WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.659 I want you to picture an object. It's sitting 00:00:01.659 --> 00:00:03.220 in the middle of an auction house, surrounded 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:06.019 by, you know, random estate sale, leftovers, 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.560 old lamps, maybe some dining room sets. Right. 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:11.779 But this object is different. It's an electric 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:15.259 chair. Not a real one used for executions, but 00:00:15.259 --> 00:00:19.359 a stylized, kind of terrifying replica. For years, 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.280 this chair sat in the lobby of a company that 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:25.359 generated hundreds of millions of dollars. It 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.629 was a symbol. A symbol of absolute power. A symbol 00:00:29.629 --> 00:00:32.409 that said, we run this industry. And now it's 00:00:32.409 --> 00:00:35.549 just stuff. And now the auctioneer brings down 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:39.549 the hammer. Sold for $2 ,500. It's less than 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:41.990 you'd pay for a decent used Honda Civic. Exactly. 00:00:42.109 --> 00:00:44.890 And that image, that cheap sale of a once feared 00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:47.810 symbol is, I think, the perfect entry point for 00:00:47.810 --> 00:00:49.929 what we're talking about today. We are diving 00:00:49.929 --> 00:00:52.109 into a story that is arguably the most volatile 00:00:52.109 --> 00:00:54.350 mix of American ambition and American violence 00:00:54.350 --> 00:00:56.280 we've ever covered. We were talking about the 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:58.759 rise, the dominance, and the catastrophic collapse 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:01.439 of Mary and Suge Knight. It is a massive topic. 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:03.979 And frankly, it's a heavy one. When we look at 00:01:03.979 --> 00:01:05.519 Suge Knight, we aren't just looking at a record 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.219 executive. We're looking at a figure who, I mean, 00:01:08.219 --> 00:01:10.140 he fundamentally changed the architecture of 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:12.260 the music business in the 1990s. Oh, completely. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.280 He built an empire on G -funk and fear. He promised 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:18.799 to build the Motown of the 90s. And if you look 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:24.099 at the charts from, say, 1992 to 1996, he actually 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:26.980 did it. That's the crazy part. The financial 00:01:26.980 --> 00:01:30.280 success is just undeniable. But you can't separate 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:32.900 the money from the method. You just can't. No 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:34.840 way. We're talking about a man who is currently 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.980 sitting in a cell at the R .J. Donovan Correctional 00:01:37.980 --> 00:01:41.439 Facility serving a 28 -year sentence for manslaughter. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.180 How do you go from owning the world to owning 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:47.909 nothing but a prison ID number? That is the mission 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:50.030 for this deep dive. We need to move past the 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:51.930 caricatures. Everyone knows the urban legends, 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:54.709 the balcony stories, the red suits. But we need 00:01:54.709 --> 00:01:56.650 to look at the mechanics. We're going to parse 00:01:56.650 --> 00:01:59.189 through the myths, the confirmed legal records, 00:01:59.390 --> 00:02:01.269 the bankruptcy filings, which are absolutely 00:02:01.269 --> 00:02:02.870 fascinating, by the way. Oh, they're incredible. 00:02:03.069 --> 00:02:05.510 And the contradictory theories surrounding the 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:09.110 murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. We're 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:11.689 trying to understand how business strategy, gang 00:02:11.689 --> 00:02:14.990 culture and the legal system. all collided to 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:17.409 dismantle one of the most powerful men in entertainment. 00:02:17.810 --> 00:02:19.770 And we have a mountain of sources today. We've 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:21.750 got biographical records from his childhood, 00:02:21.990 --> 00:02:24.509 legal filings stretching from the late 80s all 00:02:24.509 --> 00:02:27.689 the way to 2018, investigation reports, and those 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:29.509 bankruptcy documents you mentioned. It's a lot 00:02:29.509 --> 00:02:31.729 to get through. It is. But before we get to the 00:02:31.729 --> 00:02:34.469 fall, we have to understand the ascent. And honestly, 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:36.469 the beginning of this story threw me for a loop. 00:02:36.830 --> 00:02:39.129 I expected his childhood to be, you know, a horror 00:02:39.129 --> 00:02:42.169 story. But the origin of the name Suge is... 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.939 It's kind of sweet. It really disarms you, doesn't 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:47.979 it? His birth name is Marion Hugh Knight Jr., 00:02:47.979 --> 00:02:50.919 born and raised in Compton. But the name is Suge. 00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:53.860 It's short for Sugar Bear. Sugar Bear. His father 00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:56.659 gave him the nickname because apparently he was 00:02:56.659 --> 00:02:59.740 a sweet -natured kid. It's hard to reconcile 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:02.800 Sugar Bear with the guy who would later allegedly 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:05.719 dangle people off balconies. But even as a Sugar 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:08.000 Bear, he wasn't exactly a teddy bear physically. 00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:10.580 Right. And this is crucial for understanding 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:13.060 his psychology. He wasn't just some street tough. 