Bobby Brown. Knight first ran afoul of the law in 1987, when he faced auto theft, concealed weapon, and attempted murder charges, but got off simply with probation. Two years later, he formed his own music-publishing company, and allegedly made his first big money in the business by coercing Vanilla Ice into signing over royalties from his smash album To the Extreme, owing to material that he supposedly sampled from one of Knight's company creations. (The apocryphal story holds that Knight held Ice by his ankles off of a 20th-floor balcony, though in Ice's version, the threat was more implied.)

Knight next formed an artist management company and signed prominent West Coast figures the D.O.C. and DJ Quik. Through the former, he met several members of the seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A., most notably budding superproducer Dr. Dre. Jumping into the royalty disputes between N.W.A. and their label, Ruthless, Knight negotiated a contract release for Dre that, according to N.W.A.'s Eazy-E and manager Jerry Heller, involved Knight and his henchmen threatening the two with pipes and baseball bats. Whatever the methods actually were, Dre co-founded Death Row Records in 1991 with Knight, who famously vowed to make it "the Motown of the '90s." For a time, Knight made good on his ambitions: He secured a distribution deal with Interscope, and Dre's solo debut, The Chronic, became one of the biggest-selling and most influential rap albums of all time. It also made a star of Dre's protégé, Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose debut album, Doggystyle, was another smash hit. As Dre's signature G-funk production style took over hip-hop, Death Row became a reliable brand name for gangsta fans, and even its lesser releases sold consistently well.

However, Knight was already courting controversy. During the 1992 sessions for The Chronic, he was arrested for assaulting two aspiring rappers who allegedly used a phone without his permission, and placed on several years' probation. Meanwhile, Death Row had begun a public feud with Miami rapper Luke (2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell), and when Knight traveled to Miami for a hip-hop convention in 1993, he was allegedly seen openly carrying a gun. The following year, he opened a nightclub in Las Vegas called Club 662, so named because the numbers spelled out "MOB" -- his gang affiliation -- on telephone keypads; he also pleaded no contest to firearms trafficking charges, and was sentenced yet again to probation. In 1995, he ran afoul of activist C. Delores Tucker, whose criticism of Death Row's glamorization of the gangsta lifestyle helped scuttle a lucrative deal with Time Warner. Additionally, Knight's feud with East Coast impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs took a nasty turn when Knight insulted the Bad Boy label honcho on the air at an awards show. However, the year was partially redeemed when Knight offered to post a hefty bail for Tupac Shakur if the troubled rapper agreed to sign with Death Row. Shakur agreed, setting the stage for 1996's blockbuster double album All Eyez on Me and the smash hits "California Love" and "How Do U Want It."

2Pac temporarily helped Death Row stay on top of a marketplace that was already shifting back toward the East Coast, which had devised its own distinct brand of hardcore rap. However, the label suffered a major blow when Dr. Dre, frustrated with the company's increasingly thuggish reputation, decided to leave and form his own label. A stream of Dre-dissing records followed, but things turned tragic later in 1996, when Tupac Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting -- a passenger in a car driven by Knight. When Shakur's East Coast rival, the Notorious B.I.G., was murdered in a similar fashion in early 1997, speculation immediately arose that Knight was somehow involved, that the killing was revenge. To date, both murders remain unsolved, but the investigations exposed a web of connections between Death Row Records, gang members who worked there, and LAPD officers who sometimes worked security for the label and its artists during their off hours. Moreover, Knight's story in the aftermath of Shakur's death was questionable: Medical reports contradicted Knight's claim that a bullet from the attack had lodged in his skull, and he also said in an interview that even if he knew who murdered Shakur, he wouldn't rat anyone out to the police.

