Suge Knight Marion Hugh Knight Jr , better known as Suge Knight , ( ; born April 19 , 1965 ) is the founder and CEO of Black Kapital Records and co - founder and former CEO of Death Row Records . Death Row Records rose to dominate the rap charts after Dr . Dre ' s breakthrough album " The Chronic " in 1992 . After several years of chart successes for artists including Tupac Shakur , Dr . Dre , Snoop Dogg , Outlawz and Tha Dogg Pound , Death Row Records stagnated after Knight ' s incarceration on parole violation charges in September 1996 . Early life . Marion Hugh Knight was born in Compton , California . His nickname , Suge , derives from " Sugar Bear , " a childhood nickname . He attended Lynwood High School in nearby Lynwood , California where he was a football and track star , graduating in 1983 . From 1983 to 1985 , he attended El Camino College on a football scholarship . In 1985 , he transferred to the University of Nevada , Las Vegas , and played there for two years . After college , Knight was not drafted by an NFL team , but was cut during training camp by the Los Angeles Rams . However , he became a replacement player during the 1987 NFL players ' strike , and playing two games for the Rams . Later , he found work as a concert promoter and a bodyguard for celebrities including Bobby Brown . Knight was arrested in October 1987 for domestic violence - he assaulted his girlfriend and cut off her ponytail on the street . On Halloween Night 1987 , Knight was arrested in Las Vegas for auto theft , carrying a concealed weapon and attempted murder . He had allegedly shot a man three times while stealing his car . He pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge and received two years ' probation . Two years later , Knight formed his own music - publishing company . His first big profit in the business came when Vanilla Ice ( Robert Van Winkle ) agreed to sign over royalties from Van Winkle ' s smash hit " Ice Ice Baby " because the song included material written by Knight ' s client Floyd " Earthquake " Brown . Knight and his bodyguards confronted Van Winkle several times . On one occasion , Knight entered Van Winkle ' s hotel room and allegedly dangled him by his ankles off the balcony . ( Van Winkle said only that Knight threatened to throw him off the balcony . ) The claim was resolved in court . Knight next formed an artist management company and signed prominent West Coast hip hop artists The D . O . C . and DJ Quik . Through the former , he met several members of the seminal gangsta rap group N . W . A . In 1991 , Knight had a son , Taj , who is said to be living in Atlanta with his mother , Davina Barnes . In 1993 , a second son , Andrew , was born on April 19 , Knight ' s birthday . Andrew now lives in the Greater Los Angeles as well as his mother , Tia . Knight also has daughters named Posh and Bailei , the latter with R & B singer Michel ' le . Death Row Records . Dr . Dre and The D . O . C . wanted to leave both N . W . A . and their label , Ruthless Records , run by Eazy - E , another member of N . W . A . According to N . W . A ' s manager Jerry Heller , Knight and his henchmen threatened Heller and Eazy - E with lead pipes and baseball bats to make them release Dre , The D . O . C . , and Michel ' le from their contracts . Ultimately , Dre and DOC co - founded Death Row Records in 1991 with Knight , who vowed to make it " the Motown of the ' 90s . " Initially , Knight fulfilled his ambitions : he secured a distribution deal with Interscope , and Dre ' s 1992 solo debut , " The Chronic " , has sold over three million copies . It also made a career for Dre ' s protégé , Snoop Dogg , whose debut album " Doggystyle " was another multi - platinum album . Meanwhile , Death Row had begun a public feud with 2 Live Crew ' s Luther Campbell , and when Knight traveled to Miami for a hip - hop convention in 1993 , he was apparently seen openly carrying a stolen gun . The following year , he opened a private , by - appointment - only nightclub in Las Vegas called Club 662 , so named because the numbers spelled out " MOB , " which stands for Money over Bitches , on telephone keypads . In 1995 , he ran afoul of activist C . Delores Tucker , whose criticism of Death Row ' s glamorization of the " gangsta " lifestyle may have helped scuttle a lucrative deal with Time Warner . Addition of Tupac Shakur and MC Hammer . Knight ' s feud with East Coast impresario Sean Combs ( known as Puff Daddy at the time ) progressed when Knight insulted the Bad Boy label founder on air at the Source Awards in August 1995 . Openly critical of Combs ' s tendency of ad - libbing on his artists ' songs and dancing in their videos , Knight announced to the audience , " Anyone out there who wanna be a recording artist and wanna stay a star , but don ' t have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos , all on the records , dancing , come to Death Row . " The same year , Knight offered to post a bail ( $ 1 . 