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:16.639 He was a disciplined, high level athlete. He 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:18.659 attended Linwood High School, where he was a 00:03:18.659 --> 00:03:21.599 track star and a football standout. OK. He graduated 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.639 in 83, went to El Camino College, then transferred 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.520 to UNLV, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:30.139 He played defensive end. OK. For the listeners 00:03:30.139 --> 00:03:32.500 who aren't football heads, maybe explain the 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:34.900 significance of that position. What kind of person 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:37.439 plays defensive end? The defensive end is the 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:41.219 aggressor. Your entire job is to disrupt. You 00:03:41.219 --> 00:03:43.060 are trying to break through the offensive line 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:45.960 people whose only job is to stop you and sack 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:48.539 the quarterback. So pure aggression. It requires 00:03:48.539 --> 00:03:51.400 explosive power, aggression, and a complete lack 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:53.819 of fear regarding physical collision. You are 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:56.560 the hammer, not the nail. And Suge Knight played 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.840 this position at a division -ile level. He was 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:00.740 good. He was good enough to get a look from the 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:04.219 NFL. In 1987, he went undrafted but got invited 00:04:04.219 --> 00:04:06.719 to the Los Angeles Rams training camp. He was 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:09.979 cut during camp. And this is a pivot point in 00:04:09.979 --> 00:04:11.520 his life that I think gets overlooked. I mean, 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.900 imagine the frustration. You are right there. 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:16.040 You can touch the dream. You're wearing the jersey. 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:18.459 So close. And then you're told, not good enough. 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:21.480 But he didn't just walk away. And this is where 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.699 the story gets really interesting and frankly 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:27.279 a little gritty. He actually did play two games 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.699 for the Rams. He did. But the context is everything. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.199 Exactly. This was during the 1987 NFL Players 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:37.680 Strike. The regular players, the stars, the union 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.100 members, they were refusing to play to get better 00:04:40.100 --> 00:04:43.019 contracts. So the owners decided to field teams 00:04:43.019 --> 00:04:46.740 of replacement players. The scabs. Correct. Sujanite 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:49.480 crossed the picket line. He played as a replacement 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:51.879 player. Let's unpack the psychology of that for 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:53.899 a second. What does that tell us about him at 00:04:53.899 --> 00:04:56.779 that age? It tells us he was pragmatic, ambitious, 00:04:56.920 --> 00:04:59.600 and totally willing to be the villain if it meant 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.720 getting what he wanted. Being a scab player is 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:05.420 incredibly isolating. The fans hate you because 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:07.899 you aren't the real team. The striking players 00:05:07.899 --> 00:05:09.819 hate you because you're undermining their leverage. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.040 Right. You're in a hostile environment. Totally. 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.040 You are relying only on yourself and your immediate 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.879 physical ability to survive. And I think that 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:20.660 experience, being an outsider forcing his way 00:05:20.660 --> 00:05:23.290 in, is a... perfect metaphor for how he would 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:25.410 later approach the music industry. That makes 00:05:25.410 --> 00:05:28.209 so much sense. He learned that being hated didn't 00:05:28.209 --> 00:05:30.149 matter if the check cleared or if you got on 00:05:30.149 --> 00:05:32.930 the field. Pretty much. But the NFL dream died 00:05:32.930 --> 00:05:35.610 quickly. He played those two games, the stripe 00:05:35.610 --> 00:05:39.069 ended, and he was out. So, no football career, 00:05:39.370 --> 00:05:41.569 he's a massive guy with a chip on his shoulder, 00:05:41.709 --> 00:05:45.100 and no job. What's the pivot? He leans into his 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:47.680 physical assets. He starts working as a concert 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.379 promoter and a bodyguard. He worked security 00:05:50.379 --> 00:05:52.959 for Bobby Brown, which put him right in the mix 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:55.839 of the R &B and New Jack swing era. So he's in 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:57.600 the world. He's in the world. He's watching. 00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:00.339 He's learning. He sees how the artists are treated, 00:06:00.420 --> 00:06:02.779 how the money moves, and importantly, who actually 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:05.139 holds the power. And it's not the guy singing. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:08.000 It's the guy owning the rights. So he decides 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.500 to become the guy owning the rights. In 1989, 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.600 he forms a music publishing company. And this 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:17.579 leads us to the first major legend of the Suge 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:21.139 Knight mythos, the Vanilla Ice incident. This 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:23.759 is a story that arguably made Suge Knight before 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:25.879 anyone really knew who he was. Okay, so set the 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:30.800 scene. Vanilla Ice has Ice, Ice Baby. It is the 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:32.939 biggest song on the planet. It's a printing press 00:06:32.939 --> 00:06:36.060 for money. Now, Suge Knight claims that one of 00:06:36.060 --> 00:06:38.019 his clients, a guy named Mario Johnson, known 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:40.420 as Chocolate, actually wrote parts of that song. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:43.519 Okay. If that's true, Mario Johnson is entitled 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.060 to royalties. He's entitled to publishing. Can 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:48.019 we pause for a second? I feel like publishing 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:49.980 is one of those terms people hear but don't fully 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:52.899 grasp. Why is publishing so much more valuable 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.240 than just being paid to perform? Great question. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:57.839 Think of it like real estate. If you perform 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.139 a song, it's like being paid to paint a house. 