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(dramatic music)
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(opera music)
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- We're on location tonight
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in the NWA Ruthless Studios
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here to talk to NWA and Eazy E,
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probably the most controversial
rap group in Los Angeles.
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- At that time,
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all the rappers were
claiming their home towns.
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South Bronx, you know,
wherever they may be,
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New York, Queens,
whatever the case may be.
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We were from Compton!
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- Coming up in the ghetto,
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period, builds character to me.
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You know what I'm saying?
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It definitely can build character
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if you use it in a positive way.
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- We're seeing regular
homies from the neighborhood
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that was just putting
down real street raps.
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It made us feel like we could do it.
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- Something really special was coming
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out of that neighborhood.
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It was a fresh, really
volatile time in music.
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I liken it to Elvis Presley
when rock and roll started
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to when the Beatles came.
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It was something really
special coming out of there.
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- After a while, Michael
Jackson didn't work.
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People didn't believe the hype.
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We didn't care. We didn't care.
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They didn't feel it
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with all the trying to be shy nonsense.
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People ain't checking for that no more.
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Rap made it gritty.
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- I think we're successful
because we tell it like it is
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and that's what people wanna hear
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because they're sick of
hearing about fairy tales
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and stuff like that.
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- NWA to me was like
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anti-establishment.
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- They was bringing South
Central to the forefront
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and what was happening,
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and drugs, and the whole shine.
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They was fitting another
element of society
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that nobody else had touched on.
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- They talked about being gangsters.
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Gangsta Gangsta was a big hit.
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Fuck Tha Police was a big hit.
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- It's not what you know,
it's what you can prove.
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- When I went and got NWA albums,
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I bought them as a fan.
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- You'd just see an
all-star cast of people.
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Eazy being the mastermind,
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Cube being the rhyme writer,
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Dre laying down the tracks, the producer,
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and then you have Ren who
played supporting cast.
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And that just made up one of the
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great groups of hip-hop.
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- We don't tell you what to do
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and won't tell you what not to do.
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You got your own freedom of choice.
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- [Doug] Eazy represented, you know,
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the hardcore little
gangster on the corner.
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- They try to hold us back because
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this record has cursing on it.
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Said something, oh you
talking about raping somebody
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and everything.
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- People were selling cocaine,
making a lot of money,
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and he was the first person
that actually came out
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and admitted it and boasted about it
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on a record.
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- That's bullshit.
(laughter)
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- Eazy E turned out to
have some business savvy.
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- Eazy was a local crack slinger.
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Made him some money,
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and because I was one
of the few guys he knew
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in the studio,
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he wanted to get with me
and get in the studio.
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He was not intended to be a rapper.
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He was gonna be a financier.
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Dre was producing for Alonzo
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of Kru-Cut Records
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and the Wreckin' Crew.
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Dre started getting in the trouble.
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He was going to jail for
warrants on a regular basis.
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I'm digging in my pocket to get him out.
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So I got to the point
when I got tired of it,
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and Alzono didn't get him out of jail.
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Eazy got him out of jail.
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When Eric got him out
of jail, they cut a deal
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that Dre would do some
tracks for Eric in my studio.
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And they hooked up and
was boys ever since then.
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- [Eazy] You put the dot on your target
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and then blow the shit
out the motherfucker.
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No joke.
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- Eazy knew it was like a joke to him.
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It was like (makes giggling noises),
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but he got so far into it, it was like,
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okay, I am this.
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I'm walking to the Carson Mall,
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I look up in the HQ which
is a sporting goods store
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and a gun store,
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and these guys are being
semi-automatic weapons
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to go on tour with!
103
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I'm like, shit!
104
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What kind of tour are you guys going on?
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Vietnam or what?
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- They were selling out the back of cars
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and they were making money
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and they were going to the
top one way or another.
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- We used to ride around
in Eazy's jeep all day
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and sell records to what they
call swap meets out here.
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I used to make people buy records.
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- [Man] How'd you make them buy it?
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- With a gun.
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- Eazy paid Lonzo to introduce him
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to Jerry Heller.
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- Jerry Heller was basically
Dr. Dre and Eric Wright's
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manager and label head.
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- Ruthless started from Eazy-E.
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Eazy-E knew that Dre was a dope producer.
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He did the Straight Outta Compton album.
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He did Eazy Does It.
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He did Michel'le's album.
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He did the DOC's album.
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- Dr. Dre was one of
these guys that could take
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this raw street sound,
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and turn it into the kind of magic
127
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that would hit a wide audience of kids.
128
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- They had a method
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that clearly was heard and felt
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by young people.
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- All over the country, they
had pockets of young brothers
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who sold dope and had to
carry nine millimeter pistols,
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00:06:06,349 --> 00:06:09,048
who had a wad of money that could relate.
134
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- Every kid wants something
that's sort of forbidden.
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Certainly this type of imagery was.
136
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In fact, they couldn't even hear it
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on their regular radio station.
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- They sold over 1,000,000 albums.
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00:06:19,262 --> 00:06:21,340
And we have to understand
that with rap music,
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past 500,000, 600,000 albums,
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you go outside the black community.
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- They had little while kids out there
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that grew up in pop's country club.
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They wasn't having it.
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They wanted to hear NWA.
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- It became clear that there weren't just
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10,000 kids listening to this.
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There was hundreds of
thousands in each city.
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- People sat back and seeing an album
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that sold 1,000,000 units.
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It never played on radio.
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And I had to question myself,
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how does this happen?
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How did this happen?
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What went on here?
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- Now, when it starts making real money,
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and it starts looking like some success
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is gonna come about,
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that's when the shit starts.
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Eazy and Jerry wasn't paying
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Dr. Dre enough money.
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- At that time, I was owed money
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but they wasn't paying it.
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You know what I'm saying?
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I think they were trying to starve me out.
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As hard as you work for your money,
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there's at least two or
three people out there
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working just as hard to get it from you.
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- I was there when Dre told me
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he would sell his soul to the
devil for 1,000,000 bucks.
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And I swear right now,
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devil gotta have a receipt for his ass.
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- Suge Knight was always around.
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He was around in the days of NWA.
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I just never noticed who he was.
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- Suge was just a big kid.
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He was really, at that time,
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totally nobody.
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- Suge Knight was a body guard,
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body guarding Bobby Brown.
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- Being a body guard
is probably one of the
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best music schools, music industry schools
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that you could go to,
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because you're gonna learn everything
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about the business.
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- I was out there looking and learning.
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And I seen the different people complain.
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I seen artists.
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I seen people trying to be artists.
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I seen people talk about songs,
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and I'm just listening.
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I'm hearing it all.
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- He was an aggressive person
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that cleared the way for me to go in
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and do what I had to do.
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You know, by any means necessary.
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- Suge was a leader and he was a winner.
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He's smart.
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He kinda remind me of a
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00:08:23,999 --> 00:08:25,836
a hip-hop Dick Griffey.
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- In the 1980s, Solar was probably
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the most successful
black-owned record label
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in America.
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Dick Griffey, who was the
founder of the company,
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was one of those men.
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He had the rare ability, I think,
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to identify talent in people.
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- What I'm interested in is,
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is really,
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teaching young people how to
be in business for themselves.
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- Suge first came to see
Dick because he was managing
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a young guy named Mario Johnson,
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PK Chocolate,
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who had written a number of
songs on a Vanilla Ice album.
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00:09:01,198 --> 00:09:04,371
- I did all of his songs at
his kitchen table at his house.
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Me and Quake would do tracks and
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I would go to his house and write
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and give him songs,
219
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and he would learn them.
220
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- He had got some credit on the album,
221
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but they hadn't paid him.
222
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They wouldn't return his phonecalls.
223
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- I couldn't get in contact with them,
224
00:09:17,196 --> 00:09:19,051
but the record wasn't doing
anything at that time,
225
00:09:19,051 --> 00:09:22,103
and when the video hit
BET is when the record
226
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start taking off.
227
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- The thing happened so fast
and it blew up so quick,
228
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the first thing they wanted to do
229
00:09:27,730 --> 00:09:30,491
is tell me look, we'll
give you a couple dollars.
230
00:09:30,491 --> 00:09:32,583
You know, let bygones be bygones.
231
00:09:32,583 --> 00:09:34,237
I was like, I wasn't going for it.
232
00:09:34,237 --> 00:09:36,516
- Suge came to me at the Palm restaurant.
233
00:09:36,516 --> 00:09:38,051
First, he just had down and said hello.
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He was kinda nice, you know.
235
00:09:38,790 --> 00:09:40,631
It kinda scared us 'cause
he was really intimidating.
236
00:09:40,631 --> 00:09:42,405
He had six or seven guys with him
237
00:09:42,405 --> 00:09:43,698
that looked like a football team.
238
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- We already knew where he was staying
239
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because I was supposed
to be hearing some tracks
240
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that he was doing,
241
00:09:47,719 --> 00:09:49,691
but for some reason,
242
00:09:49,691 --> 00:09:52,279
they wanted me to just come by myself.
243
00:09:52,279 --> 00:09:52,919
You know what I'm saying?
244
00:09:52,919 --> 00:09:54,492
And Suge was like, why
they just want you to go
245
00:09:54,492 --> 00:09:55,731
by yourself?
246
00:09:55,731 --> 00:09:57,237
They already tried to
beat you out of money.
247
00:09:57,237 --> 00:09:58,345
They done beat you out of songs.
248
00:09:58,345 --> 00:09:59,332
I'm going with you.
249
00:09:59,332 --> 00:10:01,158
- They whole attitude probably was look,
250
00:10:01,158 --> 00:10:02,191
we was gon' go in there and tell them,
251
00:10:02,191 --> 00:10:04,490
we gon' do it like this
and give him a check,
252
00:10:04,490 --> 00:10:06,491
and he gon' shut up.
253
00:10:06,491 --> 00:10:08,438
I had a different program when we met.
254
00:10:08,438 --> 00:10:10,638
- One day I went to my hotel
room and he was in there,
255
00:10:10,638 --> 00:10:12,384
and he was with several people.
256
00:10:12,384 --> 00:10:14,757
Then he let me know what he wanted,
257
00:10:14,757 --> 00:10:17,171
and he wanted to get some
points off of the record
258
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Ice Ice Baby.
259
00:10:18,624 --> 00:10:19,636
- I'm like, look,
260
00:10:19,636 --> 00:10:21,531
you can't give me nothing.
261
00:10:21,531 --> 00:10:22,624
It's what I'ma give you
262
00:10:22,624 --> 00:10:24,597
because you didn't get the rights
263
00:10:24,597 --> 00:10:26,664
to put it out there
because I haven't got paid
264
00:10:26,664 --> 00:10:28,144
and my client haven't got paid.
265
00:10:28,144 --> 00:10:30,353
- I remember watching Prime Time Live,
266
00:10:30,353 --> 00:10:31,952
the interview with Vanilla Ice.
267
00:10:31,952 --> 00:10:33,261
- Suge took me out on the balcony,
268
00:10:33,261 --> 00:10:34,328
started talking to me personally.
269
00:10:34,328 --> 00:10:37,409
He had me look over the edge,
270
00:10:37,409 --> 00:10:39,785
show me how high I was up there.
271
00:10:39,785 --> 00:10:41,421
- [Suge] You scared?
272
00:10:43,941 --> 00:10:45,381
- I needed to wear a diaper on that day.