Videotape at the Las Vegas hotel where Knight and Shakur had been watching a boxing match prior to the murder showed an altercation with Crips gang member Orlando Anderson, who some believe was the eventual triggerman. Knight's involvement in the fight violated the terms of his probation. Moreover, it was revealed that Knight's light sentence may have involved a conflict of interest on the part of prosecutor Lawrence Longo, who rented out a Malibu home to Knight and even had his teenage daughter sign a recording contract with Death Row. Knight was sentenced to nine years in prison, which effectively spelled the end of his Death Row empire. During his time in prison, Knight's home was burglarized, and police seized a vehicle at the Death Row offices thought to be the getaway vehicle in the Biggie Smalls murder. He was released in August 2001 after serving around five years, and immediately went back to work, retooling his label as Tha Row and searching for new talent. (Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes actually signed a contract shortly before her tragic death in a car accident.) In late 2002, police raided Tha Row's record offices and several of Knight's homes looking for evidence in two gang slayings. Only Knight's associates were implicated in the crimes, but consorting with gang members was another parole violation, and Knight was briefly jailed again; he was eventually sentenced to 200 hours of anti-gang community service. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Wikipedia: Suge Knight

Top

Marion 'Suge' Knight
Birth name	Marion Hugh Knight Jr.
Born	April 19, 1965 (1965-04-19) (age 44)
Origin	Compton, California, USA
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	record producer
Instruments	Vocals, synthesizer, keyboards, turntables, drum machine
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Death Row
Associated acts	Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tha Dogg Pound

Marion Hugh Knight, Jr. (born April 19, 1965), better known as Suge Knight, is the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. The record label rose to dominate the charts after Dr. Dre's breakthrough album The Chronic in 1992. After several years of chart successes for artists including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, Death Row Records stagnated after Knight's incarceration on parole violation charges in September 1996.

1 Early life
2 Death Row Records
3 Addition of Tupac
4 Loss of Dr. Dre and Tupac
5 Prison
6 End of Death Row
7 Later troubles
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

Early life

Marion Knight was born in Compton, California. His name, Suge (pronounced /ˈʃʊɡ/), derives from "Sugar Bear", a childhood nickname.^[1] He remained an excellent student and athlete, so much so that he won a football scholarship to University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he played collegiate football for several years.^[2] After school, he played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams as a replacement player during the 1987 NFL strike.^[3] Later, he found work as a concert promoter and a bodyguard for celebrities including Bobby Brown. Knight's legal problems began in 1987 when he faced auto theft, concealed weapon and attempted murder charges, ultimately receiving probation. Two years later, he formed his own music-publishing company, and allegedly made his first big fortune in the business by coercing Vanilla Ice into signing over royalties from his smash hit "Ice Ice Baby" owing to material that he supposedly sampled from one of Knight's company associates. (The possibly apocryphal story holds that Knight held Ice by his ankles off of a 20th-floor balcony, though in Ice's version, the threat was more implied.) Knight next formed an artist management company and signed prominent West Coast hip hop artists The D.O.C. and DJ Quik.

Through the former, he met several members of the seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A. In 1993, Suge would have a son, Andrew, born on April 19, sharing the same birthday as him. Andrew is currently living in the Greater Los Angeles area with his mother, "Tia". Another son, Taj, is said to be living in Atlanta with his mother, Davina Barnes. Most recently, a daughter, Bailei, with R&B singer Michel'le.^[4]

Death Row Records

The logo for Death Row Records is a blindfolded man strapped into an electric chair

Dr. Dre of N.W.A wished to depart from both his group and their label, Ruthless Records, run by Eazy-E, another member of N.W.A. According to N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller, Knight and his henchmen threatened Heller and Eazy-E with pipes and baseball bats in order to secure Dre's release^[5]. Ultimately, Dre co-founded Death Row Records in 1991 with Knight, who famously vowed to make it "the Motown of the '90s."

For a time, Knight made good on his ambitions: He secured a distribution deal with Interscope, and Dre's 1992 solo debut, The Chronic, became one of the most influential rap albums of all time^[6]. It also made a star of Dre's protégé, Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose debut album, Doggystyle, was another smash hit in 1993^[7]. As Dre's signature G-funk production style became an influential part of hip-hop, Death Row became a reliable brand name for gangsta rap fans, and even its lesser releases sold consistently well.

Meanwhile, Death Row had begun a public feud with 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, and when Knight traveled to Miami for a hip-hop convention in 1993, he was apparently seen openly carrying a gun. The following year, he opened a private, by-appointment-only nightclub in Las Vegas called Club 662, so named because the numbers spelled out MOB, Knight's gang affiliation, on telephone keypads. In 1995, he ran afoul of activist C. Delores Tucker, whose criticism of Death Row's glamorization of the "gangsta" lifestyle may have helped scuttle a lucrative deal with Time Warner.

