Suge Knight has publicly criticised Eazy-E’s widow, accusing her of terminating a lucrative “billion-dollar” lifetime agreement that entitled her to earnings from every career move made by Dr Dre.
The ex-owner of Death Row Records discussed this development in the latest episode of his podcast, Collect Call With Suge Knight.
The incarcerated dealmaker explained that he’d brokered an agreement with Eazy-E “where he gets a dollar off of anything that Dre does”.
He continued: “In other words, if he do a movie, if he do a beat, if he promote some type of merchandise, if he do a commercial, if he produce — off of his part, [Eazy] gets a dollar.”
Following Eazy-E’s death in 1995 of pneumonia and HIV/AIDS, Knight believes that the deal would have earned the rapper and his estate over $1billion.
After all, Dre launched his premium headphones Beats By Dre (which was later sold to Apple for $3billion). That’s without considering the albums Dre released, such as 2001 and the mammoth production credits he had for both Eminem and 50 Cent.
Following Eazy-E’s passing, the management of the rapper’s estate fell into the hands of his widow, Tomica Woods-Wright. Knight asserted that Interscope Records, the parent company of Dre’s Aftermath Records, presented Woods-Wright with an offer that essentially deprived her of a substantial ten-figure payout.
“Tomica met with Interscope,” Knight recalled, “and Interscope said, ‘Hey, why you want to get a dollar off of everything Dre does? Me and you could do business later on. Sign off and just let Dre out of it. We’re gonna do business later.’
“She signed off. They ain’t did no business with that bitch later. And guess what? That fucked Eazy’s kids, his momma, at the time his father was still living. It’s fucked his family.”
Tomica Woods-Wright is yet to respond to the claims.