273
00:10:45,381 --> 00:10:46,691
He didn't, first of all, hang me off
274
00:10:46,691 --> 00:10:48,706
from any balcony or any of this stuff.
275
00:10:48,706 --> 00:10:51,082
The story's been blown out of proportion,
276
00:10:51,082 --> 00:10:53,589
and I wanna clarify right now that
277
00:10:53,589 --> 00:10:56,008
Suge and I have no bad
feelings or anything
278
00:10:56,008 --> 00:10:57,390
towards each other.
279
00:10:57,390 --> 00:11:00,269
- We had to sue
280
00:11:00,269 --> 00:11:03,626
BMI and Winkle
281
00:11:03,626 --> 00:11:05,007
to recover that money.
282
00:11:05,007 --> 00:11:07,224
- And it was more than
a year in the settlement
283
00:11:07,224 --> 00:11:08,579
of that law suit,
284
00:11:08,579 --> 00:11:10,205
that Chocolate finally got paid.
285
00:11:10,205 --> 00:11:12,093
Doesn't mean he didn't
get hung over the balcony.
286
00:11:12,093 --> 00:11:14,496
But if he did, it didn't make him go pay.
287
00:11:14,496 --> 00:11:16,096
- You can look at it like,
288
00:11:16,096 --> 00:11:18,328
like I was an investor
in Death Row Records
289
00:11:18,328 --> 00:11:20,549
with no return on my money.
290
00:11:21,114 --> 00:11:23,477
- Suge said, well, you know,
I've got some other clients
291
00:11:23,477 --> 00:11:26,327
who also have written songs
292
00:11:26,327 --> 00:11:29,525
and produced records, and
they haven't been paid either.
293
00:11:29,525 --> 00:11:32,434
- He shows up on my doorstep
294
00:11:32,434 --> 00:11:36,282
with these two guys called DOC and Dre.
295
00:11:36,826 --> 00:11:38,927
DOC was the storyteller.
296
00:11:38,927 --> 00:11:41,591
The D-O-C was the guy
297
00:11:41,591 --> 00:11:44,751
that came up with those great stories.
298
00:11:45,508 --> 00:11:48,648
He was probably the single
most influential person
299
00:11:48,648 --> 00:11:50,125
in gangsta rap.
300
00:11:50,125 --> 00:11:53,365
- Dre basically made Ruthless Records.
301
00:11:53,365 --> 00:11:55,176
I mean, he did the music,
302
00:11:55,176 --> 00:11:58,029
he was the one who
303
00:11:58,029 --> 00:12:00,189
knew how to work with the artists,
304
00:12:00,189 --> 00:12:04,138
and it must've been him and
Eazy's company together.
305
00:12:04,450 --> 00:12:07,963
And then when Eazy met Jerry,
306
00:12:07,963 --> 00:12:11,507
Jerry came in and x'd Dre out,
307
00:12:11,507 --> 00:12:13,695
and said Eric, I'll give
you a little bit more money.
308
00:12:13,695 --> 00:12:16,360
We'll just use Dre basically as a slave.
309
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,621
- They had the worst
contracts I've ever seen
310
00:12:18,621 --> 00:12:21,818
in the history of the record business.
311
00:12:21,818 --> 00:12:25,648
Contracts that Ruthless and Jerry Heller
312
00:12:25,648 --> 00:12:28,555
had with NWA and Dre,
313
00:12:28,555 --> 00:12:31,618
I guess if I said draconian,
that would be a kind word.
314
00:12:31,618 --> 00:12:33,808
- In the process of having
a number of conversations
315
00:12:33,808 --> 00:12:35,436
with DOC and Dre,
316
00:12:35,436 --> 00:12:37,452
the question came up about
317
00:12:37,452 --> 00:12:39,855
how can we be assured
that we're gonna get paid
318
00:12:39,855 --> 00:12:40,706
in the future?
319
00:12:40,706 --> 00:12:42,780
Dick said look, Dre,
if you can make records
320
00:12:42,780 --> 00:12:44,335
the way you make records,
321
00:12:44,335 --> 00:12:46,092
I'll show you how to start a company.
322
00:12:46,092 --> 00:12:48,568
You won't have to worry
about people paying you.
323
00:12:48,568 --> 00:12:51,389
You'll have a company
that you own and control.
324
00:12:51,389 --> 00:12:53,464
I suggested that,
325
00:12:53,464 --> 00:12:56,689
why don't you guys go and talk to Eazy
326
00:12:56,689 --> 00:12:58,072
and see if you can make a deal
327
00:12:58,072 --> 00:13:02,762
while Dre continues to
produce Eazy for Ruthless.
328
00:13:02,762 --> 00:13:06,971
He continues to produce
NWA and the other acts.
329
00:13:07,423 --> 00:13:10,116
- I was consulting for Ruthless for Eazy-E
330
00:13:10,116 --> 00:13:12,217
working through Jerry Heller.
331
00:13:12,217 --> 00:13:15,185
One day, Dre came with Suge
to my office in Hollywood
332
00:13:15,185 --> 00:13:18,670
and simply said they had left Ruthless,
333
00:13:18,670 --> 00:13:20,426
were starting their own company
334
00:13:20,426 --> 00:13:22,716
called Death Row Records.
335
00:13:22,716 --> 00:13:25,350
- It didn't go down the
way it was supposed to,
336
00:13:25,350 --> 00:13:28,058
and so Eazy had to be persuaded
337
00:13:28,058 --> 00:13:30,990
to make some moves and make things happen.
338
00:13:30,990 --> 00:13:33,870
According to court
papers, Suge and friends
339
00:13:33,870 --> 00:13:36,779
basically came in and
told Eric and Jerry Heller
340
00:13:36,779 --> 00:13:39,225
Dre was leaving and
they couldn't stop him,
341
00:13:39,225 --> 00:13:41,991
and that this was not just
342
00:13:41,991 --> 00:13:43,590
legal, it was physical.
343
00:13:43,590 --> 00:13:44,843
It was personal.
344
00:13:44,843 --> 00:13:46,916
The stories that Eric told
345
00:13:46,916 --> 00:13:48,515
was that they came in with baseball bats,
346
00:13:48,515 --> 00:13:49,291
threatened gun--
347
00:13:49,291 --> 00:13:51,294
- And the threat of his life
in telling him that he would
348
00:13:51,294 --> 00:13:54,491
kill his mother and they
were holding me hostage.
349
00:13:54,491 --> 00:13:56,723
And those kinds of duress
350
00:13:56,723 --> 00:13:58,983
got him to sign releases for Dr. Dre.
351
00:13:58,983 --> 00:14:00,523
- I wasn't there.
352
00:14:00,523 --> 00:14:02,496
I wasn't in the room,
353
00:14:02,496 --> 00:14:05,404
but when Eazy-E said in the papers
354
00:14:05,404 --> 00:14:08,702
that me and the chairman
of Sony, Tommy Mottola,
355
00:14:08,702 --> 00:14:12,057
was in the room with bats and pipes,
356
00:14:12,057 --> 00:14:13,527
he's obviously a liar.
357
00:14:13,527 --> 00:14:15,875
- There's no question that we
have substantial documentary
358
00:14:15,875 --> 00:14:17,731
evidence of the conspiracy here.
359
00:14:17,731 --> 00:14:21,806
- Eric Wright, Eazy-E filed
a RICO lawsuit against them.
360
00:14:21,806 --> 00:14:24,163
It was the first time RICO had been used
361
00:14:24,163 --> 00:14:25,330
in the music business.
362
00:14:25,330 --> 00:14:27,014
RICO's a racketeering lawsuit.
363
00:14:27,014 --> 00:14:28,398
It's the thing that they use to
364
00:14:28,398 --> 00:14:29,779
get the mafia,
365
00:14:29,779 --> 00:14:32,227
and they can't get the mafia
leaders on anything else.
366
00:14:32,227 --> 00:14:34,329
- Eazy-E's lawsuit
contended that there was
367
00:14:34,329 --> 00:14:36,649
money laundering, extortion, threats,
368
00:14:36,649 --> 00:14:38,246
and violent intimidation.
369
00:14:38,246 --> 00:14:41,500
Not only was it charged
against Suge and Death Row
370
00:14:41,500 --> 00:14:44,857
for stealing what was their
top producer, Dr. Dre,
371
00:14:44,857 --> 00:14:47,660
it was a charge against Sony Music.
372
00:14:47,660 --> 00:14:51,304
From day one, this label was
born amidst a controversy
373
00:14:51,304 --> 00:14:53,440
that involved violence.
374
00:14:58,536 --> 00:15:00,823
- The initial understanding was that
375
00:15:00,823 --> 00:15:03,547
DOC and Dre and Dick and Suge
376
00:15:03,547 --> 00:15:05,145
would be partners in this company.
377
00:15:05,145 --> 00:15:05,783
- Each one of our artists
378
00:15:05,783 --> 00:15:07,756
that started with us at the beginning,
379
00:15:07,756 --> 00:15:10,443
I got a lot of love for and they always
380
00:15:10,443 --> 00:15:12,580
will be a part of the family,
381
00:15:12,580 --> 00:15:13,962
on the strength that
382
00:15:13,962 --> 00:15:15,431
they took that chance.
383
00:15:15,431 --> 00:15:16,943
It's not like that, it's,
384
00:15:16,943 --> 00:15:18,167
we had a name out there.
385
00:15:18,167 --> 00:15:21,204
It's not like we had a
lot of money to give them.
386
00:15:21,204 --> 00:15:23,423
The money I gave came out my pocket.
387
00:15:23,423 --> 00:15:26,001
- Back then, Suge was like
Berry behind the scenes
388
00:15:26,001 --> 00:15:29,226
and helpful and quiet.
389
00:15:29,226 --> 00:15:31,069
Humble, non-visible.
390
00:15:31,069 --> 00:15:32,293
He didn't like cameras.
391
00:15:32,293 --> 00:15:33,143
He was invisible.
392
00:15:33,143 --> 00:15:34,236
The invisible man.
393
00:15:34,236 --> 00:15:37,058
- His role was to handle
the day to day business
394
00:15:37,058 --> 00:15:38,284
dealing with the artists,
395
00:15:38,284 --> 00:15:40,285
dealing with distributors
and record companies
396
00:15:40,285 --> 00:15:41,322
and what have you.
397
00:15:41,322 --> 00:15:43,639
My job was to go in here
and push these buttons
398
00:15:43,639 --> 00:15:45,094
and make the records happen.
399
00:15:45,094 --> 00:15:47,340
- Everybody was following Dre,
400
00:15:47,340 --> 00:15:51,047
because people knew that Dre was the man.
401
00:15:51,201 --> 00:15:53,361
Like, everything that he touched was like,
402
00:15:53,361 --> 00:15:55,463
gold or platinum or better.
403
00:15:55,463 --> 00:15:57,508
- That's why everyone
wanted to work with him.
404
00:15:57,508 --> 00:16:00,790
He was actually the most
bankable person at that time
405
00:16:00,790 --> 00:16:02,173
pretty much in the industry,
406
00:16:02,173 --> 00:16:04,146
from the R&B/rap standpoint.
407
00:16:04,146 --> 00:16:06,780
- Everybody was taking direction from Dre
408
00:16:06,780 --> 00:16:08,436
as far as he knows what he's doing.
409
00:16:08,436 --> 00:16:10,727
He's just finished doing NWA album
410
00:16:10,727 --> 00:16:13,838
that's double and triple platinum, so
411
00:16:13,838 --> 00:16:15,869
you have to have
confidence in what you see.
