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Death Row RecordsAs a youth, he was involved with the M.O.B. Piru street Bloods gang, while attending High school in Lynwood,CA and during his later years was frequently seen wearing their colors. 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 money in the business by coercing Vanilla Ice into signing over royalties from his smash album To the Extreme (by dangling him by his ankles over a hotel balcony), owing to material that he supposedly sampled from one of Knight's company creations. However, Vanilla Ice had two versions of this story, the aforementioned and one he presented several years later in an MTV interview, saying that it was simply a discussion between friends. Knight next formed an artist management company and signed prominent West Coast figures the 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 Dr. Dre. Several disputes between N.W.A and their label were made, involving Suge Knight who negotiated a contract release for Dr. Dre that, according to N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller, "involved Knight and his henchmen threatening the two with pipes and baseball bats". Finally, Dre co-founded Death Row Records in 1991 with Knight, who famously vowed to make it "the Motown of the '90s."
Image:Sugeknightmug.jpg Knight's mugshot for violating probation 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." Tupac 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 while he was a passenger in a car driven by Knight. When Shakur's East Coast rival, Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls), was murdered in a similar fashion in early 1997, speculation immediately arose that Knight was involved and 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 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, although he was hit by shrapnel and treated in the hospital, and he also said in an interview that even if he knew who murdered Shakur, he wouldn't rat anyone out to the police. ImprisonmentVideotape at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel where Knight and Shakur had attended a boxing match prior to the shooting 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 was raped repeatedly by MS-13 gang members. Knight's home was also burlgarized, and a search warrant was issued at his office and police seized a vehicle thought to be the getaway car in the Biggie Smalls' murder. Further time in prison
Recent activitiesKnight was released from jail April 23, 2004. Original artist Kurupt is now the label's headliner, and his album, Against Tha Grain, was released in 2005. After his release, Knight announced Death Row Records would join with other labels to produce a Christmas hip-hop album to benefit both the families of soldiers serving in Iraq and the relatives of those who died. However, no such album has been released. Suge Knight has a son who goes by the name Taj Knight who lives in Atlanta. He was born on September 30, 1991, in Los Angeles, California. He lives with his mother Davina Barnes and attends a boarding school in Georgia.[citation needed] Suge is said to be developing an autobiography entitled "American Dream/American Nightmare". However, a targeted release date of fourth-quarter 2005 came and went with no book being released. He has hinted that he will describe his experiences as a bodyguard and rap impresario and relate stories about John F. Kennedy, Jr., Jennifer Lopez, and the "scoop" on Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, as well as his first public statement about the deaths of Tupac and Biggie. Suge also claims to be planning a movie to tell the "real story" of Death Row. [1] In October 2004, despite having not been formally invited, Suge attended the VIBE Awards, ostensibly to support Petey Pablo, whom he manages. That night Dr. Dre was to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. With Suge in the audience, a man approached Dr. Dre shortly before Dre was called up for the award and feigned interest in an autograph before punching Dre. In the resulting scuffle, G-Unit rapper Young Buck stabbed the man. Immediately, stories pointed fingers at Suge, who went on The Late Late Show and insisted he supports Dr. Dre. The man, Jimmy James Johnson, faces life in prison due to the three strikes law in California, after Dre insisted he be charged. Johnson is now claiming that Suge paid him $5,000 to punch Dre in order to humiliate him before Dre received his Lifetime Achievement Award from Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg. On the evening of February 5, 2005, Knight was arrested in Barstow, California, after police pulled him over for making an illegal U-turn. They found marijuana in his Ford pickup truck. He was booked on suspicion of violating his parole. Sheriff's officials detained Knight pending his transfer to state prison, where it was to be decided whether Knight would be charged or released. He was released shortly thereafter. [2] Early Sunday morning on August 28, 2005, the day of the MTV Video Music Awards, Knight was shot in the leg in Miami Beach, Florida during a party held in honor of Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music record label. He was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center and treated for the gunshot wound. Police say they have not been able to identify the assailants, but they are still talking with eyewitnesses. 