Suge Knight has cast doubt on the legitimacy of Snoop Dogg‘s Death Row Records ownership, claiming he fraudulently purchased the iconic gangsta rap label.
The Long Beach rapper became the new owner of Death Row in February 2022 after acquiring the label — with whom he kickstarted his career in the early ’90s — through MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music).
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But in an interview with TMZ from behind bars, co-founder and former CEO of the label, Suge Knight, questioned the legality of the deal.
Speaking from CA State Penitentiary where he’s serving 28 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, Suge claimed his ex-business partner Michael “Harry-O” Harris committed bankruptcy fraud to get the company from him.
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While he doesn’t have an issue with Snoop owning the label, Knight believes his former signee was only able to acquire the label due to it being forfeited when a lawyer failed to attend court, with a default judgement in 2013 transferring it into the possession of MNRK.
Suge said the bankruptcy proceeding was a violation of the law, and that Death Row will never truly be the same without him in charge.
As TMZ pointed out, however, Snoop Dogg wasn’t actually involved with the bankruptcy case as his purchase came almost a decade later in 2022.
“Well, if he do, I doubt that,” Knight said when asked about Snoop being the top dog at Death Row. “First of all, you gotta look at it like this: I am Death Row. So I’m quite sure when it’s said and done, [2Pac’s] All Eyez On Me and Makaveli will definitely come back to me, and the rest of the stuff.
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“But one problem with that is: Snoop has a partner, which is Michael Harris. They committed fraud, they bankruptcy fraud. I didn’t lose my company by doing anything wrong; they went in and the lawyer didn’t show up, and they got a default judgement.”
He continued: “I settled the judgement. They turned around and said I didn’t settle the judgement. But they committed bankruptcy fraud which we just found out for sure last week. When they filed for bankruptcy in ’95, they said it didn’t have anything to do with Death Row.
“You can’t commit bankruptcy fraud and settle and do those type of things … It’s called illegal, it’s a crime. You can’t take the person who committed the worst crime of the century, taking Death Row from Black people and try to give it to white people, and think he gonna grab Snoop and they gonna get it back. It doesn’t work like that.”
The West Coast rap legend previously thanked MNRK for making the deal a reality when it was announced he was the new owner of Death Row last year.
“I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value,” he said in a statement at the time.
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“It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me.
“I would like to personally thank the teams at Blackstone, MNRK and especially David Kestnbaum, who worked collaboratively with me over several months to make this exciting homecoming a reality. “I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”
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Snoop Dogg brought Death Row Records’ catalog back to streaming platforms last month, including his Doggystyle and Tha Doggfather albums, Dr. Dre’sThe Chronic and 2Pac’sAll Eyez on Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, among others.
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