412
00:16:15,869 --> 00:16:17,727
You watch this man make money.
413
00:16:17,727 --> 00:16:19,065
- Warren G was my best friend
414
00:16:19,065 --> 00:16:20,981
and Nate Dogg was my best friend.
415
00:16:20,981 --> 00:16:22,551
So we formed 8213 and
416
00:16:22,551 --> 00:16:24,841
Warren G was a DJ,
417
00:16:24,841 --> 00:16:26,063
I was a rapper,
418
00:16:26,063 --> 00:16:27,663
and Nate Dogg would sing the hooks.
419
00:16:27,663 --> 00:16:28,837
We didn't have drums machines back then.
420
00:16:28,837 --> 00:16:31,112
All we had was wreckers and turntables
421
00:16:31,112 --> 00:16:32,221
and a microphone.
422
00:16:32,221 --> 00:16:34,627
When Warren G called me
on the three-way like,
423
00:16:34,627 --> 00:16:36,598
Snoop, I got Dre on the phone, cuz.
424
00:16:36,598 --> 00:16:38,141
He liked the tape.
425
00:16:38,141 --> 00:16:39,494
He wanna work with us, cuz.
426
00:16:39,494 --> 00:16:40,458
He wanna work with us.
427
00:16:40,458 --> 00:16:42,344
Like, nigga, stop lying.
428
00:16:42,344 --> 00:16:43,915
And he said, hello.
429
00:16:43,915 --> 00:16:44,693
I said, who this?
430
00:16:44,693 --> 00:16:46,232
He said it's Dre.
431
00:16:46,232 --> 00:16:47,643
He said man, that shit was dope, man.
432
00:16:47,643 --> 00:16:48,421
I wanna get with you.
433
00:16:48,421 --> 00:16:49,803
Come to the studio Monday.
434
00:16:49,803 --> 00:16:51,560
- At that time, it was a dream just to be
435
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,403
in the same room with Dr. Dre, you know?
436
00:16:53,403 --> 00:16:56,601
Dr. Dre wants us to come
to the studio where he is.
437
00:16:56,601 --> 00:16:59,218
I'd jog up there if I didn't have a car.
438
00:16:59,218 --> 00:17:01,059
- I wanted to appreciate the game
439
00:17:01,059 --> 00:17:02,888
and to accept everything
that was offered to me
440
00:17:02,888 --> 00:17:03,797
and learn,
441
00:17:03,797 --> 00:17:05,581
and just be a student at the time.
442
00:17:05,581 --> 00:17:08,490
- They were housed in my building,
443
00:17:08,490 --> 00:17:10,536
so they didn't have a lot of expenses.
444
00:17:10,536 --> 00:17:12,595
You have to understand
that the greatest expense
445
00:17:12,595 --> 00:17:16,546
in making a record is the studio time.
446
00:17:16,613 --> 00:17:18,857
I didn't have a lot of
knowledge about the rap
447
00:17:18,857 --> 00:17:21,781
or hip-hop scenario, so
448
00:17:21,781 --> 00:17:23,509
I kinda let them
449
00:17:23,509 --> 00:17:24,789
do their own thing.
450
00:17:24,789 --> 00:17:27,006
- Some nights we used to
stay up there all night.
451
00:17:27,006 --> 00:17:28,994
We didn't leave until like
five, six in the morning.
452
00:17:28,994 --> 00:17:30,492
I mean, they had a special vibe up there.
453
00:17:30,492 --> 00:17:31,904
You just wanted to be there.
454
00:17:31,904 --> 00:17:33,445
Even if you wasn't working on a song,
455
00:17:33,445 --> 00:17:35,922
you just wanted to be there
because it had that atmosphere.
456
00:17:35,922 --> 00:17:37,175
It was just was the spot to be at.
457
00:17:37,175 --> 00:17:39,306
It was right in the
middle of Hollywood and,
458
00:17:39,306 --> 00:17:40,904
you know, it was just
a place to be for us.
459
00:17:40,904 --> 00:17:42,431
And we was young, and we
460
00:17:42,431 --> 00:17:44,101
never really had been
out of the neighborhood.
461
00:17:44,101 --> 00:17:46,952
And was getting a chance to see it all
462
00:17:46,952 --> 00:17:48,392
in bright lights.
463
00:17:48,392 --> 00:17:51,105
And this was the same studio that
464
00:17:51,105 --> 00:17:54,172
Shalamar, Lakeside, The Whispers,
465
00:17:54,172 --> 00:17:55,799
Babyface, The Deal.
466
00:17:55,799 --> 00:17:58,917
All of them recorded their
albums in this same studio.
467
00:18:04,126 --> 00:18:06,976
- On a business level and
on a day to day basis,
468
00:18:06,976 --> 00:18:08,920
it was merely existing.
469
00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:10,952
Seemed like they were
470
00:18:10,952 --> 00:18:12,708
trying to find somebody to
471
00:18:12,708 --> 00:18:13,614
put some money into it,
472
00:18:13,614 --> 00:18:15,587
or somebody to help them out.
473
00:18:15,587 --> 00:18:17,446
- Money was hard to come by back then,
474
00:18:17,446 --> 00:18:19,389
because it wasn't no structure.
475
00:18:19,389 --> 00:18:20,614
It was not label.
476
00:18:20,614 --> 00:18:22,614
Suge Knight did all he
could do at the time,
477
00:18:22,614 --> 00:18:24,155
as far as you know, going in his pocket,
478
00:18:24,155 --> 00:18:26,286
his bank account, to get us money.
479
00:18:26,286 --> 00:18:27,785
Dre didn't really have no money.
480
00:18:27,785 --> 00:18:29,456
He was leaving NWA.
481
00:18:29,456 --> 00:18:32,930
(piano playing)
482
00:18:39,390 --> 00:18:41,960
(hip-hop music)
483
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,067
- Dick had made a deal with
484
00:18:47,067 --> 00:18:50,134
Suge, DOC, and Dre
485
00:18:50,134 --> 00:18:52,985
to sell him a recording
studio that he owned.
486
00:18:52,985 --> 00:18:55,188
That was gonna be something
that they would own
487
00:18:55,188 --> 00:18:57,982
separate from the Death Row label
488
00:18:57,982 --> 00:19:00,012
because they wanted to have
something that they own.
489
00:19:00,012 --> 00:19:03,080
Suge came along and said
he had found somebody
490
00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,161
to help them finance the
purchase of the studio.
491
00:19:06,161 --> 00:19:08,004
- It's always been a
subjecting speculation
492
00:19:08,004 --> 00:19:09,601
where they got their original funding.
493
00:19:09,601 --> 00:19:12,296
And the FBI's continuing
to look into this.
494
00:19:12,296 --> 00:19:13,649
- There are so many things you hear about
495
00:19:13,649 --> 00:19:14,844
this situation.
496
00:19:14,844 --> 00:19:15,968
I tell you this,
497
00:19:15,968 --> 00:19:17,480
Mike Harris
498
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,985
was firmly planted in the middle of it.
499
00:19:19,985 --> 00:19:22,433
- On the news, they used
to call Mike the Godfather.
500
00:19:22,433 --> 00:19:24,622
- Tonight, the story of a man who tried to
501
00:19:24,622 --> 00:19:26,033
murder his best friend
502
00:19:26,033 --> 00:19:28,164
at the same time he was
attempting to win his way
503
00:19:28,164 --> 00:19:30,080
into Beverley Hills' acceptance.
504
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:31,764
- [Voiceover] This is Michael Harris,
505
00:19:31,764 --> 00:19:33,838
a man drug agents describe as a
506
00:19:33,838 --> 00:19:36,214
major cocaine trafficker.
507
00:19:36,214 --> 00:19:38,388
At the young age of 26,
508
00:19:38,388 --> 00:19:41,499
he had already made millions of dollars.
509
00:19:41,499 --> 00:19:43,097
These are his roots,
510
00:19:43,097 --> 00:19:45,516
the streets of South Central, Los Angeles,
511
00:19:45,516 --> 00:19:48,208
where he started pushing
dope on street corners,
512
00:19:48,208 --> 00:19:50,585
and hung with the blood street gang called
513
00:19:50,585 --> 00:19:52,025
the Bounty Hunters.
514
00:19:52,025 --> 00:19:53,292
In the drug world,
515
00:19:53,292 --> 00:19:55,587
he is known as Harry-O.
516
00:19:55,591 --> 00:19:58,386
- Mike Harris was a known
entity in our community.
517
00:19:58,386 --> 00:20:00,071
He was this guy bigger than life,
518
00:20:00,071 --> 00:20:02,431
because Mike Harris was in jail
519
00:20:02,431 --> 00:20:03,656
doing things.
520
00:20:03,656 --> 00:20:07,818
- Prior to his incarceration,
he was very visible.
521
00:20:07,818 --> 00:20:10,237
He had started doing numerous things
522
00:20:10,237 --> 00:20:11,763
in the community.
523
00:20:11,763 --> 00:20:13,247
- [Voiceover] Harris built an organization
524
00:20:13,247 --> 00:20:16,285
that distributed cocaine
in California, Arizona,
525
00:20:16,285 --> 00:20:18,287
Texas, Michigan, Illinois,
526
00:20:18,287 --> 00:20:20,115
Iowa, Indiana, Missouri,
527
00:20:20,115 --> 00:20:22,779
Louisiana, Florida, and New York.
528
00:20:22,779 --> 00:20:26,005
Investigators say he
dealt so much cocaine,
529
00:20:26,005 --> 00:20:29,375
major Colombian drug
kingpins like Mario Villabona
530
00:20:29,375 --> 00:20:32,413
were obliged to deal directly with Harris.
531
00:20:32,413 --> 00:20:33,882
But like a mob godfather,
532
00:20:33,882 --> 00:20:36,834
Harris sought to legitimize
his illicit fortune
533
00:20:36,834 --> 00:20:39,613
and gain Beverley Hills' respectability.
534
00:20:56,383 --> 00:20:58,457
- Mike Harris
535
00:20:58,457 --> 00:21:00,588
had a wonderful background
in entertainment.
536
00:21:00,588 --> 00:21:03,655
I think he was the first
African-American ever
537
00:21:03,655 --> 00:21:06,478
to produce a broadway
show that was a smash
538
00:21:06,478 --> 00:21:09,458
and it gave Denzel Washington his start.
539
00:21:09,458 --> 00:21:11,086
- Checkmate was the name of the play.
540
00:21:11,086 --> 00:21:14,383
The play opened on Broadway.
541
00:21:14,383 --> 00:21:17,177
Many of us African-Americans have
542
00:21:17,177 --> 00:21:19,394
been on Broadway, on the screen,
543
00:21:19,394 --> 00:21:21,252
out front singing and dancing,
544
00:21:21,252 --> 00:21:25,043
but very few of us had
been there as producers.
545
00:21:25,043 --> 00:21:27,218
- I thought he was an
entrepreneur in New York.
546
00:21:27,218 --> 00:21:29,408
Had no idea that he was in jail.
547
00:21:29,408 --> 00:21:30,602
- The first time I met Michael,
548
00:21:30,602 --> 00:21:34,144
it was a drug case involving
Bo Bennett, Mario Villabona.