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:02.300 You get a one -time fee. Okay. But if you own 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:04.720 the publishing, you own the house. Every time 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.079 that song is played on the radio, used in a movie, 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:09.480 streamed on Spotify, or played in a commercial, 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.540 the owner of the publishing gets paid rent. It's 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:16.220 passive income. Forever. It is passive perpetual 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:19.300 income. Suge Knight understood that owning the 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.019 song was infinitely more valuable than just managing 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:24.699 the singer. Okay, so he wants Mario Johnson's 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:27.160 cut of the publishing. Vanilla Ice isn't trying 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:30.279 to give it up. Suge pays him a visit. The story, 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:32.779 the one that everyone whispers about, is that 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:35.360 Suge took Vanilla Ice out onto the balcony of 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.980 his hotel room and held him by his ankles over 00:07:37.980 --> 00:07:40.100 the edge until he signed the papers. That is 00:07:40.100 --> 00:07:42.420 the legend. It's cinematic. It's terrifying. 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:45.259 It establishes Suge as a monster immediately. 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:47.399 But that's the legend. But we have to look at 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:50.019 the source material. Years later, in court and 00:07:50.019 --> 00:07:52.699 in interviews, Vanilla Ice clarified what actually 00:07:52.699 --> 00:07:55.620 happened. So no dangling. According to Ice, no. 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:58.620 He said Suge Knight broke into the room, paced 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:00.839 around, stared him down, and threatened to throw 00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:02.959 him off the balcony. He asked him, how would 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.339 you like to go over that rail? Okay, so he didn't 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:07.339 physically hold him upside down, but the threat 00:08:07.339 --> 00:08:10.019 was very, very real. Exactly. But here is the 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:13.680 fascinating part. The result was the same. Vanilla 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.040 Ice signed over the rights. And the myth that 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:18.560 he was dangled. That became more valuable to 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:22.120 Suge than the truth. Why? Why is the myth better? 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:24.699 Because it meant he didn't have to dangle the 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:27.660 next guy. If everyone believes you're crazy enough 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:30.540 to drop a pop star off a balcony, they just sign 00:08:30.540 --> 00:08:33.960 the check. It's the reputation economy. That 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:36.580 story circulated through the industry, and suddenly 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:38.519 Suge Knight was the man you didn't negotiate 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:40.720 with. You just survived him. And he took that 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.419 money, which was significant, and he started 00:08:43.419 --> 00:08:45.879 building the real empire. This is where we see 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:48.399 the transition from the enforcer to the architect. 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:50.919 Yeah. He starts managing artists like DJ Quick 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:53.620 and the DOC. And through the DOC, he gets the 00:08:53.620 --> 00:08:56.820 meeting that changes history. He meets Dr. Dre. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.539 At this point, Dr. Dre is in NWA. He's a star, 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:03.039 but he's unhappy. He's signed to Ruthless Records, 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.720 run by Eazy -E, and the manager, Jerry Heller. 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:09.230 Jerry Heller is a character in himself. The older 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:12.450 white industry veteran who N .W .A. eventually 00:09:12.450 --> 00:09:14.669 felt was exploiting them. Right. And Dre felt 00:09:14.669 --> 00:09:16.529 he was the sonic architect of the group, but 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:18.769 wasn't seeing the money he deserved. He wanted 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:21.409 out. But contracts are contracts. You can't just 00:09:21.409 --> 00:09:24.230 walk away because you're unhappy. And Jerry Heller 00:09:24.230 --> 00:09:26.669 and Easy were not going to let their golden goose 00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:29.730 fly away. So Suze Knight steps in as the negotiator. 00:09:29.789 --> 00:09:31.669 And this is another one of those moments where 00:09:31.669 --> 00:09:36.330 business and violence just. They completely blur 00:09:36.330 --> 00:09:38.529 together. The sources vary slightly on the details, 00:09:38.669 --> 00:09:41.269 but the core narrative is consistent. Suge Knight 00:09:41.269 --> 00:09:43.889 and some associates, often described as henchmen 00:09:43.889 --> 00:09:46.529 carrying baseball bats and lead pipes, paid a 00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:48.929 visit to Eazy -E and Jerry Heller. So this was 00:09:48.929 --> 00:09:50.889 not a meeting with lawyers and notepads. No. 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:53.090 Jerry Heller has described it as the most terrifying 00:09:53.090 --> 00:09:55.870 moment of his life. They weren't looking at clauses 00:09:55.870 --> 00:09:57.690 in a contract. They were looking at weapons. 00:09:58.009 --> 00:10:01.909 Wow. The threat was, release Dr. Dre, the DOC, 00:10:01.970 --> 00:10:04.169 and Michelle from their contracts or things are 00:10:04.169 --> 00:10:07.059 going to get f***ed. And Eazy -E, who was no 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:08.919 softie, I mean, he was a street guy himself, 00:10:09.179 --> 00:10:12.139 eventually signed the release. He did. In April 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:15.100 1991, the contracts were terminated. Dr. Dre 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:18.179 was free. And almost immediately, he and Sujanite 00:10:18.179 --> 00:10:20.679 co -founded Death Row Records. This is the moment, 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:24.340 1991. They secure a distribution deal with Interscope 00:10:24.340 --> 00:10:26.419 Records. We should pause on that Interscope deal, 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:30.460 too. That was Jimmy Iovine. And Jimmy Iovine 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:32.879 is a genius in his own right, and he saw something 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:35.759 in Suge and Dre. What did he see? He saw that 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:38.159 they had a direct line to the culture that no 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:40.820 major label had. He gave them creative control. 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:44.019 He gave them distribution. It was a massive gamble 00:10:44.019 --> 00:10:46.840 for a major corporation to back a label with 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:49.580 this kind of reputation, but the potential payoff 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:52.759 was huge. And the payoff came instantly. The 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:57.080 Chronic. Late 1992. Dr. Dre drops the Chronic. 