MOTHER SWEARS the reason fifty-year-old Suge Knight is so angry is because his real name is Marion. “It must be hard to be a gangsta with a girl’s name,” she chuckles. Milling over her pop culture psychology, I think perhaps mom has unearthed the thuggish truth behind the former Death Row Records CEO and his gangsta behavior. Laughing, I reply, “Yeah, I bet if someone filled-up a room with men named Marion, it’ll be a room of some of the toughest motherfuckers on the planet.” For a moment I remember cinematic cowboy John Wayne, another man named Marion who came across as an intimidating bully, but, at least “the Duke” was never charged with murder and attempted murder as Suge was after a fatal hit-and-run in Los Angeles (Compton) in January.

On February 2 of this year, the Los Angeles Times reported his latest deadly encounter: “The confrontation began about 3 p.m. Thursday when Knight and the victims began arguing on the set of Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the group N.W.A…Knight’s attorney James E. Blatt, told The Times that his client was being assaulted and, while trying to get away from his attackers, accidently ran the two men over.” Having spent the 90s writing about rap music for urban publications The Source, Vibe andRappages, I knew that Suge Knight never does anything by accident.

A football player in high school and college, Suge played briefly with the L.A. Rams before getting kicked to the curb and becoming a bodyguard for soul singer Bobby Brown and rapper The D.O.C. While working, he was also hustling, learning all he could about the music business. When the six-foot-three, 300-pound bruiser began making moves to stop working for chump change and start making real money as a mogul, everything he did seemed quite calculated. Of course, when it comes to Knight, it usually means someone within close proximity will suffer, or perhaps die.

Since the beginning of Suge Knight’s rein in the music business more than twenty years ago, he has been nothing but trouble. Back in 1991, when he reportedly persuadedrapper and businessman Eazy-E, of Ruthless Records fame, to release producer Dr. Dre (before Beats By, there was g-funk) from his contract, he set into motion a rude boy reputation and gorilla pimp persona that has followed him during his crazy career. As Dave Chappelle would say, Suge was a prime example of when keeping it real goes wrong.



http://www.theweeklings.com/mgonzales/2015/07/07/the-worst-people-in-america-suge-knight

I remember hearing him and Warren G didn't really get along but I don't know any details.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”