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Pro football prospect turned hulking enforcer, Marion Knight, Jr., nicknamed Suge for the sweet sugar bear he was as a child, had a reputation for intimidation that was the stuff of industry myth: punching a guy through a closed door and dangling Vanilla Ice off a balcony. He’d been hanging around Ruthless as the D.O.C.’s bodyguard and had grown close to Dre during his conflict with the label. With an eye on becoming a music mogul, Suge saw Dre as his meal ticket.
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album, 1991’s Niggaz4Life, and he wanted out so he could finish work on his solo material.ĭre was already done mastering the final N.W.A. All that was standing in his and Suge’s way was Eazy. On April 23, 1991, Eazy-E went up to the studios at Solar Records where he was greeted by Suge and a small entourage of men with pipes and Louisville sluggers. Suge delivered contract releases for several Ruthless artists and planned to squeeze Eazy into signing them so he could poach the artists for the fledgling label he was starting. He told Eazy he had N.W.A.’s manager Jerry Heller tied up in a van before offering a final warning: “We know where your mother lives.” With that, Eazy signed.
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The documents weren’t deemed legally binding, but the wheels were in motion. Dre was the biggest producer in hip-hop music, a pioneer drawing comparisons to Quincy Jones and Phil Spector he was also its most unemployable one.Įventually, Suge got his way: Dre was no longer a Ruthless artist, and Death Row Records was born. Plagued by legal battles and beset with a number of open court cases, nobody would touch him. Five of the eight albums Dre produced for Ruthless from 1987 to 1991 went platinum, but he was a volatile figure prone to violence. He was accused of a savage, public assault by journalist Dee Barnes and another assault on a police officer during a 50-person brawl he allegedly started. This success couldn’t convince Dre to remain an active member and sparked. Dre’s first experiments with g-funk, and the album brought the group’s lyrical shock value to staggering heights. Interscope Records 7567922332, Interscope Records 7567 92233 2, Death Row Records (2) 7567922332, Death Row Records (2) 7567 92233 2, Priority Records 7567922332, Priority Records 7567 92233 2. Dre ‘ The Chronic’ on Classic Album Sundays on Worldwide FM. On top of that, neither he nor Suge had much of a business acumen, and they were hemorrhaging cash.ĭeath Row was ostensibly up and running with a master architect at the helm, but the young label needed a big victory upon which to build its empire. Listen: Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy and Sly5thAve discuss Dr. The Chronic became that cornerstone achievement, kicking off a historic four-year run that ended with the death of the label’s other major star, Tupac Shakur.