00:10:57.139 --> 00:10:59.740 It didn't just sell records. It changed the frequency 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:02.399 of hip -hop. Before this, you had the chaotic, 00:11:02.460 --> 00:11:04.879 fast -paced sound of Public Enemy or the raw 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:07.919 aggression of NWA. Right. The Chronic was smooth. 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:10.279 It was G -funk. It was melodic. You could play 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:12.779 it at a barbecue or a drive -by. That's a dark 00:11:12.779 --> 00:11:14.899 way to put it, but it's true. It had mass appeal. 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:17.240 It went triple platinum by the end of 1993, and 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:19.980 it set the stage for the next batter. Snoop Doggy 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:23.000 Dog. Doggy style. Released in 1993, it was the 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.220 first debut album to ever enter the charts at 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:28.460 number one, quadruple platinum. So within two 00:11:28.460 --> 00:11:30.960 years, Death Row isn't just a label. It's an 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.440 economic superpower. Suge Knight is suddenly 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.360 one of the richest, most powerful men in Hollywood. 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:37.600 Oh, yeah. He's dining with executives. He's on 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:41.100 magazine covers. He vowed to make Death Row the 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:43.620 Motown of the 90s. And if you look at the spreadsheet, 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:47.360 he was right. Motown had a factory -like quality 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.019 of producing hits with a distinct sound. Death 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:53.240 Row had that. It had a sound. They had the in 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:55.279 -house producers, the writers, the aesthetic. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.659 They owned the masters, which was revolutionary. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.440 Suge made sure his label kept the ownership, 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:02.899 unlike so many artists in the past who signed 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:05.440 it away. But Motown had Barry Gordy, who ran 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.879 a tight, polished ship. Death Row had Suge Knight, 00:12:09.059 --> 00:12:11.879 who ran the label like a fortress. And this leads 00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:15.100 us to part two of our outline. The empire of 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:17.639 intimidation. Because he didn't leave the street 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:20.139 stuff behind when he got rich. He doubled down 00:12:20.139 --> 00:12:22.159 on it. He integrated it. He integrated it into 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:24.200 the corporate structure. Suge was affiliated 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:27.879 with the Mob Peru Bloods in Compton. And he wasn't 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.139 shy about it. He hired gang members for everything. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.480 Security, promotion, office work. I remember 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:34.279 reading about the color schemes in the office. 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:38.299 Everything was red. The carpets, the walls. And 00:12:38.299 --> 00:12:41.960 the famous Club 662 in Las Vegas. Break that 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:43.720 down for us. It sounds like just a random number, 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.580 but it's a code, right? If you look at an old 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:48.200 telephone keypad where the letters are under 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.580 the numbers, look at the 6. It has M -N -O. Look 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:55.440 at the 2. It has A -B -C. So 6 -6 -2. M -O -B. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:59.220 Mob. Member of Bloods. It was hiding in plain 00:12:59.220 --> 00:13:02.019 sight. He was literally branding his nightlife 00:13:02.019 --> 00:13:05.299 ventures with gang signs. But bringing gang culture 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:07.840 into a corporate environment. I mean, that sounds 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:09.940 like a human resources nightmare, to put it lightly. 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:12.100 It was combustible. You have to remember, Bloods 00:13:12.100 --> 00:13:14.740 isn't just one monolithic group. There are sets. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:17.519 You had Mob Peru, Fruittown Peru, Looters Park 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:19.700 Peru. And they don't always get along. Sometimes 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:22.059 these sets have internal beefs. Now you have 00:13:22.059 --> 00:13:24.460 them all working in the same hallway, armed with 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:27.370 egos and money on the line. The source material 00:13:27.370 --> 00:13:29.710 describes the death row offices as a place of 00:13:29.710 --> 00:13:31.889 constant tension. People were getting beaten 00:13:31.889 --> 00:13:35.210 up in meetings. Literally. In a meeting. Literally. 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:38.330 If you said the wrong thing, or if Suge felt 00:13:38.330 --> 00:13:41.470 disrespected, the meeting could turn into a physical 00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:44.610 altercation. It created a culture of silence 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:48.240 and absolute loyalty based on fear. And he wasn't 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.860 just fighting his own employees. He was picking 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.120 fights with the entire industry. It seemed like 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.120 conflict was his fuel. It was a strategy. It 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:58.720 kept them in the headlines. He feuded with Luther 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.960 Campbell from Two Live Crew. He went to war with 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:03.559 C. Dolores Tucker. She was the civil rights activist, 00:14:03.580 --> 00:14:05.740 right? Yes. She was campaigning against gangster 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:07.700 rap, arguing that it was destroying the black 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:10.620 community. Suge didn't just ignore her. He sued 00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:14.409 her. He attacked her publicly. Wow. That feud 00:14:14.409 --> 00:14:16.490 actually cost Death Row a distribution deal with 00:14:16.490 --> 00:14:18.450 Time Warner because the shareholders got spooked. 00:14:18.529 --> 00:14:20.649 So we see the first cracks, his aggression starts 00:14:20.649 --> 00:14:22.690 costing him money. But the biggest feud, the 00:14:22.690 --> 00:14:25.750 one that defined the entire 1990s cultural landscape, 00:14:25.870 --> 00:14:29.389 was the East Coast versus West Coast beef. The 00:14:29.389 --> 00:14:32.070 war with Bad Boy Records and Sean Puffy Combs. 