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 Lydia Harris. [3] 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. 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, according to the records. He had testified that the last time he checked the label’s financial records was at least 10 years ago. 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." 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. 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, the federal judge Ellen Carroll on July 7, 2006 ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Suge Knight's Death Row Records, saying the record label has undergone gross mismanagement. She commented that "apparently there's no one at the helm of Death Row". He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which allows a company to continue business operations while restructuring. Death Row is currently being operated by Neilson during the bankruptcy proceedings, while Knight oversees his bankruptcy estate as a debtor in possession. Recently he was engaged again in a feud with his archrival 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.[1] In the 2006 movie The Hard Corps (starring Jean-Claude Van Damme), the character of Terrell Singletery (a violent rap mogul with criminal intentions who was released from prison) is loosely based on Suge Knight's profile. ControversyWhile criminal charges have never been filed, a number of journalists and hip hop artists have accused Knight of some level of complicity in the murders of both Tupac Amaru Shakur and Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G.). Theories of possible motives for the murder of Shakur generally revolve around money. Knight is believed to have owed Shakur millions of dollars in royalties, and Shakur had expressed a desire to leave Death Row Records to further pursue his career through the alias "Makaveli." Theories of possible motives for Wallace's murder, which occurred a few months after Shakur's, are not as clear. Some have speculated that Knight orchestrated a hit on Wallace to make both deaths seem like the aftermath of an East Coast vs. West Coast feud, and the murders were in fact widely publicized by the media as a feud. To this day, no charges have been filed in either case, which is also controversial. Theories for the lack of prosecution include that the shooters were corrupt LAPD officers who were associates of Knight, and the LAPD did not want this information to be leaked (although an unrelated case would eventually reveal Knight's connections within the LAPD). However, the Las Vegas police were also criticized in their investigation of Shakur's murder; an LAPD report suggested disappointment with a "lack of initiative" on the part of the Las Vegas police. Death Row Records and the Jewish Defense LeagueDuring Dr.Dre’s defection from Ruthless Records (during which time Eazy-E was physically harmed by Suge Knight), there was a fear of further violence. Ruthless Records executives, Mike Klein and Jerry Heller sought assistance from the Jewish Defense League (JDL).[4] Mike Klein, former Ruthless Records director of business affairs said "The League offered to provide bodyguards to Eazy-E when Knight allegedly threatened him in the early 1990s." This provided Ruthless Records with muscle to enter into negotiations with Death Row Records over Dr.Dre’s departure. While Suge Knight violently sought an outright release from Ruthless Records for Dr.Dre, the JDL and Ruthless records management were able to sit down with Death Row and negotiate a release in which the record label would continue to receive money and publishing rights from future Dr.Dre projects. It was under these terms Dr.Dre left Ruthless Records and formed Death Row Records with Suge Knight. The FBI launched a money laundering investigation, assuming that the JDL was extorting money from Ruthless Records to fight their extremist causes. This led to JDL spokesperson Irv Rubin to issue a press release stating "There was nothing but a close, tight relationship" between Eazy-E and the League. Jerry Heller has explained JDL’s involvement with Ruthless Records for even more reasons than the FBI investigated. Heller has acknowledged that Eazy E received death threats, and it was discovered that he was on hit list by some neo-Nazi skinheads. The FBI never bothered to inform Eazy that his life was in danger. Heller has speculated that it may have been because of the Fuck Tha Police song. Heller said "It was no secret that in the aftermath of the Suge Knight shake down incident where Eazy was forced to sign over Dr Dre, Michele and DOC, that Ruthless was protected by Isreali trained/ connected security forces."[5] Jerry Heller maintains that Eazy E admired the group for their slogan Never Again, and that he had plans to do a movie about the group. Further reading
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