Suge Knight's Unlikely New BFF
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Is anyone more fascinating than Suge Knight? In the early ‘90s the failed Compton football player — with no industry connections — literally muscled his way into the center of the hottest rap scene in the world, leaving a string of platinum albums and broken jaws in his wake.
Most consider the Death Row Records co-founder, now serving a 28 year murder sentence, the quintessential bully, a real-life Deebo. Yet despite his vast influence and decades of overexposure, he’s never really told his side of the story.
He’s had chances. While I was shopping my West Coast rap history Original Gangstas in 2014, one publisher passed because they’d just signed Suge to do his memoirs. That memoir never happened. A year later he loudly complained about his portrayal in the N.W.A movie Straight Outta Compton, demanding an absurd payday, and even showing up uninvited in his blood red Ford F-150 Raptor to the set of a promotional video for the film. In the ensuing skirmish Knight ran over a man, leading to his murder conviction.*
*I actually believe Knight wasn’t guilty here; the deceased man, Terry Carter, turned out to be Suge’s friend.
It’s obviously hard to root for the guy. But when I learned about his new biopic in the works, I had to smile, because for the film he’s teamed up with the least likely person imaginable — his former arch-enemy Mike Klein.
I’d post a picture of Klein here, but…