4 million ) for Tupac Shakur if the troubled rapper agreed to sign with Death Row . Shakur agreed , setting the stage for his 1996 double album " All Eyez on Me " and the songs " California Love " and " How Do U Want It " . MC Hammer ' s ( Stanley Kirk Burrell ) relationship with Suge Knight dates back to 1988 . With the success of Hammer ' s 1994 album , " The Funky Headhunter " ( featuring Tha Dogg Pound ) , Hammer signed with Death Row Records by 1995 , along with Snoop Dogg and his close friend , Tupac . The label did not release the album of Hammer ' s music ( titled " Too Tight " ) while he had a career with them , although he did release versions of some tracks on his next album . However , Hammer did record tracks with Shakur and others , most notably the song " Too Late Playa " ( along with Big Daddy Kane and Danny Boy ) . After the death of Shakur in 1996 , Burrell left the record company . He later explained his concern about this circumstance in an interview on Trinity Broadcasting Network since he was in Las Vegas with Tupac the night of his death . Hammer released 2Pac ' s " Unconditional Love " , on his " Family Affair " album , in 1998 . The friendships between Hammer ( played by Romany Malco ) , Shakur ( played by Lamont Bentley ) and Knight ( played by Anthony Norris ) were depicted in the television film , " Too Legit : The MC Hammer Story " ( airing on VH1 in 2001 ) . Loss of Dr . Dre and Tupac . The label suffered a major blow when Dr . Dre , frustrated with the company ' s increasingly thuggish reputation and Knight ' s violent inclinations , decided to leave and form his own label . A stream of Dre - dissing records followed , but things turned tragic in September 1996 , when Shakur was murdered in a drive - by shooting in Las Vegas . When Shakur ' s East Coast rival , The Notorious B . I . G . ( aka Biggie Smalls ) , was murdered in a similar shooting in March 1997 , speculation arose that Knight was involved and that B . I . G . ' s death was a revenge killing ; although former Death Row artists like Snoop Dogg would later state that Knight was involved in Tupac ' s murder as well . Subsequent investigations exposed a web of connections between Death Row Records , gang members who worked there , and LAPD officers who sometimes worked security for the label . Author Randall Sullivan claimed that the majority of clues found by investigators assigned to B . I . G . ’ s killing “ pointed . . . directly at Mikey g sixx ” . Mario Ha ’ mmonds , a convicted felon who shared a cell block with Knight at California Men ' s Colony in San Luis Obispo , California in the late 1990s , claimed that Knight took credit for the murder , and quoted him as saying , “ My people handled the business . They took care of him . . . ” No one has been charged in connection with the crime , however , and Knight has denied any involvement . Tupac Shakur ' s bodyguard , Frank Alexander , produced a documentary about the murder , " Tupac Shakur : Before I Wake " , in which he stated that it would be inconceivable that Knight , who was the driver of the car in which Tupac was killed , and a very large man , would put himself in the path of bullets if he knew they were coming . In the documentary , Alexander also states that he has no reason to suspect Suge Knight , and that Knight treated the security people " very well " at all times . In addition , Cathy Scott , who worked closely with the LAPD during her career as a journalist , stated on the same documentary that " The LAPD found no evidence whatsoever that implicated Suge Knight . " She also said , " You can be sure that if the LAPD had ANY evidence that Suge Knight was involved in Tupac ' s killing they would have arrested him . " Cathy Scott wrote a book entitled " The Killing of Tupac Shakur " . On a website entitled " Archived Letters " Scott writes