00:14:32.129 --> 00:14:34.269 And we can pinpoint the exact moment it went 00:14:34.269 --> 00:14:37.370 nuclear. The 1995 Source Awards in New York City. 00:14:37.610 --> 00:14:40.529 The scene is legendary. New York is the birthplace 00:14:40.529 --> 00:14:43.120 of hip -hop. The crowd is hostile toward the 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.840 West Coast. Sujanik gets on stage. He's wearing 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.620 that bright red shirt. And he grabs the mic. 00:14:48.779 --> 00:14:50.960 And he delivers a monologue that was clearly 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:53.980 rehearsed. He says, any artist out there that 00:14:53.980 --> 00:14:56.299 want to be an artist and stay a star and don't 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:58.200 have to worry about the executive producer trying 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:00.460 to be all in the videos, all on the records, 00:15:00.539 --> 00:15:04.740 dancing, come to Death Row. The crowd went nuts. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:07.179 He was taking a direct shot at Puffy, who is 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:09.639 known for dancing in Biggie's videos and being 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:12.480 a very, very visible executive. It was a declaration 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:15.019 of war. It wasn't just a joke. It was Sooj saying, 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:19.360 I am the alpha. He is a clown. Choose your side. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.179 And the reaction wasn't just diss tracks. It 00:15:22.179 --> 00:15:24.779 got dangerous fast. Very dangerous. The sources 00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:27.200 mentioned that a man named Conrad Tillard, known 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.539 then as the hip -hop minister, actually had to 00:15:29.539 --> 00:15:31.879 intervene. Really? Yeah. He was counseling Puffy 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:34.259 and had to send elite guards from his mosque 00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:36.600 to protect Puffy because there were credible 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:39.600 death threats coming from Suji's camp. We aren't 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:41.559 talking about rap battles anymore. We are talking 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:44.379 about hit squads. And right in the middle of 00:15:44.379 --> 00:15:47.940 this brewing war, Sujin makes his most aggressive 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:51.190 business move yet. He acquires the ultimate weapon, 00:15:51.470 --> 00:15:55.850 Tupac Shakur. It's late 1995. Tupac is at a low 00:15:55.850 --> 00:15:57.970 point. He's in Clinton Correctional Facility 00:15:57.970 --> 00:16:00.529 in New York, convicted of sexual abuse. He's 00:16:00.529 --> 00:16:03.570 broke. His legal fees have drained him. He feels 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:05.909 abandoned by his friends in the industry. And 00:16:05.909 --> 00:16:08.129 Suge Knight sees an opportunity. He flies to 00:16:08.129 --> 00:16:10.570 New York. The deal with the devil, as it's often 00:16:10.570 --> 00:16:14.090 called in the lore. Suge posts $1 .4 million 00:16:14.090 --> 00:16:17.659 in bail. Cash. Cash. But the condition is a contract, 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:20.059 a three -album deal with Death Row. Tupac signs 00:16:20.059 --> 00:16:22.080 it on a napkin, or at least that's the story, 00:16:22.179 --> 00:16:25.679 and he's out. He's out. And he is a man on fire. 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:28.279 He flies to L .A., goes straight to the studio, 00:16:28.419 --> 00:16:31.379 and the output is staggering. All Eyes on Me 00:16:31.379 --> 00:16:33.279 was the first double album in hip -hop history. 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:37.100 He recorded songs daily. He and Suge were inseparable. 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:39.679 They fed off each other's paranoia and aggression. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.120 It was like pouring gasoline on a fire. Tupac 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.899 adopted the mob Piru attitude. He started acting 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:47.200 like a soldier in Siege of Zion. And strangely 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:50.139 enough, amidst all this gangster posturing, there's 00:16:50.139 --> 00:16:52.120 a detail in our notes that I found fascinating. 00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:56.259 M .C. Hammer. M .C. Hammer. You can't touch this 00:16:56.259 --> 00:16:59.480 guy. Yes. M .C. Hammer signed to death row in 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:02.120 1995. That feels like a glitch in the simulation. 00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:05.190 M .C. Hammer and Suge Knight. Hammer was trying 00:17:05.190 --> 00:17:07.410 to reinvent himself, and he was close friends 00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:10.309 with Tupac. It just goes to show how magnetic 00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:13.549 death row was at that moment. Everyone wanted 00:17:13.549 --> 00:17:15.549 to be near that heat. But the heat was about 00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:17.730 to burn the house down. Yeah. We have to move 00:17:17.730 --> 00:17:21.950 to September 7, 1996. Las Vegas. the Mike Tyson 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:24.329 fight at the MGM Grand. This is the night the 00:17:24.329 --> 00:17:27.049 90s ended in many ways. Suge and Tupac are there. 00:17:27.109 --> 00:17:28.890 They are celebrating. They are on top of the 00:17:28.890 --> 00:17:31.289 world. They leave the fight. And in the lobby 00:17:31.289 --> 00:17:33.849 of the MGM Grand, one of Suge's associates spots 00:17:33.849 --> 00:17:36.470 a man named Orlando Anderson. Orlando Anderson 00:17:36.470 --> 00:17:39.250 was a Southside Crip. Correct. And earlier that 00:17:39.250 --> 00:17:41.529 year, Anderson had allegedly robbed a death row 00:17:41.529 --> 00:17:44.170 associate at a mall, stole a chain. This was 00:17:44.170 --> 00:17:46.670 a violation. So Tupac sees him. And instead of 00:17:46.670 --> 00:17:49.329 letting security handle it, Tupac attacks him. 00:17:49.630 --> 00:17:52.329 Tupac throws the first punch. Then Suge jumps 00:17:52.329 --> 00:17:55.210 in. Then the entourage jumps in. They are stomping 00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:58.190 this man in the middle of a casino lobby. Cameras 00:17:58.190 --> 00:18:00.730 are everywhere. Keep that moment in mind because 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:04.190 that specific kick, that stomp, is going to come 00:18:04.190 --> 00:18:07.329 back to haunt Suge legally. But right now, the 00:18:07.329 --> 00:18:09.950 adrenaline is high. They leave. They go to change 00:18:09.950 --> 00:18:14.230 clothes. They are heading to Club 662 for a performance. 00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:19.180 Suge is driving a black BMW 750 IL. Tupac is 00:18:19.180 --> 00:18:21.240 in the passenger seat. They are at a stoplight 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:23.799 at the intersection of Flamingo and Koval. A 00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:25.839 white Cadillac pulls up alongside them. And an 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:28.240 arm comes out of the back window. Gunfire erupts. 