The Ballad of Suge and Snoop

A claim that Snoop was connected to Tupac's murder inspires a deep dive

Have you heard Suge Knight’s new podcast, Collect Call? It’s must-see TV, basically him throwing bombs for 30 minutes at a stretch, never letting host Dave Mays, founder of The Source magazine, get a word in edgewise.

Suge’s references are frequently obscure, and the audio quality is awful, considering he’s calling from California state prison in San Diego, where he’s serving a long sentence for voluntary manslaughter.

But the gossip is juicy and the shit-talk is off the charts. Suge hardly goes a minute without accusing someone of rape, claiming someone else is stealing from him, or threatening people for talking out of turn on YouTube videos.

Suge is the greatest villain in hip-hop history.* But although almost every prominent artist from the West Coast golden era has released a biopic or published a memoir, Suge has remained oddly quiet. He’s had book and movie deals fall through. As far as I can tell, he’s never even been on Twitter.

*Kanye spent too many years as a critical darling.

And so, Collect Call basically serves as his official story. What’s so compelling is that it’s impossible to predict what he’ll say next. Case in point, on his latest episode he discusses the recent arrest in Tupac’s case, and the rumors that Sean Combs was involved in the murder.

One expects Suge to unload on his longtime rival Combs, but he has other things on his mind. He starts by going off on Deion Sanders (?), who was apparently once signed to Death Row (??), but claimed to have given the money back (???). And then, instead of taking on Puffy, Suge implies that Snoop Dogg was connected to Tupac’s death.

“Face to face, it’s gonna be a lot of explaining to do,” he says, ominously. As evidence…