back to a fan of her book , stating , " Thanks very much for your note . Re : your question about Suge Knight , there never was any evidence — or even alleged evidence — linking Suge to Tupac ' s murder in any way , shape or form . He was never a suspect . The Biggie and Tupac documentary was based solely on one disgruntled ex - cop ' s theory . He despised Suge and wanted to see him go down . " In 2006 , nine years after the " Biggie Smalls " murder , the LAPD formed a task force to finally solve the case . According to its principal investigator , LAPD officer Greg Kading , Duane " Keefe D " Davis , a member of the " Crips " street gang , confessed to riding in the car involved in the Las Vegas drive - by shooting of Tupac Shakur . Keefe D claimed they had been offered " a million dollars " by Puffy Combs for the killing of Tupac and Suge Knight . While in Las Vegas he and a group of fellow Crips accidentally crossed paths with a limousine carrying both Knight and Shakur . The fatal shots were fired by Orlondo " Baby Lane " Anderson because he was on the side of the car closest to the limousine . In retaliation , Suge Knight hired Wardel " Pouchie " Fouse to hit Puffy Combs ' most valuable star , Biggie Smalls , a hit accomplished following a party at the Peterson Automotive Museum . Pouchie later survived one assassination attempt but died in a drive by shooting a year following the first attack . Despite the task force ' s findings , charges were never brought and the task force was wound down and disbanded for reasons of " internal affairs . " After the death of Tupac Shakur and the release of " Tha Doggfather " , Snoop Dogg openly blasted Suge Knight for the murder of Shakur and decided to leave the label , which he did in 1997 , moving to Master P ' s No Limit Records and then forming his own record label , Doggystyle Records . In 2002 , Snoop released the song " Pimp Slapp ' d " , in which he repudiated Suge and Death Row . In 2006 , Snoop again attacked Knight verbally , charging him for the death of Tupac Shakur . Suge responded , stating that Snoop is a " police informer " as he " never goes to jail " . End of Death Row Records . On April 4 , 2006 , Suge Knight filed bankruptcy due to civil litigation against him in which Lydia Harris claimed to have been cheated out of a 50 % stake in Death Row Records . Prior to filing , Knight had been ordered to pay $ 107 million to Harris . Under questioning by creditors , he denied having money tucked away in foreign countries or in an Africa n company that deals in diamonds and gold . Bankruptcy documents filed showed Knight had no income that year from employment or operation of a business . According to financial records , his bank account contained just $ 12 , and he owned clothing worth $ 1 , 000 , furniture and appliances valued at $ 2 , 000 , and jewelry worth $ 25 , 000 . He also testified that the last time he had checked the label ’ s financial records was at least 10 years prior . Knight ’ s lawyer said that his client was still “ at the helm ” of Death Row and had been working on securing distribution deals for the label ’ s catalog . Harris told reporters she had received a $ 1 million payment but had not agreed to settle the matter . " I ' m telling you , I didn ' t do a settlement for $ 1 million . That ' s ridiculous . Let ' s keep it real , " she said . Knight skipped a meeting with his creditors after injuring himself in a motorcycle accident . Another scheduled meeting with the creditors had been missed after Suge said he had experienced a death in his family . Finally on July 7 , 2006 , the federal judge , Ellen Carroll , ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Suge Knight ' s Death Row Records , saying the record label had undergone a gross amount of mismanagement . He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection , which allows a company to continue business operations while restructuring . Death Row was being operated by Neilson during the bankruptcy proceedings , while Knight oversaw his bankruptcy estate as a debtor in possession . In June 2007 , he placed his seven - bedroom , 9½ - bath home in Malibu on the market for $ 6 . 2 million as part of his " financial makeover " . The mansion was finally sold in December 2008 in bankruptcy court for $ 4 . 