Warren G (real name Warren Griffin) is a known name concerning 1990s West Coast hip-hop, and, as Dr Dre’s step-brother, he had a front-row seat to the Death Row show. However, although he was never officially signed to the infamous label, he kept close ties to its artists and had eyes on its co-founder Suge Knight.
As a Long Beach native, Warren G grew up with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, who became two of the label’s biggest stars. As a result, Griffin was very interested in what was happening while his 213 group mates were on Death Row. However, there were some behind-the-scenes practices that the ‘Regulate’ emcee found concerning.
Although, as previously mentioned, Griffin was affiliated with the camp, he never saw eye to eye with Suge Knight, and they often butted heads. Therefore he rarely interfered with the label. In an interview with Talib Kweli on his People’s Party podcast, the ‘Do You See’ musician recalled the time he got into an altercation with Knight surrounding Snoop Dogg’s contract.
Griffin, who had officially signed with Def Jam, looked over Snoop’s Death Row contract and advised Snoop against signing the paperwork as it had several red flags. Telling Kweli about the document, Griffin recalled, “I told Snoop, ‘No, don’t sign that. You don’t know what you’re signing. You gotta get a lawyer to look at that stuff,’ I was a young buck saying this!”
Griffin’s cautious handling of the document and hesitation was relayed to Knight by an unknown source, and soon the notorious bully was on his case. Warren G recalled when he was in the studio and was approached by Knight about his actions, revealing, “He was like, ‘Aye, blood! Where Warren G at?!’ And I was like, ‘Shit, what’s up?’ He said, ‘Aye, blood. You told them not to sign that contract?!'”
Suge eventually grabbed the producer and began to manhandle him. However, Griffin swiftly told Knight that if he got physical, some Long Beach heavyweights would quickly be on his case. Recalling his reaction to Knight trying to wrestle him, Griffin detailed what he said him, disclosing, “I said, ‘N*gga, if you don’t get your hands off me, I’m calling my brother, I’m calling all my homeboys.’ He let me go. And I had one of my guys with me; luckily he didn’t have no gun ’cause he was a gunner. If he’d have had something, he probably would’ve shot him — and I didn’t want him to do it, but he probably would’ve. I know how he is.” You can hear Warren G explain his altercation with Knight in the video below.