Addition of Tupac

Additionally, Knight's feud with East Coast impresario Sean Combs (aka P Diddy) took a nasty turn when Knight insulted the Bad Boy label honcho on air at the Source Awards in August 1995. Openly critical of Puffy's tendency of ad-libbing on his artists' songs and dancing in their videos, Knight announced to the audience of recording artists and industry figures, "Anyone out there who wanna be a recording artist and wanna stay a star, but don't have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing, come to Death Row."

The same year, Knight offered to post a hefty bail for Tupac Amaru Shakur if the troubled rapper agreed to sign with Death Row. Shakur agreed, setting the stage for his 1996 blockbuster double album All Eyez on Me and the smash hits "California Love" and "How Do U Want It." Shakur helped Death Row stay on top of a marketplace that was already shifting back toward the East Coast, which had devised its own distinct brand of hardcore rap.

Loss of Dr. Dre and Tupac

The label suffered a major blow when Dr. Dre, frustrated with the company's increasingly thuggish reputation and Knight's violent inclinations, decided to leave and form his own label. A stream of Dre-dissing records followed, but things turned tragic in September 1996, when Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

When Shakur's East Coast rival, The Notorious B.I.G., was murdered in a similar fashion in March 1997, speculation immediately arose that Knight was involved and that B.I.G.'s death was a revenge killing; although former Death Row artists like Snoop Dogg would later state that Suge was involved in Tupac's murder as well, despite being wounded himself in the incident. Subsequent investigations exposed a web of connections between Death Row Records, gang members who worked there, and LAPD officers who sometimes worked security for the label. Author Randall Sullivan claimed that the majority of clues found by investigators assigned to B.I.G.’s killing “pointed... directly at Suge Knight”.^[8] Mario Ha’mmonds, a convicted felon who shared a cellblock with Knight at San Luis Obispo Men’s Colony in the late 1990s, claimed that Knight took credit for the murder, and quoted him as saying, “'My people handled the business. They took care of him. . . “^[8] No one has ever been charged in connection with the crime, however, and Suge has denied any involvement.

After the death of Tupac Shakur and the release of Tha Doggfather, Snoop Doggy Dogg openly blasted Suge Knight for the killing of Shakur and he decided to leave the label, which he did in 1997, moving to Master P's No Limit Records and then forming his own record label, Doggystyle Records. In 2002, Snoop released song "Pimp Slapp'd", dissing Suge and Death Row. In 2006, Snoop again attacked Knight verbally charging him for the death of Tupac Shakur. Suge responded stating that Snoop is a "police informer" as he "never goes to jail".

Prison

In 1996 Knight was sent to prison for a parole violation. In 1997 he was sentenced to 9 years for the violation. He was released in 2001. In 2003, however, he was sent to jail again for violating parole when he struck a parking lot attendant.^[9]. Death Row Record's income rapidly declined due to Knight's incarceration. It managed to save itself from complete bankruptcy by releasing archived Snoop Dogg compilation albums and posthumous Tupac albums. Despite signing new artists, Suge never released any of their albums.

End of Death Row

On April 4, 2006, Suge Knight filed bankruptcy due to civil litigation against him in which Lydia Harris claimed to have been cheated out of a 50% stake in Death Row Records. Prior to filing, Knight had been ordered to pay $107 million to Harris.^[10] Under questioning by creditors, he denied having money tucked away in foreign countries or in an African company that deals in diamonds and gold. Bankruptcy documents filed showed Knight had no income this year from employment or operation of a business. According to financial records, his bank account contained just $11, and he owned clothing worth $1,000, furniture and appliances valued at $2,000, and jewelry worth $25,000. He also testified that the last time he had checked the label’s financial records was at least 10 years prior. Knight’s lawyer said that his client was still “at the helm” of Death Row and had been working on securing distribution deals for the label’s catalog. Knight had also testified that he had reached an agreement with Lydia Harris, saying "I settled for a million and signed off on it."^{[citation needed]} Harris told reporters she had received a $1 million payment but had not agreed to settle the matter. "I'm telling you, I didn't do a settlement for $1 million. That's ridiculous. Let's keep it real," she said.^[11]