56 million . In June 2008 , he sold Death Row Records to New York - based company Global Music Group , which confirmed it had purchased the firm in a statement to the Associated Press news agency . On January 25 , 2009 , an auction was held for everything found in the Death Row Records office after the company filed for bankruptcy , including some of Knight ' s personal items . Of note was the Death Row Records electric chair which sold for $ 2 , 500 . Some of Knight ' s personal items appeared in an auction during the debut episode of A & E ' s " Storage Wars " , and a vault full of items ( including a coat ) was purchased by featured buyer Barry Weiss . Personal and legal troubles . In 1996 , Knight was sent to prison for a probation violation . In 1997 , he was sentenced to nine years for the violation . He was released on August 6 , 2001 . In 2003 , he was sent to prison again for violating parole when he struck a parking lot attendant . Death Row Records ' income rapidly declined due to Knight ' s incarceration . It managed to save itself from complete bankruptcy by releasing archived Snoop Dogg compilation albums and posthumous Tupac albums . Despite signing new artists , Suge never released any of their albums . In 2005 , Knight was shot in the leg at the Red Room at Miami Beach ' s Shore Club . To date , no one has been charged in the shooting . In 2006 Knight was engaged in another dispute with former friend and ex - associate Snoop Dogg after Snoop insulted him in " Rolling Stone " . On May 10 , 2008 , Knight was involved in an altercation involving a monetary dispute outside of a nightclub in Hollywood . He was knocked out for 3 minutes , taken to the hospital , and reportedly did not cooperate with the LAPD . On August 27 , 2008 , Knight was arrested on drug and aggravated assault charges after leaving a Las Vegas strip club . When police arrived on the scene , Knight was beating Melissa Isaac , his girlfriend of three years , and brandishing a knife . Reports also allege that he was under the influence of both ecstasy and hydrocodone . As of October 31 , police and prosecutors had still failed to contact Isaac , and no formal charges have been brought against Knight . On December 5 , 2008 Suge Knight was cleared of all charges . Knight ’ s attorney , David Chesnoff , said the prosecution had " discovery problems and witness problems . " Prosecutor Susan Benedict did not immediately return a call for comment . When Knight was asked about the positive verdict he replied " God is good , Happy Holidays " . As part of an October 30 , 2008 bankruptcy claim , Suge also filed a lawsuit against Kanye West and his associates . The lawsuit concerns an August 2005 shooting at Kanye ' s pre - Video Music Awards party , where Knight suffered a gunshot wound to the upper leg . The lawsuit cites damages of mental and physical pain caused by the shooting , costs of surgery , loss of income and the theft of a $ 147 , 000 diamond earring . In late March , 2009 , Knight was implicated in the robbery of Akon producer , Noel " Detail " Fisher . According to Christopher Walker , an employee of Detail , on the morning of March 25 , 2009 , five armed men broke into Detail ' s house , stating that they were collecting a debt on behalf of Knight . $ 170 , 000 worth of jewelry was stolen , along with a locked safe , stereo equipment and the key to a Mercedes vehicle . Walker claims the incident is related to the altercation at the W Scottsdale Hotel in February . Knight started a new record label called Blackball Records , with its first artist Young Life and featured it in a reality show , " Unfinished Business " . The show was based on Knight dispelling long - standing rumors in sit down interviews , his days with Death Row and the artists he worked with , and finding new talent for his record label . As of April 2009 , the show had not been picked up by any major network . Remaining items from Knight ' s personal property were auctioned in the first episode of " Storage Wars " on A & E , which aired on December 1 , 2010 . On February 8 , 2012 , Suge Knight was arrested in Las Vegas , Nevada , on prior outstanding traffic warrants and after police found marijuana in his car . Knight was serving three years ' unsupervised probation for driving with a suspended license at the time of his Las Vegas arrest . On February 24 , 2013 an arrest warrant was issued after Knight missed a court date on charges of driving without a license while on three years of unsupervised probation .