00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:31.140 Tupac is hit four times. Suge is grazed in the 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:33.200 head by a fragment. The car tires are blown out. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:35.559 Suge manages to U -turn and drive away from the 00:18:35.559 --> 00:18:37.940 chaos, but the damage is done. Tupac lingers 00:18:37.940 --> 00:18:40.039 for six days in the hospital, but he passes away 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:43.349 on September 13th. And this. This is where the 00:18:43.349 --> 00:18:45.890 story just splinters into a million pieces. The 00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:48.289 conspiracy theories around this murder are endless, 00:18:48.450 --> 00:18:50.289 and I want to be careful here. We're going to 00:18:50.289 --> 00:18:51.950 look at the main theories that appear in the 00:18:51.950 --> 00:18:54.029 source material, but we are going to look at 00:18:54.029 --> 00:18:56.509 them critically. Agreed. We have to separate 00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:59.049 Internet detective work from legal filings and 00:18:59.049 --> 00:19:00.789 credible reporting. Let's start with the most 00:19:00.789 --> 00:19:03.970 grounded theory. Theory number one, the retaliation. 00:19:04.269 --> 00:19:06.690 This is the narrative pushed by the L .A. Times 00:19:06.690 --> 00:19:10.250 initially and later by Detective Greg Kading 00:19:10.250 --> 00:19:13.119 in his book Murder Rap. This theory is simple 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.420 cause and effect. Street politics. Tupac and 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:19.259 Suge beat up Orlando Anderson in the lobby. That 00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:21.839 was a public humiliation for a crip. Right. Orlando 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:24.279 Anderson went back to his hotel, met up with 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:27.279 his uncle Keef D and other Southside crips, got 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.660 a gun, went hunting, found the BMW and fired 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:32.599 the shots. It makes the most sense. You punch 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:35.359 a guy, he shoots you. Right. And sources note 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:37.359 that while the Las Vegas police were initially 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:40.240 slow to focus on Anderson, he was later named 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.200 as the prime suspect. Keith D., years later, 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:45.259 has given interviews essentially confessing to 00:19:45.259 --> 00:19:47.559 being in the car. Okay. It's the least Hollywood 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:50.279 theory, but it fits the gang dynamics perfectly. 00:19:50.700 --> 00:19:52.880 But people don't like simple answers. They want 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.299 a mastermind, which leads to theory number two, 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:58.140 the insider plot. This is the Russell Poole theory. 00:19:58.420 --> 00:20:00.900 Russell Poole was an LAPD detective who became 00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:03.700 obsessed with this case. He argued that Suge 00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:06.079 Knight orchestrated the hit on Tupac himself. 00:20:06.730 --> 00:20:08.990 Why kill your golden goose? I mean, Tupac was 00:20:08.990 --> 00:20:11.650 making him millions. Poole's argument was that 00:20:11.650 --> 00:20:13.970 Tupac was planning to leave Death Row. He was 00:20:13.970 --> 00:20:16.410 auditing the books, realizing he was being cheated 00:20:16.410 --> 00:20:18.970 and wanted to start his own label, Machiavelli 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:22.029 Records. Wow. Suge, realizing he couldn't control 00:20:22.029 --> 00:20:24.430 him and that Tupac possessed millions of dollars 00:20:24.430 --> 00:20:27.450 in unreleased masters, decided that a dead legend 00:20:27.450 --> 00:20:30.190 was more valuable than a living rival. And this 00:20:30.190 --> 00:20:32.450 theory connects to the Biggie murder too, right? 00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:35.930 Yes. Poole believed Suge then conspired to have 00:20:36.009 --> 00:20:38.069 Biggie Smalls killed six months later to make 00:20:38.069 --> 00:20:40.029 it look like a coastal war and divert suspicion 00:20:40.029 --> 00:20:43.450 from himself. He implicated rogue LAPD officers, 00:20:43.769 --> 00:20:46.890 specifically a corrupt cop named David Mack and 00:20:46.890 --> 00:20:49.529 a hitman named Amir Muhammad. This theory was 00:20:49.529 --> 00:20:51.750 huge. It was the basis for the movie City of 00:20:51.750 --> 00:20:54.549 Lies. It was the basis for a massive lawsuit 00:20:54.549 --> 00:20:57.029 filed by Biddy's mother, Valetta Wallace. But 00:20:57.029 --> 00:20:58.869 we have to look at the rebuttal because this 00:20:58.869 --> 00:21:02.150 theory, it falls apart under scrutiny. How so? 00:21:02.589 --> 00:21:05.670 The Los Angeles Times ran a bombshell story by 00:21:05.670 --> 00:21:08.109 Chuck Phillips supporting this theory. But they 00:21:08.109 --> 00:21:11.690 had to issue a humiliating full retraction. A 00:21:11.690 --> 00:21:13.529 retraction. That's rare for a paper like the 00:21:13.529 --> 00:21:16.109 Times. It turned out the documents implicating 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:18.930 these people were forged. The sources were unreliable. 00:21:19.069 --> 00:21:22.150 One source, known as Psycho Mike, admitted he 00:21:22.150 --> 00:21:24.730 had memory lapses and was just guessing. The 00:21:24.730 --> 00:21:27.089 FBI files didn't support it. So the whole thing 00:21:27.089 --> 00:21:29.609 just collapsed. The Wallace family lawsuit was 00:21:29.609 --> 00:21:32.569 eventually dismissed in 2010. So while the evil 00:21:32.569 --> 00:21:35.450 genius Suge theory is compelling drama, the evidence 00:21:35.450 --> 00:21:37.630 just isn't there. Plus, there's what the sources 00:21:37.630 --> 00:21:40.970 call the logic defense. Author Kathy Scott brings 00:21:40.970 --> 00:21:43.150 this up. It's the most common sense rebuttal. 00:21:43.430 --> 00:21:45.789 Suge Knight was driving the car. The bullets 00:21:45.789 --> 00:21:48.150 came from the right side. Tupac was in the passenger 00:21:48.150 --> 00:21:50.950 seat. Suge was sitting inches away from him. 00:21:51.109 --> 00:21:54.309 A bullet grazed Suge's head. Exactly. If you 00:21:54.309 --> 00:21:56.630 hire a hitman to shoot up a car, you do not sit 00:21:56.630 --> 00:21:58.450 in the driver's seat. You don't tell the shooter, 00:21:58.589 --> 00:22:00.940 hey, spray the car with bullets. Just... Try 00:22:00.940 --> 00:22:03.720 not to hit me. It's a suicidal way to assassinate 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:05.519 someone. That's a really good point. It's too 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.259 messy, too unpredictable. So if we lean toward 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:10.779 the Orlando Anderson theory for Tupac, what about 00:22:10.779 --> 00:22:13.680 Biggie? Biggie Smalls was murdered in Los Angeles 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:17.720 in March 1997. This brings us back to Greg Kading's 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.500 investigation. His theory is that while Suge 00:22:20.500 --> 00:22:24.220 didn't kill Tupac, he did retaliate for it. He 00:22:24.220 --> 00:22:26.579 couldn't get Orlando Anderson immediately, so 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:29.440 he targeted the perceived enemy general. Biggie 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:31.740 Smalls. You took my knight, I take your king. 