Knight skipped a meeting with his creditors after injuring himself in a motorcycle accident. Another scheduled meeting with the creditors had been missed after Suge said he had experienced a death in his family. Finally on July 7, 2006, the federal judge, Ellen Carroll, ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Suge Knight's Death Row Records, saying the record label had undergone a gross amount of mismanagement. She commented that "apparently there's no one at the helm of Death Row".^{[citation needed]}

He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which allows a company to continue business operations while restructuring. Death Row was being operated by Neilson during the bankruptcy proceedings, while Knight oversaw his bankruptcy estate as a debtor in possession.

Knight was engaged again in another dispute with former friend and ex-associate Snoop Dogg after Snoop disrespected him in Rolling Stone magazine. Suge responded on Pagesix.com calling Snoop Dogg "a rat" and "a crybaby", accusing him of not serving time in prison due to his close relations with the police and running away from "real" fights.^[12]

In June 2007, he placed his seven-bedroom, 9 1/2-bath home in Malibu on the market for $6.2 million as part of his "financial makeover". The mansion was finally sold in December 2008 in bankruptcy court for $4.56 million. ^[13]

Knight has started a new record label called Blackball Records, with its first signee Young Life and has featured it in his new reality show called "Unfinished Business". The show is based on Knight dispelling long-standing rumors in sit down interviews, his days with Death Row and the artists he worked with, and finding new talent for his record label. As of April 2009, the show has not been picked up by any major network.

Later troubles

On May 10, 2008, Knight was involved in an altercation involving a monetary dispute outside of a nightclub in Hollywood. He was knocked out for 3 minutes, taken to the hospital, and did not cooperate with the LAPD. About a month later, he sold Death Row Records to New York-based company Global Music Group, which confirmed it had purchased the firm in a statement to the Associated Press news agency^[14]^[15]

On August 27, 2008, Knight was arrested on drug and aggravated assault charges after leaving a Las Vegas strip club. When police arrived on the scene, Knight was beating his girlfriend of three years and brandishing a knife. Reports also allege that he was under the influence of both ecstasy and hydrocodone. He was later released on $19,000 bail.^[16]^[17] Knight's girlfriend, Melissa Isaac, who was scheduled to testify against him in the assault case, has since gone missing, leading to speculation that Knight is involved in her disappearance.^[18] As of October 31, police and prosecutors had still failed to contact Knight's girlfriend, Melissa Isaac, and no formal charges have been brought against Knight.^[19] On December 5, 2008 Suge Knight was cleared of all charges. Knight’s attorney, David Chesnoff, said the prosecution had "discovery problems and witness problems." Prosecutor Susan Benedict did not immediately return a call for comment. When Knight was asked about the positive verdict he replied "God is good, Happy Holidays".

As part of an October 30, 2008 bankruptcy claim, Suge also filed a lawsuit against Kanye West and his associates. The lawsuit concerns an August 2005 shooting at Kanye's pre-Video Music Awards party, where Knight suffered a gunshot wound to the upper leg.^[20]^[21] The lawsuit cites damages of mental and physical pain caused by the shooting, costs of surgery, loss of income and the theft of a 15 carat $135,000 diamond earring.

On January 25, 2009, an auction was held for everything found in the Death Row Records office after the company filed for bankruptcy, including some of Suge's personal items. Of note was the Death Row Records electric chair which sold for $2500.^[22]

On February 16, 2009, Suge was beaten badly at a private party at the W Scottsdale Hotel, held in celebration of the NBA All-Star Game. He was taken by ambulance to an Arizona hospital for treatment of extensive facial injuries including broken facial bones. Robert Carnes Jr., who identified himself to police as the business manager of hip-hop star Akon^[23] (but was later denied by Akon's publicist), was arrested along with Thomas Anderson Jr., and charged with assault and disorderly conduct. Officers were called by hotel security and arrived to witness Carnes punch Knight in the face twice before subduing him.^[24]