549
00:21:34,144 --> 00:21:36,491
That trial went and resulted
in a number of convictions
550
00:21:36,491 --> 00:21:38,249
that went to trial in a federal court,
551
00:21:38,249 --> 00:21:40,251
and after that case, Michael, I believe
552
00:21:40,251 --> 00:21:42,611
contacted David Kenner to have him
553
00:21:42,611 --> 00:21:44,440
represent him on his appeal.
554
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,816
- David Kenner was a long-time Los Angeles
555
00:21:46,816 --> 00:21:47,882
criminal attorney,
556
00:21:47,882 --> 00:21:49,610
and by the late 80s, he had become
557
00:21:49,610 --> 00:21:52,173
part of a fraternity
of top flight attorneys
558
00:21:52,173 --> 00:21:54,189
that handled a lot of federal cases.
559
00:21:54,189 --> 00:21:56,162
A lot of big drug cases downtown.
560
00:21:56,162 --> 00:21:57,733
In the course of his legal work,
561
00:21:57,733 --> 00:21:59,417
he became Michael Harris' attorney.
562
00:21:59,417 --> 00:22:01,893
I think if you look at
clients of his over time,
563
00:22:01,893 --> 00:22:04,097
David has a habit of
564
00:22:04,097 --> 00:22:05,565
getting very close to his clients
565
00:22:05,565 --> 00:22:08,128
and getting very involved
in his clients' lives.
566
00:22:08,128 --> 00:22:11,555
Perhaps more so than would
be wise for a lawyer.
567
00:22:11,555 --> 00:22:13,744
- David just, you now,
568
00:22:13,744 --> 00:22:14,840
fell in love with Michael.
569
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:16,322
And they became friends.
570
00:22:16,322 --> 00:22:17,979
He was a friend to us.
571
00:22:17,979 --> 00:22:20,355
I looked at him like family.
572
00:22:20,355 --> 00:22:22,269
I was out in LA by myself,
573
00:22:22,269 --> 00:22:24,502
and he took me in, you know.
574
00:22:24,502 --> 00:22:26,661
Him and his family, we'd go out to eat.
575
00:22:26,661 --> 00:22:28,477
I mean, we would like,
576
00:22:28,477 --> 00:22:30,017
do everything together.
577
00:22:30,017 --> 00:22:32,118
- He became someone who was a confidant,
578
00:22:32,118 --> 00:22:34,523
a friend of Michael Harris' and also
579
00:22:34,523 --> 00:22:36,656
involved in business with Michael Harris.
580
00:22:36,656 --> 00:22:38,410
- I think that he's a lawyer
581
00:22:38,410 --> 00:22:39,521
who had a lot of money
582
00:22:39,521 --> 00:22:41,522
and he represented people
who had a lot of money
583
00:22:41,522 --> 00:22:43,970
and it would not be unusual to me
584
00:22:43,970 --> 00:22:47,009
for somebody who represented
people with money to say,
585
00:22:47,009 --> 00:22:47,973
I wanna invest.
586
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,267
Everybody wants to be
in the music business,
587
00:23:03,267 --> 00:23:05,526
and the years that I've
worked, I've gotten
588
00:23:05,526 --> 00:23:07,357
tapes and offers from
589
00:23:07,357 --> 00:23:09,891
everyone from politicians,
590
00:23:09,891 --> 00:23:12,527
to businessmen who wanna be
591
00:23:12,527 --> 00:23:14,024
in the entertainment business.
592
00:23:26,328 --> 00:23:27,160
- They started talking.
593
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,291
Mike said you got Dr.
Dre, and Suge said yeah,
594
00:23:29,291 --> 00:23:31,017
he a producer.
595
00:23:40,962 --> 00:23:42,216
Mike said, well, we need to meet.
596
00:23:42,216 --> 00:23:44,029
And Suge said well, I
got a couple of cases.
597
00:23:44,029 --> 00:23:46,189
I can't get in to visit you.
598
00:23:46,189 --> 00:23:48,666
So Mike said no, I got this attorney.
599
00:23:48,666 --> 00:23:50,855
He's bad. He can get you in here.
600
00:23:50,855 --> 00:23:52,957
- David Kenner brought Suge Knight
601
00:23:52,957 --> 00:23:56,255
to see Michael at the
Metropolitan Detention Center
602
00:23:56,255 --> 00:23:57,531
in Downtown, Los Angeles.
603
00:24:07,822 --> 00:24:10,759
They set down their
basic business plan that
604
00:24:10,759 --> 00:24:13,265
they would start a company
called Godfather Entertainment,
605
00:24:13,265 --> 00:24:16,299
and one division of it
would be Death Row Records.
606
00:24:41,258 --> 00:24:42,885
- One day,
607
00:24:42,885 --> 00:24:45,865
I see these two people walk in a building
608
00:24:45,865 --> 00:24:47,013
who I'd never seen before,
609
00:24:47,013 --> 00:24:49,087
and one was David Kenner,
610
00:24:49,087 --> 00:24:50,715
and the other was Lydia Harris.
611
00:24:50,715 --> 00:24:52,213
- In the summer of 1991,
612
00:24:52,213 --> 00:24:53,595
Kenner started coming around.
613
00:24:53,595 --> 00:24:55,192
There was a lot of buzz
about this company,
614
00:24:55,192 --> 00:24:57,167
a lot of expectations that it could be
615
00:24:57,167 --> 00:24:58,765
a successful company,
616
00:24:58,765 --> 00:25:01,239
and David was one of the
people around at the time
617
00:25:01,239 --> 00:25:03,531
making a play to be Suge's partner
618
00:25:03,531 --> 00:25:05,388
and to take care of business for Suge,
619
00:25:05,388 --> 00:25:06,613
to handle business for Suge.
620
00:25:06,613 --> 00:25:09,968
- Couple days after Mrs. Harris
and David Kenner came in,
621
00:25:09,968 --> 00:25:12,026
things actually changed drastically.
622
00:25:12,026 --> 00:25:14,316
Immediately, the studio gets carpeted,
623
00:25:14,316 --> 00:25:16,232
things start getting fixed.
624
00:25:16,232 --> 00:25:18,232
I'm starting to get presented with money
625
00:25:18,232 --> 00:25:20,968
to find apartments for the artists that
626
00:25:20,968 --> 00:25:22,754
didn't have any apartments,
627
00:25:22,754 --> 00:25:23,591
didn't have any money.
628
00:25:23,591 --> 00:25:25,605
I'm also given allowance for them.
629
00:25:25,605 --> 00:25:29,176
- I saw a few little
upgrades in the studio.
630
00:25:29,176 --> 00:25:32,157
Some chairs, some speakers.
631
00:25:32,157 --> 00:25:34,605
- And I was also told we'll
be getting collect calls
632
00:25:34,605 --> 00:25:36,736
and to accept them, and
to find Suge where he was
633
00:25:36,736 --> 00:25:37,543
and connect them.
634
00:25:37,543 --> 00:25:39,026
- We were assigned by them to
635
00:25:39,026 --> 00:25:42,123
build an awareness for
Godfather Entertainment,
636
00:25:42,123 --> 00:25:44,944
and to kick off their first vehicle,
637
00:25:44,944 --> 00:25:48,082
which is Death Row
Records to the industry.
638
00:25:48,082 --> 00:25:50,503
- Norman Winter and his infinite wisdom
639
00:25:50,503 --> 00:25:54,550
said let's take the boys
into Beverley Hills.
640
00:25:54,550 --> 00:25:57,084
Let's stick it in everybody's face.
641
00:25:57,084 --> 00:25:59,057
So, off to Chasen's.
642
00:25:59,057 --> 00:26:01,375
- [MC] Let me see you
put your hands together
643
00:26:01,375 --> 00:26:02,943
and say, oh yeah!
644
00:26:02,943 --> 00:26:04,167
- [Crowd] Oh yeah!
645
00:26:04,167 --> 00:26:06,617
- [MC] Let me see somebody get Dre, Suge,
646
00:26:06,617 --> 00:26:08,747
DOC a round of applause.
647
00:26:08,747 --> 00:26:11,598
Death Row Records is gonna
be the record company
648
00:26:11,598 --> 00:26:13,039
of the 2000s.
649
00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:15,486
- We was thinking about
putting in melody tactics
650
00:26:15,486 --> 00:26:16,207
at the entrance.
651
00:26:16,207 --> 00:26:18,554
- Everyone gets served with subpoenas
652
00:26:18,554 --> 00:26:19,719
as an invitation.
653
00:26:19,719 --> 00:26:22,916
- "You are hereby ordered to appear before
654
00:26:22,916 --> 00:26:25,065
"the honorable Dr. Dre and the officers
655
00:26:25,065 --> 00:26:26,691
"of GF Entertainment,
656
00:26:26,691 --> 00:26:29,412
"as a guest of the court
to witness the springing
657
00:26:29,412 --> 00:26:31,384
"of Death Row records."
658
00:26:31,384 --> 00:26:32,683
- Put your hands together.
659
00:26:32,683 --> 00:26:34,771
Come on, y'all, make some noise.
660
00:26:34,771 --> 00:26:38,169
- We invited virtually
every major record company
661
00:26:38,169 --> 00:26:41,740
executive in Los Angeles and New York,
662
00:26:41,740 --> 00:26:44,460
and it was so big that
we originally planned
663
00:26:44,460 --> 00:26:47,916
on spending around $20, $25,000.
664
00:26:47,916 --> 00:26:50,048
It turned out to be 35 or 50.
665
00:26:50,048 --> 00:26:52,179
- They had enough money
at the time behind them
666
00:26:52,179 --> 00:26:55,592
and for somebody to come out of nowhere
667
00:26:55,592 --> 00:26:58,315
to have a party at
Chasen's on Grammy night
668
00:26:58,315 --> 00:27:00,518
which is reserved generally for
669
00:27:00,518 --> 00:27:01,692
all the white people.
670
00:27:01,692 --> 00:27:02,973
It's also a place that
671
00:27:02,973 --> 00:27:05,262
would never be associated with rap music
672
00:27:05,262 --> 00:27:07,768
in anyway unless it
was simply co-sponsored
673
00:27:07,768 --> 00:27:08,992
by a white group.
674
00:27:08,992 --> 00:27:10,374
- The mark we're going after,
675
00:27:10,374 --> 00:27:12,118
we're mainly for the people.
676
00:27:12,118 --> 00:27:14,912
I mean, for us the West Coast
has a lot of talent around
677
00:27:14,912 --> 00:27:16,913
that guys, we don't have the opportunity,
678
00:27:16,913 --> 00:27:19,548
don't have the chance to prove theirself.
679
00:27:19,548 --> 00:27:21,305
So of course, GF Entertainment goes
680
00:27:21,305 --> 00:27:23,465
with the studio and the films,
681
00:27:23,465 --> 00:27:25,697
we giving all the
youngsters an opportunity
682
00:27:25,697 --> 00:27:27,237
from all the neighborhoods.
683
00:27:27,237 --> 00:27:29,801
Basically, we haven't
forgotten where we came from.
684
00:27:29,801 --> 00:27:32,118
- I personally interviewed
685
00:27:32,118 --> 00:27:33,371
all of the players that were there.
686
00:27:33,371 --> 00:27:34,971
- GF Entertainment is a
687
00:27:34,971 --> 00:27:36,265
multimedia company.
688
00:27:36,265 --> 00:27:38,353
We have Death Row Records.
689
00:27:38,353 --> 00:27:41,305
We have a movie production unit,
690
00:27:41,305 --> 00:27:41,997
concerts.