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:34.799 Kading alleges Suge hired a mob Piru associate 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.299 named Wardell Poochie Fouse to kill Biggie. Regardless 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:40.539 of who pulled the trigger, the impact on Death 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:43.019 Row was immediate. The empire began to fracture. 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:45.700 It was a mass exodus. Snoop Dogg was the first 00:22:45.700 --> 00:22:48.500 to realize the danger. He openly blamed Suge 00:22:48.500 --> 00:22:51.099 for Tupac's death. He felt unsafe. I bet. He 00:22:51.099 --> 00:22:53.200 left the label leaving millions on the table 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.200 and signed with No Limit Records Master P's label. 00:22:56.420 --> 00:22:59.160 That was a huge cultural shift. Snoop went from 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:01.720 the smooth G -funk to the southern bounce of 00:23:01.720 --> 00:23:04.259 No Limit just to stay alive. And Dr. Dre had 00:23:04.259 --> 00:23:06.400 already left to form Aftermath, famously saying, 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:08.759 I've had enough of the negativity. So the talent 00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:12.099 is gone. Tupac is dead. Snoop is gone. Gray is 00:23:12.099 --> 00:23:15.579 gone. But the legal system, the legal system 00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:18.390 was just warming up. This leads us to part four, 00:23:18.549 --> 00:23:22.109 the slow collapse. Remember that kick in the 00:23:22.109 --> 00:23:24.589 MGM lobby, the one caught on camera? The probation 00:23:24.589 --> 00:23:27.809 violation. Suge was on probation for a 1992 assault. 00:23:28.009 --> 00:23:31.650 That kick violated his parole. While he was recovering 00:23:31.650 --> 00:23:34.329 from the gunshot wound, the judge revoked his 00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:36.910 probation. He was sentenced to nine years in 00:23:36.910 --> 00:23:40.150 prison. Nine years. He went in late 1996. He 00:23:40.150 --> 00:23:42.859 didn't come out until 2001. Think about how much 00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:46.400 music changed between 96 and 01. When he went 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.259 in, gangsta rap was pop music. When he came out, 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.519 it was the era of Eminem, Jay -Z, Blink -182, 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:55.819 TRL. The world had moved on. And Suge tried to 00:23:55.819 --> 00:23:57.480 reenter, but he just kept tripping over his own 00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:00.079 impulses? He couldn't adjust. In 2003, he's back 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.559 in prison for 10 months. Why? Because he punched 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:04.519 a parking lot attendant. A parking lot attendant. 00:24:04.779 --> 00:24:06.519 It shows a complete lack of impulse control. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:09.480 He's a multimillionaire CEO, allegedly, and he's 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:11.569 brawling with a valet. And speaking of... millions. 00:24:11.950 --> 00:24:14.269 Let's talk about the money, because the bankruptcy 00:24:14.269 --> 00:24:16.869 documents tell a devastating story. This is the 00:24:16.869 --> 00:24:19.730 Lydia Harris lawsuit. Lydia Harris, known as 00:24:19.730 --> 00:24:22.170 Lady Boss, claimed she and her husband provided 00:24:22.170 --> 00:24:24.289 the initial seed money for death row and were 00:24:24.289 --> 00:24:28.789 cut out. She sued for a 50 % stake. And in 2005, 00:24:28.970 --> 00:24:32.230 a judge agreed. The judgment was $107 million. 00:24:32.930 --> 00:24:35.789 Cities didn't have $107 million. The coffers 00:24:35.789 --> 00:24:39.170 were dry. In 2006, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 00:24:40.009 --> 00:24:41.990 And this is where we have to look at the specific 00:24:41.990 --> 00:24:44.670 line items because they strip away all the glamour. 00:24:44.710 --> 00:24:48.069 Lay it on me. How bad was it? Sidji Knight, the 00:24:48.069 --> 00:24:51.789 man who bailed Tupac out for $1 .4 million cash, 00:24:52.190 --> 00:24:55.750 testified under oath that he had exactly $11 00:24:55.750 --> 00:24:58.029 in his bank account. $11. That's a sandwich. 00:24:58.269 --> 00:25:00.769 He listed his assets. Clothing worth $1 ,000. 00:25:00.970 --> 00:25:03.329 Furniture worth $2 ,000. Appliances. It was a 00:25:03.329 --> 00:25:05.430 yard sale list. And the creditor started selling 00:25:05.430 --> 00:25:09.089 everything. The Malibu Mansion. Sold for $4 .56 00:25:09.089 --> 00:25:11.950 million to pay debts. And the electric chair. 00:25:12.089 --> 00:25:13.809 The electric chair, the symbol of death row. 00:25:13.890 --> 00:25:17.289 It was auctioned off. It sold for $2 ,500. It's 00:25:17.289 --> 00:25:21.009 poetic justice in a dark way. The symbol of his 00:25:21.009 --> 00:25:23.549 power was worth almost nothing in the real world. 00:25:24.029 --> 00:25:25.910 And didn't some of his stuff end up on reality 00:25:25.910 --> 00:25:28.890 TV? It did. A storage locker full of death row 00:25:28.890 --> 00:25:31.029 memorabilia was auctioned off on the show Storage 00:25:31.029 --> 00:25:34.089 Wars. Barry Weiss bought it. Wow. It's the ultimate 00:25:34.089 --> 00:25:36.490 indignity, your empire being picked through by 00:25:36.490 --> 00:25:39.069 guys looking for a quick flip on A &E. But it 00:25:39.069 --> 00:25:41.990 wasn't just financial ruin. The enforcer reputation 00:25:41.990 --> 00:25:44.750 was crumbling, too. He became a target. The fear 00:25:44.750 --> 00:25:46.690 was gone. People realized he was vulnerable. 00:25:46.990 --> 00:25:49.950 In 2005, he was shot in the leg at a Kanye West 00:25:49.950 --> 00:25:52.940 party. Right. In 2008, he was knocked unconscious 00:25:52.940 --> 00:25:55.519 outside a nightclub for three minutes. Three 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.000 minutes is a frighteningly long time to be out. 00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:01.400 It is. In 2009, he was beaten up at a W Hotel 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:04.980 in Scottsdale. And in 2014, he was shot six times 00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:07.519 at a Chris Brown party at a club called 108K. 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:10.700 Six times. And he survived. Not only did he survive, 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:13.559 he walked to the ambulance. The man's physical 00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:16.400 resilience is unbelievable. But the pattern is 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.700 clear. He was no longer the predator. He was 00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:21.059 the prey. Which brings us to the final tragic 00:26:21.059 --> 00:26:23.420 chapter. Yeah. The incident that put him away 00:26:23.420 --> 00:26:28.000 for good. 2015. The NWA biopic Straight Outta 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.940 Compton is being filmed. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:33.380 are producing it. It's a massive celebration 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:36.079 of their legacy. And Suge is not involved. He 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:38.880 feels disrespected. He feels they are rewriting 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.640 history and making him look bad. He's angry. 00:26:41.819 --> 00:26:45.779 On January 29, 2015, Suge drives to the base 00:26:45.779 --> 00:26:48.299 camp where they're filming some promotional material. 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:51.220 He gets into an argument with a man named Clee 00:26:51.220 --> 00:26:53.359 Sloan, who was working security. They ask him 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:56.160 to leave. He leaves. But he follows them to a 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.779 burger stand parking lot nearby, Tam's Burgers 00:26:58.779 --> 00:27:01.279 in Compton. And this is caught on CCTV. It's 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.660 hard to watch. Suge is in his red truck. He pulls 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:06.000 up. Cleese Sloan approaches the window. They 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.440 argue. Suge puts the truck in reverse, knocking 00:27:08.440 --> 00:27:11.160 Sloan down. Then he puts it in drive. He floors 00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:14.259 it. He runs over Cleese Sloan's legs. But standing 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:16.839 behind Sloan is a man named Terry Carter. And 00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:18.799 this is the part that breaks your heart. Terry 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:21.299 Carter wasn't an enemy. No. Terry Carter was 00:27:21.299 --> 00:27:23.900 a friend. He was a respected businessman in Compton. 00:27:24.019 --> 00:27:26.359 He co -founded Heavyweight Records. He was there 00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:28.420 to mediate. He was trying to help Suge smooth 00:27:28.420 --> 00:27:31.440 things over. And Suge ran him over. Killed him. 00:27:31.710 --> 00:27:34.049 The truck crushed him. Suge drove off. The trial 00:27:34.049 --> 00:27:37.529 was a circus. Suge claimed self -defense. He 00:27:37.529 --> 00:27:39.670 said he saw a gun. He said he was fearing for 00:27:39.670 --> 00:27:41.890 his life because of an ambush. But the video 00:27:41.890 --> 00:27:44.470 footage was devastating. And in the courtroom, 00:27:44.650 --> 00:27:47.769 Suge was falling apart. He cycled through attorneys. 00:27:47.950 --> 00:27:50.529 He collapsed during a hearing. He claimed he 00:27:50.529 --> 00:27:52.670 was going blind. He said he had a brain tumor. 00:27:52.930 --> 00:27:55.309 Just a total meltdown. It was the behavior of 00:27:55.309 --> 00:27:57.329 a desperate man trying to delay the inevitable. 00:27:57.509 --> 00:28:00.259 But you can't delay forever. In September 2018, 00:28:00.660 --> 00:28:03.339 just before the trial was set to start, he cut 00:28:03.339 --> 00:28:07.279 a deal. He pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. 00:28:07.460 --> 00:28:10.480 In the sentence. 28 years. He got 22 years for 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:12.579 the hit and run. And because of California's 00:28:12.579 --> 00:28:15.099 three strikes law, they added another six years 00:28:15.099 --> 00:28:17.480 for his prior felonies. So let's look at the 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:21.339 timeline. He went in at age 53. When is he eligible 00:28:21.339 --> 00:28:25.140 for parole? October 2034. He will be 69 years 00:28:25.140 --> 00:28:28.259 old. He is currently at the R .J. Donovan Correctional 00:28:28.259 --> 00:28:30.859 Facility. But even in there, he's trying to stay 00:28:30.859 --> 00:28:32.980 in the game. I saw a headline recently. Collect 00:28:32.980 --> 00:28:35.299 Call. It's a podcast he co -founded from prison 00:28:35.299 --> 00:28:38.339 in October 2023. He calls in to give his take 00:28:38.339 --> 00:28:41.279 on the industry. It's fascinating and sad at 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:44.200 the same time. The drive to be a mogul, to be 00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:46.619 heard, it never turns off. It doesn't. But the 00:28:46.619 --> 00:28:49.099 context has changed. He's not calling from the 00:28:49.099 --> 00:28:51.440 balcony of the Beverly Hills Hotel. He's calling 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:53.980 from a payphone in a cell block. So let's wrap 00:28:53.980 --> 00:28:56.009 this up. We've gone from the high school track 00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:59.890 star to the scab football player to the CEO who 00:28:59.890 --> 00:29:02.789 hung people off balconies or didn't to the inmate. 00:29:03.410 --> 00:29:06.269 What is the takeaway here? I think the aha moment 00:29:06.269 --> 00:29:09.250 is understanding that Suge Knight wasn't an anomaly 00:29:09.250 --> 00:29:12.049 in the system. He was the system taken to its 00:29:12.049 --> 00:29:14.750 absolute extreme. He realized that the music 00:29:14.750 --> 00:29:16.970 industry was exploitative and cutthroat, so he 00:29:16.970 --> 00:29:18.809 decided to be the most cutthroat person in the 00:29:18.809 --> 00:29:21.470 room. Right. He used gang culture as a corporate 00:29:21.470 --> 00:29:24.740 strategy. And it worked. Until it didn't. Exactly. 00:29:24.980 --> 00:29:29.099 The very tools he used to build the empire, intimidation, 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:31.500 violence, blurring the lines between the street 00:29:31.500 --> 00:29:33.579 and the boardroom, were the exact things that 00:29:33.579 --> 00:29:36.099 destroyed it. You can't introduce that kind of 00:29:36.099 --> 00:29:38.339 entropy into a business and expect it to remain 00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:40.980 stable. It just implodes. The violence eventually 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:45.380 consumed the assets, Tupac, consumed the money, 00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:49.140 legal fees, and finally consumed the man himself. 00:29:49.880 --> 00:29:52.819 It's a Shakespearean tragedy just set in 90s 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:55.500 Los Angeles with a G -funk soundtrack. It really 00:29:55.500 --> 00:29:57.579 is. I want to leave the listener with that image 00:29:57.579 --> 00:30:00.059 we started with. The electric chair. Sold for 00:30:00.059 --> 00:30:03.940 $2 ,500. A symbol of death and power. Reduced 00:30:03.940 --> 00:30:07.200 to a cheap curiosity. In a world where he once 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:10.900 posted $1 .4 million bail like it was lunch money, 00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:14.660 he ended up testifying he had $11. It forces 00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:17.599 us to ask, was the gangsta persona a marketing 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:20.319 tool that became too real? Or was it always the 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:22.200 reality and the music just happened to be playing 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:24.119 in the background while the ship went down? That 00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:26.420 is the question. Thank you for listening to The 00:30:26.420 --> 00:30:28.579 Deep Dive. This was a heavy one, but an important 00:30:28.579 --> 00:30:30.680 one. If you want to see the sources we used, 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:32.400 check the show notes. We'll catch you on the 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:33.200 next one. Stay curious.