In late March, 2009, Suge Knight was implicated in the robbery of Akon producer, Noel "Detail" Fisher. According to Christopher Walker, an employee of Detail, on the morning of March 25, 2009, five armed men broke into Detail's house, stating that they were collecting a debt on behalf of Knight. $170,000 worth of jewelry was stolen, along with a locked safe, stereo equipment and the key to a Mercedes vehicle. Walker claims the incident is related to the altercation at the W Scottsdale Hotel in February.^[25]

References

^ Hirschberg, Lynn (1996-01-14). "Does a Sugar Bear Bite?". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E3D91039F937A25752C0A960958260. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
^ Rachael Levy, Former coaches portray Knight in positive light, Las Vegas Sun, September 10, 1996 , Accessed November 3, 2008.
^ imdb.com,Biography for Marion "Suge" Knight Accessed November 15, 2008
^ Michel'le
^ http://www.murderdog.com/archives/doc/doc.html
^ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=The%20Chronic&artist=Dr.%20Dre&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2007&sort=Artist&perPage=25
^ Rollin' With Dre: The Unauthorized Account: An Insider's Tale of the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of West Coast Hip Hop (Williams/Alexander, 2008) ISBN 0345498224
^ ^a ^b "The Unsolved Mystery of the Notorious B.I.G.". RollingStone.com (Rolling Stone). December 05, 2005. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/8898338/the_unsolved_mystery_of_the_notorious_big. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
^ Teresa Wiltz (June 17, 2007). "Like Knight and Day? Gangsta Rap Brought 'Suge' Knight Wealth -- and Lots of Trouble. Now He's Singing a Different Tune.". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061500505.html.
^ http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/6894
^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/05/AR2006050501109.html
^ Suge Knight responds to Snoop Dogg, New York Post, 11/30/06
^ HipHopDX.com - Suge Knight's Mansion Sold In Bankruptcy Court. HipHopDX.com. Accessed December 3, 2008.
^ "Suge Knight knocked out in nightclub fight", United Press International
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7506883.stm
^ "Suge Knight arrested in Las Vegas", The Beat Junkies
^ http://www.thebeatjunkies.co.uk/musis/suge-knight-arrested/
^ "Suge Knight's Girlfriend is Missing"
^ Still no charges filed
^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1508497/20050828/knight_marion_suge_.jhtml
^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9135148/
^ http://www.ocregister.com/articles/death-row-auction-2290871-records-chair
^ http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/16/suge-knight-beat-down-again/
^ Rap producer injured in Ariz. hotel fight Associated Press 2-16-09
^ "Feud Between Akon and Suge Triggered Robbery". TMZ.com (TMZ.com). March 25, 2009. http://www.tmz.com/2009/03/25/fued-between-akon-and-suge-triggered-robbery/. Retrieved March 31, 2009.

External links

Suge Knight bio The 411 on Death Row's Boss [authored by Balance: 411@hiphop.sh]
"Dead Poets Society," George magazine, Cathy Scott
Suge Knight
NFL stats at Databasefootball.com
Suge Knight website

v • d • e Death Row Records

Founders	Dr. Dre · Suge Knight

Former artists	2nd II None · Above the Law · Crooked I · Daz Dillinger · Danny Boy · Dr. Dre · The D.O.C. · Gina Longo · Hammer · J-Flexx · Jewell · Kurupt · The Lady of Rage · LBC Crew · Lil' C-Style · Lisa Lopes · Michel'le · Nate Dogg · Outlawz · Petey Pablo · Prince Ital Joe · RBX · Sam Sneed · Soopafly · Snoop Doggy Dogg · Swoop G · Tha Dogg Pound · Tha Realest · Top Dogg · Tray Deee · Tupac Shakur · Young Soldierz

Albums	15 Years on Death Row · Above the Rim · Christmas on Death Row · Chronic 2000 · Death Row Greatest Hits · Death Row: The Singles Collection · Dysfunktional Family · Gang Related · Gridlock'd · The Very Best of Death Row · Too Gangsta for Radio

Rampart scandal

Notable accused officers	Victims	Coverup and investigation	Gang involvement	Other elements
Nino Durden Kevin Gaines Brian Liddy David Mack Rafael Pérez	Frank Lyga Javier Ovando	Brian S. Bentley Bernard Parks Russell Poole	18th Street gang Bloods Death Row Records Suge Knight	Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums Los Angeles Police Department LAPD Rampart Division

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