691
00:27:41,997 --> 00:27:43,884
We're gonna be doing
pay-per-view concerts,
692
00:27:43,884 --> 00:27:46,174
and all kinds of exciting things.
693
00:27:46,174 --> 00:27:47,541
- In the beginning,
694
00:27:47,541 --> 00:27:49,715
they was giving Mike his props,
695
00:27:49,715 --> 00:27:51,718
and they was recognizing
that there was another
696
00:27:51,718 --> 00:27:55,475
entity that helped this
be one major powwow.
697
00:27:55,475 --> 00:27:57,608
- When it came to David Kenner,
698
00:27:57,608 --> 00:28:01,019
he toasted the man who
made it all responsible,
699
00:28:01,019 --> 00:28:02,157
Harry-O.
700
00:28:02,157 --> 00:28:04,921
- The label started with
Dr. Dre, who was gonna
701
00:28:04,921 --> 00:28:06,333
do his own thing,
702
00:28:06,333 --> 00:28:08,940
and with a lot of help from Suge Knight
703
00:28:08,940 --> 00:28:11,329
and Harry-O and a number of people,
704
00:28:11,329 --> 00:28:12,553
we got it all together.
705
00:28:12,553 --> 00:28:16,600
- And that's on tape, and the
FBI confiscated that from me
706
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,798
under very rude circumstances.
707
00:28:25,768 --> 00:28:27,612
- When Death Row was in the soul offices,
708
00:28:27,612 --> 00:28:29,974
we pretty much gave over to the one floor.
709
00:28:29,974 --> 00:28:33,012
There were a lot of young,
710
00:28:33,012 --> 00:28:34,137
folks hanging out, but
711
00:28:34,137 --> 00:28:36,182
it wasn't what it become.
712
00:28:36,182 --> 00:28:37,175
- Unfortunately,
713
00:28:37,175 --> 00:28:39,866
there was a lot of tension.
714
00:28:39,866 --> 00:28:42,041
An element showed up that
715
00:28:42,041 --> 00:28:43,857
my people were not accustomed to.
716
00:28:43,857 --> 00:28:46,764
Dre had invited these guys over
717
00:28:46,764 --> 00:28:47,902
to the studio.
718
00:28:47,902 --> 00:28:49,905
When Suge came,
719
00:28:49,905 --> 00:28:52,568
these guys were using the phone.
720
00:29:04,658 --> 00:29:07,034
So he told them, hey
man, get off the phone.
721
00:29:07,034 --> 00:29:08,865
So,
722
00:29:08,865 --> 00:29:10,174
the guy said to Suge,
723
00:29:10,174 --> 00:29:13,370
hey man, we were invited up here by Dre.
724
00:29:13,370 --> 00:29:16,481
Dre told us that we could use this phone.
725
00:29:24,316 --> 00:29:26,158
An argument ensued.
726
00:29:26,158 --> 00:29:29,414
Suge went down to the car
727
00:29:29,414 --> 00:29:31,112
and got a gun.
728
00:29:42,656 --> 00:29:45,250
And hey,
729
00:29:45,250 --> 00:29:47,106
beat these guys up in the studio.
730
00:29:47,106 --> 00:29:49,512
He shot through the wall to scare them.
731
00:29:49,512 --> 00:29:51,341
The hole is in the wall over there.
732
00:29:51,341 --> 00:29:53,342
The cops came and dug the bullet out.
733
00:29:53,342 --> 00:29:56,482
- [Voiceover] George and Lynwood
Stanley later sued Knight.
734
00:29:56,482 --> 00:29:59,576
He agreed on a $1,000,000 settlement,
735
00:29:59,576 --> 00:30:02,245
but only paid a third of it.
736
00:30:05,732 --> 00:30:06,208
- Deep Cover.
737
00:30:06,208 --> 00:30:06,899
- Deep Cover.
738
00:30:06,899 --> 00:30:10,399
- Deep Cover was a critical success.
739
00:30:10,399 --> 00:30:13,853
- It was the introduction
of Dre as a solo artist.
740
00:30:13,853 --> 00:30:16,604
("Deep Cover" by Dr. Dre)
741
00:30:16,604 --> 00:30:18,058
It was the introduction of Dre
742
00:30:18,058 --> 00:30:19,872
as a mentor to other artists.
743
00:30:19,872 --> 00:30:21,908
In this case, Snoop Doggy Dogg.
744
00:30:31,378 --> 00:30:33,107
- By Snoop blowing up on Deep Cover,
745
00:30:33,107 --> 00:30:35,008
I looked at that like
we were all blowing up,
746
00:30:35,008 --> 00:30:37,080
'cause I always knew we did music together
747
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,271
and I always had confidence in our music
748
00:30:39,271 --> 00:30:42,063
that it would sell, and that
it would sell worldwide.
749
00:30:42,063 --> 00:30:43,756
And after the way it blew up with Snoop,
750
00:30:43,756 --> 00:30:45,613
it pumped me up like, man,
751
00:30:45,613 --> 00:30:46,954
I can't wait 'til it's my turn,
752
00:30:46,954 --> 00:30:48,624
'cause they really do love what we doing.
753
00:30:48,624 --> 00:30:50,279
- That single was so significant,
754
00:30:50,279 --> 00:30:52,136
because it shows these
two different worlds
755
00:30:52,136 --> 00:30:54,226
that Dre was leaving,
756
00:30:54,226 --> 00:30:56,333
and where he's going to.
757
00:30:56,888 --> 00:30:58,458
- Dr. Dre wanted to make a statement
758
00:30:58,458 --> 00:30:59,624
that he was a solo artist,
759
00:30:59,624 --> 00:31:01,597
that he was a good artist on his own,
760
00:31:01,597 --> 00:31:02,880
and a good producer.
761
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,917
The thing back then was,
we gon' try to come up.
762
00:31:05,917 --> 00:31:08,179
That's all Dre used to
talk about was coming up,
763
00:31:08,179 --> 00:31:09,159
coming up.
764
00:31:09,159 --> 00:31:12,604
And The Chronic was what
was supposed to set it off.
765
00:31:15,796 --> 00:31:17,554
- What I'm doing right now
766
00:31:17,554 --> 00:31:18,648
is...
767
00:31:18,648 --> 00:31:20,779
I'll be putting out a solo album soon.
768
00:31:20,779 --> 00:31:23,328
- Everybody put their all
into The Chronic album
769
00:31:23,328 --> 00:31:25,516
because we seen that, not only was this
770
00:31:25,516 --> 00:31:27,360
gonna build the record
company that we want
771
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,376
because this was the first
album off the record company
772
00:31:29,376 --> 00:31:30,629
we want.
773
00:31:30,629 --> 00:31:32,442
This will build all of our careers.
774
00:31:32,442 --> 00:31:33,958
- When we vibe, it's
straight whatever Dre want.
775
00:31:33,958 --> 00:31:35,317
It's Dre. Dre, whatever you want.
776
00:31:35,317 --> 00:31:36,415
You want this concept, Dre?
777
00:31:36,415 --> 00:31:37,871
You want this? You want this?
778
00:31:37,871 --> 00:31:38,715
It's all about Dre.
779
00:31:38,715 --> 00:31:40,005
It's all about Compton and Dre.
780
00:31:40,005 --> 00:31:41,364
Dre, Dre, Dre.
781
00:31:41,364 --> 00:31:42,210
Boom.
782
00:31:42,210 --> 00:31:44,568
- You had Snoop Dogg, who
783
00:31:44,568 --> 00:31:48,006
just brought a whole
nother style to rap music.
784
00:31:48,006 --> 00:31:50,751
- He has a voice where he
could rap over beats and just
785
00:31:50,751 --> 00:31:52,721
rip a beat to pieces.
786
00:31:52,721 --> 00:31:55,106
- A lot of that shit was
on the spot, spontaneous.
787
00:31:55,106 --> 00:31:56,076
Right there.
788
00:31:56,076 --> 00:31:57,824
We just putting the
weed together like this,
789
00:31:57,824 --> 00:31:58,780
breaking it down,
790
00:31:58,780 --> 00:32:00,568
put it in a zig-zag.
791
00:32:00,568 --> 00:32:02,371
Once we twist that shit up and blaze,
792
00:32:02,371 --> 00:32:05,187
if it's a crime, we gon keep it in this...
793
00:32:05,187 --> 00:32:06,933
On the low down,
motherfucking throw it out
794
00:32:06,933 --> 00:32:08,264
and come with some new shit.
795
00:32:08,264 --> 00:32:09,624
- First of all, you had
796
00:32:09,624 --> 00:32:12,396
so many hungry, starving individuals
797
00:32:12,396 --> 00:32:14,365
that wanted to be superstars
798
00:32:14,365 --> 00:32:16,729
who put they talent together, and
799
00:32:16,729 --> 00:32:18,489
it came out to be a classic.
800
00:32:18,489 --> 00:32:21,231
- The camaraderie in them
early days over there, man.
801
00:32:21,231 --> 00:32:24,199
All them cats used to
show up to the studio...
802
00:32:24,199 --> 00:32:25,545
- They were poor as hell,
803
00:32:25,545 --> 00:32:26,946
but they still were a family.
804
00:32:26,946 --> 00:32:28,394
They still had fun.
805
00:32:29,330 --> 00:32:30,455
- [Dre] Yeah!
806
00:32:30,455 --> 00:32:32,174
Chronic, baby!
807
00:32:32,174 --> 00:32:33,630
- So, it wasn't like
808
00:32:33,630 --> 00:32:36,070
we had money to hang with our
friends or anything like that,
809
00:32:36,070 --> 00:32:39,246
so we just hung together.
810
00:32:39,246 --> 00:32:42,061
And we created a masterpiece.
811
00:32:43,127 --> 00:32:45,221
- Check it out!
812
00:32:46,026 --> 00:32:49,651
- I think it was a lot of
collaboration on The Chronic album
813
00:32:49,651 --> 00:32:53,294
as far as names like Daz, Kurupt,
814
00:32:53,294 --> 00:32:54,763
Snoop, Warren G,
815
00:32:54,763 --> 00:32:57,714
DOC, RBX and myself,
816
00:32:57,714 --> 00:32:59,155
Rage, Jewell.
817
00:32:59,155 --> 00:33:01,818
- We were all starvin'.
818
00:33:01,818 --> 00:33:04,425
All starvin'.
819
00:33:04,425 --> 00:33:05,707
Dre included.
820
00:33:05,707 --> 00:33:07,549
We'll be up there eating Popeye's chicken
821
00:33:07,549 --> 00:33:08,960
five days a week.
822
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,726
- I gotta go warm the joint.
823
00:33:10,726 --> 00:33:12,576
We had weed, the best weed.
824
00:33:12,576 --> 00:33:15,873
That's why we made The Chronic
because we had the chronic.
825
00:33:15,873 --> 00:33:17,888
- I mean, sometimes we was just in there
826
00:33:17,888 --> 00:33:22,410
drinking or elevating our
minds to another level.
827
00:33:23,295 --> 00:33:24,667
Dre'll be like,
828
00:33:24,667 --> 00:33:26,239
working with the beats at the time
829
00:33:26,239 --> 00:33:27,599
and he'll come up with something,
830
00:33:27,599 --> 00:33:29,091
and depending on who was in the studio
831
00:33:29,091 --> 00:33:30,973
at that particular time.
