Suge Knight was extremely successful as a businessman in the 1990s and, alongside Dr Dre, signed some of the most successful acts of the decade. With albums such as The Chronic, Doggystyle and All Eyez on Me, all released through his label, Knight made a good amount of money.
However, he didn’t just have interests on the West Coast and was keen to nab some of the East Coast’s most prominent up-and-coming stars following the death of 2Pac. That said, in an interview with the Art Of Dialogue podcast, Yonkers emcee Styles P revealed that Knight was looking to sign not only his crew, The LOX, but also DMX.
Speaking to the interviewer Mighty Bolton, Styles P recalled Knight attempting to sign them before they landed a writing deal with Diddy, stating, “[Suge] tried to sign us before we got to Bad Boy.” At the time, the trio and their Yonkers counterpart DMX were independent acts that were very popular in New York.
Although Knight had been formidable throughout the decade, he was operating on the West Coast, and Death Row wouldn’t have been a practical setup for The LOX. Explaining this, Styles P elaborated, “Our music was circulating, people were checking for us, and Suge Knight was on that list. It just didn’t make sense for us at the time.”
Although Knight had zero experience with managing artists from the East Coast and had no idea what direction Death Row was going in, he continued to look for MCs and presented offers to DMX, who rejected him and signed with Def Jam.
Vaguely recalling the late rapper’s predicament, Styles P told Art Of Dialogue, “I’m pretty sure of that. I don’t remember that specifically, but I’m pretty sure of that because before X signed to Def Jam, he was on the market, and pretty much everyone wanted to sign him, like the whole industry, really.”
During his appearance on the Art Of Dialogue podcast, while reflecting on his career and coming up with The LOX, Styles P (real name David Styles) looked back on how Mary J Blige helped them get a record deal, explaining, “Our sister Mary J. Blige was on tour, playing our music on the tour bus, and the story was, Puff came on the tour bus, heard it, and was going crazy.”
Detailing the trio’s predicament prior to signing with Diddy, Styles divulged, “At the time, Ruff Ryders was our managers, and they didn’t have a label, so Puff reached out to them, we met up with Puff one day, rhymed in front of him, and that was it.”
You can listen to Styles P’s interview in the video below.
