Credit: Alamy

Snoop Dogg was once signed to Death Row Records when The D.O.C., Dr Dre, Suge Knight, Dick Griffey, and Harry-O were in charge. He released two number-one albums on the labels, 1993’s Doggystyle and 1996’s Tha Doggfather, before moving over to Master P’s No Limit Records. Many factors contributed to his exit, and one of those was the presence of Knight.

The Long Beach rapper has long had issues with Knight, who is currently serving a 28-year sentence in prison for a fatal hit-and-run in 2015. Both Snoop and Knight have been outspoken about each other in the media, with Snoop letting it be known how much he dislikes the hip-hop mogul getting his way through intimidation.

During an interview with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, Snoop told Complex, “He’s a bad seed and he needs to be out of the game. When you got people who practice those old ways of business as far as robbing from people and then want to bully their way around, that shit’s not cool. This game was meant to have fun. It helps a lot of people out the ghetto.”

Snoop doesn’t agree with Knight threatening people, describing him as a “non-creative motherfucker” in terms of his place in the music industry. While he’s all about the music, he claims Knight only has a reputation for violence, causing people to be scared and concerned.

The ‘Gin and Juice’ artist believes Knight is no different from a high school bully, stating his intimidation tactics are all a front and nothing to fear. “He breathes just like me and you,” he said. “If you ever went to school and you had a bully at school, usually by the third week, some motherfucker slaps the ship out of the bully and the bully no longer exits. That’s all it is. Somebody just got to stand up to him, and I’m willing to stand up to him.”

Despite being smaller in size than Knight, Snoop isn’t one to back down. He claims he can be defeated when it comes to people outsmarting him. “I’m not as big as him or as tough as they say he is. But, it’s not about being tough. It’s about being wise,” he explained. “We have an opportunity to make money and be creative. I’m an artist, so that’s why I feel we get to get him out of the game, because he is tearing the art of the game up.”

Snoop is just one of many rappers Knight has beefed with over the years, including Dre, Diddy, Eazy-E, Warren G, and Vanilla Ice. They’re still feuding in the present day, with Knight claiming Snoop is “destroying” Death Row after he purchased his former label in February 2022. In his opinion, everything Snoop touches is a flop.

Decades later, Snoop is hoping to continue the legacy of Death Row without the violence. He’s releasing music from many artists, including himself. The 53-year-old is now three solo albums deep into his return with Bacc on Death Row, Missionary, and Iz It a Crime? — a far cry from the controversial label it once was in the ’90s.