832
00:33:30,973 --> 00:33:33,263
- It was people waiting all
over the world for that album,
833
00:33:33,263 --> 00:33:35,103
for Dre's album to drop.
834
00:33:35,103 --> 00:33:36,851
- The Chronic was finished.
835
00:33:36,851 --> 00:33:38,412
We had originally thought
we were gonna be able
836
00:33:38,412 --> 00:33:40,252
to distribute the record with Sony.
837
00:33:40,252 --> 00:33:42,914
- This would've been the
first time in history
838
00:33:42,914 --> 00:33:45,172
that young guys
839
00:33:45,172 --> 00:33:47,939
would've actually had the opportunity
840
00:33:47,939 --> 00:33:50,554
to have a distribution deal,
841
00:33:50,554 --> 00:33:52,548
what they call a P&D deal,
842
00:33:52,548 --> 00:33:54,575
through a major and get all the money.
843
00:33:54,575 --> 00:33:56,694
- Sony refused to distribute The Chronic.
844
00:33:56,694 --> 00:33:59,354
- Sony, because of their fearfulness of
845
00:33:59,354 --> 00:34:02,509
some of the crazy things
going on around Death Row
846
00:34:02,509 --> 00:34:06,314
and their wariness of the
contractual status of Dr. Dre,
847
00:34:06,314 --> 00:34:08,170
didn't wanna get that deal done.
848
00:34:18,005 --> 00:34:21,237
- Part of their fears in
dealing with rap bands is that
849
00:34:21,237 --> 00:34:22,983
some of these gangsta
rappers might turn out
850
00:34:22,983 --> 00:34:24,236
to be real gangsters.
851
00:34:24,236 --> 00:34:25,444
Indeed, many of them are.
852
00:34:25,444 --> 00:34:28,382
Any number of these guys
go to jail every year.
853
00:34:28,382 --> 00:34:30,099
It's like the first thing that, you know,
854
00:34:30,099 --> 00:34:31,737
they go platinum and then they go to jail.
855
00:34:31,737 --> 00:34:34,738
- Dick and I then
negotiated a deal with BMG
856
00:34:34,738 --> 00:34:35,712
to put out the record.
857
00:34:35,712 --> 00:34:37,136
They heard the lyrics, and they said,
858
00:34:37,136 --> 00:34:38,544
we're not gonna put the record out.
859
00:34:38,544 --> 00:34:41,853
Everybody got afraid of putting out
860
00:34:41,853 --> 00:34:44,297
any kind of rap records
with explicit lyrics
861
00:34:44,297 --> 00:34:46,399
that talked about killing cops and stuff.
862
00:34:46,399 --> 00:34:48,079
- It wasn't nobody out there with us.
863
00:34:48,079 --> 00:34:49,703
It was a time when we shopping a deal,
864
00:34:49,703 --> 00:34:51,188
we had an album done.
865
00:34:51,188 --> 00:34:54,282
- John McClane, Jr. came along.
866
00:34:54,282 --> 00:34:56,138
When he heard the record, he went crazy.
867
00:34:56,138 --> 00:34:58,721
He said, Griff, Griff,
you gotta give me this.
868
00:34:58,721 --> 00:34:59,833
You gotta give me this record.
869
00:34:59,833 --> 00:35:02,031
- John said, I love the record,
870
00:35:02,031 --> 00:35:05,204
why don't you let me
take it to Interscope?
871
00:35:10,274 --> 00:35:13,907
- An opportunity appeared
for a young aggressive label
872
00:35:13,907 --> 00:35:15,765
to distribute Death Row,
873
00:35:15,765 --> 00:35:18,518
and two established industry
people to deal with,
874
00:35:18,518 --> 00:35:22,152
Jimmy Iovine, who was a superstar
producer of rock records,
875
00:35:22,152 --> 00:35:24,627
and Ted Fields who had
been a movie producer
876
00:35:24,627 --> 00:35:26,324
and produced some hit music.
877
00:35:26,324 --> 00:35:29,666
They had some rather
controversial acts of their own.
878
00:35:29,666 --> 00:35:31,646
In rock, Nine Inch Nails.
879
00:35:31,646 --> 00:35:33,129
They signed Tupac Shakur,
880
00:35:33,129 --> 00:35:35,187
the other hottest rapper in the business.
881
00:35:35,187 --> 00:35:37,028
- Interscope was out of business.
882
00:35:37,028 --> 00:35:38,681
They were getting ready
to close the doors.
883
00:35:38,681 --> 00:35:41,405
Warners, Atlantic was dropping a deal
884
00:35:41,405 --> 00:35:44,032
and Ted Fields was tired of
885
00:35:44,032 --> 00:35:46,184
pouring his personal money in there.
886
00:35:46,184 --> 00:35:49,787
So, here comes Dick Griffey
887
00:35:49,787 --> 00:35:50,870
with The Chronic.
888
00:35:50,870 --> 00:35:53,436
- Dick and I went and
met with Jimmy Iovine
889
00:35:53,436 --> 00:35:55,015
and we met with David Cohen,
890
00:35:55,015 --> 00:35:56,932
and we played them The Chronic
891
00:35:56,932 --> 00:35:59,050
and they said they were
interested in making a deal.
892
00:35:59,050 --> 00:36:01,681
- So, these guys
893
00:36:01,681 --> 00:36:04,432
told me, said, look, Dick,
894
00:36:04,432 --> 00:36:07,975
we're gonna advance you $200,000.
895
00:36:07,975 --> 00:36:10,837
- Well, the mean time,
what was going on is
896
00:36:10,837 --> 00:36:12,151
there was no more money.
897
00:36:12,151 --> 00:36:13,156
There was no cash flow.
898
00:36:13,156 --> 00:36:15,042
- Friday, no money. Saturday, no money.
899
00:36:15,042 --> 00:36:16,821
Sunday, no money. Monday, no money.
900
00:36:16,821 --> 00:36:18,785
Tuesday,
901
00:36:18,785 --> 00:36:22,991
they advanced $100,000
902
00:36:22,991 --> 00:36:26,689
for which we had to sign as a loan.
903
00:36:26,689 --> 00:36:29,750
By Wednesday, Suge and Dre
904
00:36:29,750 --> 00:36:31,638
were up and Interscope.
905
00:36:31,638 --> 00:36:34,296
Jimmy Iovine got a hold of Dre.
906
00:36:34,296 --> 00:36:35,722
Said, see, Dre?
907
00:36:35,722 --> 00:36:37,980
They doing it to you again, Dre.
908
00:36:37,980 --> 00:36:39,927
These guys are taking advantage of you.
909
00:36:39,927 --> 00:36:42,759
- They then got in touch
directly with Suge and said,
910
00:36:42,759 --> 00:36:43,762
you know, Griffey was here.
911
00:36:43,762 --> 00:36:45,371
He won't make us a deal,
but you give us a record,
912
00:36:45,371 --> 00:36:46,888
we'll give you $1,000,000.
913
00:36:46,888 --> 00:36:48,605
The man, once again,
914
00:36:48,605 --> 00:36:50,861
had done the old divide and conquer.
915
00:36:50,861 --> 00:36:53,059
- There's really a lot of
prejudice in the business,
916
00:36:53,059 --> 00:36:55,843
and people think it's
so much black and white,
917
00:36:55,843 --> 00:36:57,836
but a lot of it is young and old.
918
00:36:57,836 --> 00:36:59,184
- Most of our young people
919
00:36:59,184 --> 00:37:02,012
don't really know what's
available for them out there,
920
00:37:02,012 --> 00:37:04,225
so that's how they
921
00:37:04,225 --> 00:37:05,788
get taken advantage of.
922
00:37:05,788 --> 00:37:07,534
- Older guys, only thing they wanna do
923
00:37:07,534 --> 00:37:09,142
is sit you down and say, look,
924
00:37:09,142 --> 00:37:11,972
okay, Suge, you say you're
a young entrepreneur,
925
00:37:11,972 --> 00:37:13,598
this what we gon' do.
926
00:37:13,598 --> 00:37:15,035
Give me all the stuff you got.
927
00:37:15,035 --> 00:37:17,463
Give me your tapes, give me your masters,
928
00:37:17,463 --> 00:37:18,810
give me your groups,
929
00:37:18,810 --> 00:37:20,388
and I'ma go over there
and make you a deal.
930
00:37:20,388 --> 00:37:23,820
- Suge didn't know contracts.
931
00:37:23,820 --> 00:37:25,784
He didn't know manufacturing.
932
00:37:25,784 --> 00:37:27,425
He didn't know publishing.
933
00:37:27,425 --> 00:37:28,568
- But you know, my opinion was look,
934
00:37:28,568 --> 00:37:29,820
I ain't no punk.
935
00:37:29,820 --> 00:37:31,104
You don't gotta talk for us.
936
00:37:31,104 --> 00:37:32,883
We gon' go in there and
speak for ourselves.
937
00:37:32,883 --> 00:37:35,204
Instead of getting a dollar, we want five.
938
00:37:35,204 --> 00:37:37,694
And our masters, and our own shit.
939
00:37:37,694 --> 00:37:39,116
- What they ended up with,
940
00:37:39,116 --> 00:37:41,700
is going over the Interscope
and getting one of those
941
00:37:41,700 --> 00:37:43,463
regular slave deals.
942
00:37:43,463 --> 00:37:46,013
They took the kids away
943
00:37:46,013 --> 00:37:47,732
from the nest too soon.
944
00:37:47,732 --> 00:37:50,562
- Interscope clearly saw the money.
945
00:37:50,562 --> 00:37:52,418
And this is the record business.
946
00:37:52,418 --> 00:37:56,686
And I think they were
smart enough to see that
947
00:37:56,686 --> 00:37:58,944
whoever this guy Suge Knight was,
948
00:37:58,944 --> 00:38:02,146
and knowing the track
record of this producer,
949
00:38:02,146 --> 00:38:03,863
Dr. Dre, and
950
00:38:03,863 --> 00:38:07,064
you had the legal mind
of Dave Kenner there,
951
00:38:07,064 --> 00:38:09,106
they've got all tools in place.
952
00:38:09,106 --> 00:38:11,270
Everything that we need is right here.
953
00:38:11,270 --> 00:38:12,508
We don't really have to do anything.
954
00:38:12,508 --> 00:38:14,534
All we have to do is fund
these guys and do what we do,
955
00:38:14,534 --> 00:38:16,050
which is promote records, market records,
956
00:38:16,050 --> 00:38:17,116
and advertise records.
957
00:38:17,116 --> 00:38:18,679
- Jimmy Iovine had to go
958
00:38:18,679 --> 00:38:21,231
pay off Ruthless, Eazy, Jerry Heller,
959
00:38:21,231 --> 00:38:24,201
and have The Chronic distributed through
960
00:38:24,201 --> 00:38:25,299
Priority Records.
961
00:38:25,299 --> 00:38:29,150
- Eazy was getting on Dre's Chronic record
962
00:38:29,150 --> 00:38:31,468
like 50 cents a copy, maybe 25 cents.
963
00:38:31,468 --> 00:38:33,680
Then he had Dre Day.
964
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,335
He talking shit about me,
965
00:38:35,335 --> 00:38:38,507
but every time Dre Day sell a record,
966
00:38:38,507 --> 00:38:40,858
I get 25 cent a copy.
967
00:38:40,858 --> 00:38:42,652
- After they signed the agreement,
968
00:38:42,652 --> 00:38:44,399
I think they realized
they needed to leave,
969
00:38:44,399 --> 00:38:45,343
and they did.
