Suge Knight is most known as one of the founders of Death Row Records. Alongside Michael ‘Harry-O’ Harris and Dr Dre, the record executive (real name Marion Knight Jr) made millions as co-founder of the label. He, along with the label, was one of the main driving forces behind the rapid success of Tupac Shakur. However, that all changed in 1996 when the rapper was shot and killed in Las Vegas.
Knight was infamous in Los Angeles. Known as one of LA’s most dangerous people in the 1990s, Knight was a member of the Compton gang ‘Mob Pirus’, a subset of the Bloods. As an actual gangster who held power, Knight made gang culture an innate part of his record label upon forming Death Row with Harry-O (a notorious LA drug dealer). As a result, from the get-go, Death Row was a hub for gangsters.
Upon signing Tupac Shakur, Suge Knight promoted and exacerbated the East Coast vs West Coast beef, so much so that he was even in the same car as Shakur the night he was murdered. However, even though Knight is incarcerated, serving 28 years for manslaughter, according to those close to him, he can never say who shot Pac, even though it is common knowledge among many.
In an interview with VLADTV, former ‘Mob Pirus’ gang leader Mob James spoke on why Suge Knight can never reveal who killed Pac. VLADTV host, DJ Vlad, explained to James that in a previous interview he had conducted with Scott Ross, it was said that Knight had considered revealing Pac’s killer for money in the late 1990s, as he couldn’t afford to pay for a defence attorney.
Explaining why Knight won’t and can’t talk about Shakur or Biggie’s murders, James explained to him, “He was a little closer than that, Vlad. He was a little closer, not just by being in the car with the murders, but he was more involved than people think. The conversations and all the shit that led up to that day and led up to the demise of these two people, my hands ain’t clean, I should say.”
James elaborated on the complex nature of the matter, “There was more to it than that. One thing people don’t understand, Suge know a whole lot, knows everything! But Suge can’t talk because if Suge talk, Suge implicate himself in 99% of the bullshit that was going on! So Suge can NEVER talk! Suge ain’t saying shit to noting about nobody…Suge can’t afford that.” You can watch the entire Mob James interview with DJ Vlad in the video below.