970
00:38:45,343 --> 00:38:46,858
All of a sudden, they disappeared.
971
00:38:46,858 --> 00:38:49,271
- Suge cut off all ties
with the people he was
972
00:38:49,271 --> 00:38:50,385
dealing with in the beginning,
973
00:38:50,385 --> 00:38:53,121
and we got a whole new
office and a whole new crew.
974
00:38:53,121 --> 00:38:55,334
- That really became kind of
975
00:38:55,334 --> 00:38:58,302
the rupture in the relationship
between Dick and Suge
976
00:38:58,302 --> 00:39:00,409
and DOC and Dre.
977
00:39:00,409 --> 00:39:03,299
The Chronic goes out and sells
978
00:39:03,299 --> 00:39:05,094
5,000,000 copies,
979
00:39:05,094 --> 00:39:07,761
generates $50 million,
980
00:39:07,761 --> 00:39:09,956
and saved Interscope,
981
00:39:09,956 --> 00:39:11,271
made Interscope.
982
00:39:11,271 --> 00:39:14,079
- We invented something
that wasn't out there.
983
00:39:14,079 --> 00:39:16,569
So it was fresh, and everybody wanted it.
984
00:39:16,569 --> 00:39:20,111
From the East Coast to
the West Coast, period.
985
00:39:20,111 --> 00:39:23,629
- [Doug] You couldn't turn on
MTV without seeing Dr. Dre.
986
00:39:23,629 --> 00:39:26,523
- First time I performed
songs for The Chronic
987
00:39:26,523 --> 00:39:28,518
was with Dr. Dre,
988
00:39:28,518 --> 00:39:30,034
and we did like,
989
00:39:30,034 --> 00:39:32,121
a small, little concert in Compton.
990
00:39:32,121 --> 00:39:34,735
Man, motherfuckers were singing
every word of the songs.
991
00:39:34,735 --> 00:39:36,961
It made me feel like, damn,
992
00:39:36,961 --> 00:39:38,569
this is my life right here.
993
00:39:38,569 --> 00:39:39,932
- To me, it wasn't like, okay,
994
00:39:39,932 --> 00:39:43,566
Dre is advocating everybody smoking weed.
995
00:39:43,566 --> 00:39:44,912
He wasn't saying that.
996
00:39:44,912 --> 00:39:47,882
He was saying, my album is dope.
997
00:39:47,882 --> 00:39:49,167
Do you understand what I'm saying?
998
00:39:49,167 --> 00:39:51,456
My album is dope. Buy it.
999
00:39:51,456 --> 00:39:52,290
- It was a good record.
1000
00:39:52,290 --> 00:39:54,209
I know a lot of cats is pissed
off behind those records
1001
00:39:54,209 --> 00:39:56,264
right now, 'cause they say
they haven't been paid,
1002
00:39:56,264 --> 00:39:57,517
or they didn't get credit for it.
1003
00:39:57,517 --> 00:39:58,383
I liked it.
1004
00:39:58,383 --> 00:39:59,868
I mean, it was out...
1005
00:39:59,868 --> 00:40:01,275
I was surprised by it.
I was happy with it.
1006
00:40:01,275 --> 00:40:04,848
In fact, I still play
it from time to time.
1007
00:40:04,848 --> 00:40:06,225
I don't like listening to
his voice on this shit,
1008
00:40:06,225 --> 00:40:08,564
but I still listen to it.
1009
00:40:14,006 --> 00:40:16,805
- If you understand what
was going on in the street
1010
00:40:16,805 --> 00:40:18,582
at that time or even now,
1011
00:40:18,582 --> 00:40:20,068
word of mouth is everything,
1012
00:40:20,068 --> 00:40:22,758
and Death Row became
really hip on the street.
1013
00:40:22,758 --> 00:40:25,356
Every young, black entertainer
1014
00:40:25,356 --> 00:40:26,641
wanted to be a part of it.
1015
00:40:26,641 --> 00:40:29,532
So there was no problem
in finding talent at all.
1016
00:40:29,532 --> 00:40:31,171
There was an understanding
at Death Row that
1017
00:40:31,171 --> 00:40:34,002
they weren't getting
at the major companies.
1018
00:40:34,002 --> 00:40:36,430
- One of the things
about these major labels,
1019
00:40:36,430 --> 00:40:38,889
they'll never understand street music.
1020
00:40:38,889 --> 00:40:41,612
They'll never understand stuff that starts
1021
00:40:41,612 --> 00:40:43,128
right there in the neighborhoods.
1022
00:40:43,128 --> 00:40:44,209
They'll never understand it.
1023
00:40:44,209 --> 00:40:46,531
Never will, never will, never will.
1024
00:40:46,531 --> 00:40:48,957
That's why you'll always
have some young entrepreneurs
1025
00:40:48,957 --> 00:40:50,473
who will come along,
1026
00:40:50,473 --> 00:40:52,329
who really understand how to do that,
1027
00:40:52,329 --> 00:40:53,566
and make a killing.
1028
00:40:53,566 --> 00:40:54,572
- No matter how they is.
1029
00:40:54,572 --> 00:40:55,984
If you see me out somewhere,
1030
00:40:55,984 --> 00:40:56,974
I don't care who he is.
1031
00:40:56,974 --> 00:40:58,211
I'm finna come over there,
1032
00:40:58,211 --> 00:41:00,701
hear your hook, talk
to you, how you doing?
1033
00:41:00,701 --> 00:41:01,815
Whatever, you ain't gotta speak to me,
1034
00:41:01,815 --> 00:41:04,136
I ain't gon' do no, let's do lunch.
1035
00:41:04,136 --> 00:41:05,991
I ain't with all that (laughs).
1036
00:41:05,991 --> 00:41:08,142
I be like wassup, I'm
still from the ghetto.
1037
00:41:08,142 --> 00:41:10,337
- It was a very, very good time for young
1038
00:41:10,337 --> 00:41:11,945
kids looking for a break.
1039
00:41:11,945 --> 00:41:13,400
There was an opportunity there.
1040
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:15,116
There were people that understood them,
1041
00:41:15,116 --> 00:41:16,631
understood what they were about.
1042
00:41:16,631 --> 00:41:19,293
Kids just come in and run
auditions right off the street.
1043
00:41:19,293 --> 00:41:21,349
- Basically the same thing Motown did.
1044
00:41:21,349 --> 00:41:24,009
They took the mindset,
the spirit, the dreams,
1045
00:41:24,009 --> 00:41:26,561
the hopes and wishes and thoughts
1046
00:41:26,561 --> 00:41:28,246
of the people of the time period,
1047
00:41:28,246 --> 00:41:29,453
and they set it to music.
1048
00:41:29,453 --> 00:41:32,314
- If anybody would really
stop for a moment to analyse
1049
00:41:32,314 --> 00:41:34,232
what really happened at Death Row, it's
1050
00:41:34,232 --> 00:41:35,314
really a miracle.
1051
00:41:35,314 --> 00:41:37,804
You have a company, a small company,
1052
00:41:37,804 --> 00:41:40,573
run by a young, black entrepreneur,
1053
00:41:40,573 --> 00:41:44,640
and he releases five or six LPs
1054
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:46,560
and all of them went, at least, I think,
1055
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:48,074
double platinum.
1056
00:41:48,074 --> 00:41:50,425
Now, it's a known fact that our industry,
1057
00:41:50,425 --> 00:41:53,796
if you're working for a major
and your release 10 LPs,
1058
00:41:53,796 --> 00:41:56,628
and you have three to four
1059
00:41:56,628 --> 00:41:58,653
hit records out of the
ten that you release,
1060
00:41:58,653 --> 00:42:00,060
you're considered a genius.
1061
00:42:00,060 --> 00:42:01,947
- I think the most important
thing in my situation
1062
00:42:01,947 --> 00:42:04,406
is that I wasn't coached.
1063
00:42:04,406 --> 00:42:07,035
I think if a person's
coached about the business,
1064
00:42:07,035 --> 00:42:09,276
they're gonna continue
to make the same mistakes
1065
00:42:09,276 --> 00:42:11,425
the other entrepreneurs
were making all along.
1066
00:42:11,425 --> 00:42:13,219
- The appeal of Death
Row and everybody wanting
1067
00:42:13,219 --> 00:42:15,570
to join Death Row Records at the time,
1068
00:42:15,570 --> 00:42:18,492
was the fact that Suge Knight was a
1069
00:42:18,492 --> 00:42:20,905
black man with a lot of power,
1070
00:42:20,905 --> 00:42:22,943
and he was a fearsome individual.
1071
00:42:22,943 --> 00:42:24,831
That's the type of person
you want on your team.
1072
00:42:24,831 --> 00:42:26,779
- Suge Knight is an
intimidating individual.
1073
00:42:26,779 --> 00:42:28,497
When he enters the room, you notice him.
1074
00:42:28,497 --> 00:42:29,408
You can't help it.
1075
00:42:29,408 --> 00:42:31,759
I think that he would be
considered a handsome man,
1076
00:42:31,759 --> 00:42:33,073
huge man.
1077
00:42:33,073 --> 00:42:35,364
- Suge's tremendous size
1078
00:42:35,364 --> 00:42:36,586
intimidated people.
1079
00:42:36,586 --> 00:42:38,765
When you got a 300-pound guy
1080
00:42:38,765 --> 00:42:39,987
saying something,
1081
00:42:39,987 --> 00:42:41,425
it means a lot more than if you had
1082
00:42:41,425 --> 00:42:42,741
Mickey Rooney saying it.
1083
00:42:42,741 --> 00:42:45,230
Suge was bright enough to use his size,
1084
00:42:45,230 --> 00:42:47,799
much like Don King uses his hair.
1085
00:42:47,799 --> 00:42:50,320
- The hype got so big that
1086
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:51,942
everybody started fearing it.
1087
00:42:51,942 --> 00:42:53,629
- I have friends here at Sony
1088
00:42:53,629 --> 00:42:54,504
and one of them calls and said,
1089
00:42:54,504 --> 00:42:56,252
gee, you know, we really
wanna get a track.
1090
00:42:56,252 --> 00:42:58,804
You do me a favor and
can you go talk to Suge?
1091
00:42:58,804 --> 00:43:00,258
I say, I'll go talk to him.
1092
00:43:00,258 --> 00:43:01,634
And so I went over to see Suge.
1093
00:43:01,634 --> 00:43:03,351
I said Suge, what is it you doing?
1094
00:43:03,351 --> 00:43:04,665
You got people out here
1095
00:43:04,665 --> 00:43:05,980
that are afraid to talk to you.
1096
00:43:05,980 --> 00:43:07,866
Suge became somewhat like a
1097
00:43:07,866 --> 00:43:09,474
folk hero after a while.
1098
00:43:09,474 --> 00:43:12,010
These stories that's
developed a life of their own.
1099
00:43:12,010 --> 00:43:13,313
You got Suge doing everything from
1100
00:43:13,313 --> 00:43:15,432
throwing people off of
a 30-storey building
1101
00:43:15,432 --> 00:43:18,695
to putting rocks and
beers in them, cement.
1102
00:43:18,695 --> 00:43:20,813
- They put bad names on people
1103
00:43:20,813 --> 00:43:23,072
and tried to drag their name through dirt.
1104
00:43:23,072 --> 00:43:25,763
But now, as the individual,
1105
00:43:25,763 --> 00:43:28,422
you got to do what you
got to do to get paid.
1106
00:43:28,422 --> 00:43:30,682
- He was a very brilliant businessman.
1107
00:43:30,682 --> 00:43:32,769
Whatever his tactics might have been,
1108
00:43:32,769 --> 00:43:35,229
whoever he had to step on to get there,
1109
00:43:35,229 --> 00:43:38,832
his main objective was to just get there
1110
00:43:38,832 --> 00:43:40,317
at any cost.
1111
00:43:40,317 --> 00:43:41,630
- There's a genius
1112
00:43:41,630 --> 00:43:42,527
which is a part of him,
1113
00:43:42,527 --> 00:43:44,818
and you know what they say about geniuses.
1114
00:43:44,818 --> 00:43:47,524
They aren't far from being insane.
1115
00:43:47,524 --> 00:43:50,337
- Suge Knight pretty much blew his cover
1116
00:43:50,337 --> 00:43:52,767
by appearing on the cover of magazines,
1117
00:43:52,767 --> 00:43:55,333
because now you're no longer
a figure behind the scenes.
1118
00:43:55,333 --> 00:43:56,276
Now, you're a celebrity.
1119
00:43:56,276 --> 00:43:57,948
You're making yourself a celebrity.
1120
00:44:18,508 --> 00:44:20,972
- When Snoop's album comes out,
1121
00:44:20,972 --> 00:44:23,570
this is the most anticipated
1122
00:44:23,570 --> 00:44:25,689
rap album in history.
1123
00:44:25,689 --> 00:44:27,715
- Doggystyle was,
1124
00:44:27,715 --> 00:44:29,091
we're through with The Chronic.
1125
00:44:29,091 --> 00:44:30,746
It's all about you, Snoop.
1126
00:44:30,746 --> 00:44:32,386
You're the hottest thing
coming out the West Coast
1127
00:44:32,386 --> 00:44:33,498
in a long time,
1128
00:44:33,498 --> 00:44:34,783
and Dre gon' produce it.
1129
00:44:34,783 --> 00:44:37,335
And when Dre produce an
album from top to bottom,
1130
00:44:37,335 --> 00:44:38,325
you can't lose.
1131
00:44:38,325 --> 00:44:39,319
- [Voiceover] Tell us
what we should expect
1132
00:44:39,319 --> 00:44:41,544
on the new album.
1133
00:44:41,544 --> 00:44:42,984
- Gangsta shit.
1134
00:44:42,984 --> 00:44:43,758
You know what I'm saying.
1135
00:44:43,758 --> 00:44:44,814
Smooth gangsta shit.
1136
00:44:44,814 --> 00:44:47,149
- We're here at Tower
Records in Marina del Rey
1137
00:44:47,149 --> 00:44:49,236
where this is really this
hottest album on the shelves
1138
00:44:49,236 --> 00:44:49,841
right now.
1139
00:44:49,841 --> 00:44:51,495
- [Voiceover] Since the
album was released a midnight
1140
00:44:51,495 --> 00:44:56,072
last night at this store,
they've already sold 130 CDs
1141
00:44:56,072 --> 00:44:57,651
and about 100 cassettes.
1142
00:44:57,651 --> 00:44:59,536
It could be the hottest album ever.
1143
00:44:59,536 --> 00:45:00,845
Get it before it's gone.
1144
00:45:00,845 --> 00:45:02,498
- Nobody had ever, in the modern era,
1145
00:45:02,498 --> 00:45:05,500
had their very first album go number one.
1146
00:45:05,500 --> 00:45:08,530
A triple platinum album is $30 million
1147
00:45:08,530 --> 00:45:10,339
to the record label.
1148
00:45:10,339 --> 00:45:13,804
It's more than $45 million
on the retail level.
1149
00:45:13,804 --> 00:45:16,581
Death Row became the core of Interscope
1150
00:45:16,581 --> 00:45:19,351
which became the core of Warner Bros'
1151
00:45:19,351 --> 00:45:21,762
music money-making machine.
1152
00:45:21,762 --> 00:45:23,386
- After the Snoop album came out,
1153
00:45:23,386 --> 00:45:25,305
it was all gravy,
1154
00:45:25,305 --> 00:45:28,600
'cause man, Death Row
was flying high then.
1155
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,718
It was just so much money
1156
00:45:30,718 --> 00:45:32,140
floating around Death Row
1157
00:45:32,140 --> 00:45:33,719
for anything.
1158
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:35,698
I remember I used to keep
1159
00:45:35,698 --> 00:45:37,692
thousands, I used to run through thousands
1160
00:45:37,692 --> 00:45:39,147
of dollars a day.
1161
00:45:39,147 --> 00:45:42,009
They're making $100 million a year.
1162
00:45:42,009 --> 00:45:43,988
They can buy anything they want.
1163
00:45:43,988 --> 00:45:45,813
They can buy anybody they want.
1164
00:45:45,813 --> 00:45:49,760
That made it all very,
very serious business.
1165
00:45:55,973 --> 00:45:59,516
- Rappers didn't give
gangsta rap its name.
1166
00:45:59,516 --> 00:46:01,960
The music industry gave
gangsta rap its name.
1167
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:04,589
They said, this music has cussing in it.
1168
00:46:04,589 --> 00:46:06,105
They're calling women bitches,
1169
00:46:06,105 --> 00:46:08,624
so that's gangsta rap because
1170
00:46:08,624 --> 00:46:11,223
it comes from the gangs and the gangsters.
1171
00:46:11,223 --> 00:46:13,142
- Gangsta rap isn't
something that was just born
1172
00:46:13,142 --> 00:46:15,740
and invented in a quote, unquote ghetto.
1173
00:46:15,740 --> 00:46:17,318
It's something that you see
1174
00:46:17,318 --> 00:46:19,235
on the American movies.
1175
00:46:20,688 --> 00:46:22,514
The blowification of Al Capone
1176
00:46:22,514 --> 00:46:24,261
and Lucky Luciano,
1177
00:46:24,261 --> 00:46:26,582
and that's kind of glamorous
in any American's eyes,
1178
00:46:26,582 --> 00:46:27,433
I think.
1179
00:46:34,383 --> 00:46:37,570
- It really puts the truth of society
1180
00:46:37,570 --> 00:46:39,253
out in front of America,
1181
00:46:39,253 --> 00:46:41,374
and America, not used to that,
1182
00:46:41,374 --> 00:46:43,431
is obviously gonna be shocked about it.
1183
00:47:00,021 --> 00:47:03,283
- Suppose they just started
rapping about the 6:00 news?
1184
00:47:03,283 --> 00:47:05,649
Would it be gangsta rap?
1185
00:47:05,649 --> 00:47:07,661
- Gangsta rap is like the movies, too.
1186
00:47:07,661 --> 00:47:10,200
Drama sells.
1187
00:47:10,801 --> 00:47:11,914
- I take it for what it is.
1188
00:47:11,914 --> 00:47:13,460
It's a record. It's a CD.
1189
00:47:13,460 --> 00:47:15,178
It's a tape, you know.
1190
00:47:15,178 --> 00:47:17,295
And I'm not gonna live my life by it,
1191
00:47:17,295 --> 00:47:19,190
and other people shouldn't either.
1192
00:47:19,190 --> 00:47:20,397
It's entertainment.
1193
00:47:20,397 --> 00:47:23,398
- No black man should get
on the front of a magazine
1194
00:47:23,398 --> 00:47:26,057
with a 12-inch cigar in
front of two Rolls Royces,
1195
00:47:26,057 --> 00:47:28,439
wearing what could be
considered gang colors
1196
00:47:28,439 --> 00:47:29,181
in America.
1197
00:47:29,181 --> 00:47:30,233
That sends a bad message.
1198
00:47:30,233 --> 00:47:31,549
That's negative.
1199
00:47:31,549 --> 00:47:33,158
- Publicity when it was negative
1200
00:47:33,158 --> 00:47:34,271
played a role also,
1201
00:47:34,271 --> 00:47:36,993
because it was part of this role
1202
00:47:36,993 --> 00:47:39,514
that Suge Knight had
chosen for the company.
1203
00:47:39,514 --> 00:47:42,747
I mean, these kids were not gangsters,
1204
00:47:42,747 --> 00:47:44,633
quote, real gangsters.
1205
00:47:44,633 --> 00:47:46,721
Many people that were
not, as a matter of fact,
1206
00:47:46,721 --> 00:47:48,206
gang members like it has been
1207
00:47:48,206 --> 00:47:50,261
portrayed in the press,
1208
00:47:50,261 --> 00:47:52,614
there were people around that were.
1209
00:47:52,614 --> 00:47:54,872
- When you got brothers that, you know,
1210
00:47:54,872 --> 00:47:56,078
perpetrating gang violence
1211
00:47:56,078 --> 00:47:59,450
or gang affiliation, making it cool,
1212
00:47:59,450 --> 00:48:00,253
it's a problem.
1213
00:48:00,253 --> 00:48:01,134
That could be a problem.
1214
00:48:01,134 --> 00:48:04,258
- It wasn't just Death Row
perpetuating the violence.
1215
00:48:04,258 --> 00:48:05,544
I think it was the media.
1216
00:48:05,544 --> 00:48:06,996
I mean, let's face it.
1217
00:48:06,996 --> 00:48:09,517
The coverage was just awesome.
1218
00:48:09,517 --> 00:48:11,806
All of a sudden, Death Row and gangsta rap
1219
00:48:11,806 --> 00:48:13,833
was the reason that every
youngster in America
1220
00:48:13,833 --> 00:48:15,038
was going bad.
1221
00:48:23,846 --> 00:48:25,454
- [Crowd] No gangsta rap!
1222
00:48:25,454 --> 00:48:29,536
- Lyrics that promote
rape, murder, racism,
1223
00:48:29,536 --> 00:48:32,089
drug abuse, and violence...
1224
00:48:32,089 --> 00:48:35,090
- Die. Die.
1225
00:48:35,090 --> 00:48:36,605
Die, pig. Die.
1226
00:48:36,605 --> 00:48:38,461
- Time Warner's Music Division
1227
00:48:38,461 --> 00:48:40,781
promotes music that celebrates the rape,
1228
00:48:40,781 --> 00:48:42,498
torture, and murder of women.
1229
00:48:42,498 --> 00:48:45,297
- C. Delores Tucker is
a political activist
1230
00:48:45,297 --> 00:48:48,189
that embodies herself in matters of
1231
00:48:48,189 --> 00:48:50,819
African-American decency questions.
1232
00:48:50,819 --> 00:48:53,479
In the beginning, we was
trying to protect America
1233
00:48:53,479 --> 00:48:56,123
from the threat of gangsta rap.
1234
00:48:56,123 --> 00:48:57,884
- You will see words that
you can't even repeat
1235
00:48:57,884 --> 00:48:59,031
in a locker room.
1236
00:48:59,031 --> 00:49:00,499
- But by that point,
1237
00:49:00,499 --> 00:49:01,861
the cat was out of the bag,
1238
00:49:01,861 --> 00:49:03,872
and there's very little
that she could've done.
1239
00:49:03,872 --> 00:49:05,355
- Doggy style.
1240
00:49:05,355 --> 00:49:06,903
Do it from the back.
1241
00:49:12,777 --> 00:49:15,407
- She involved herself
in Time Warner politics
1242
00:49:15,407 --> 00:49:19,150
along with a odd political
bedfellow for her,
1243
00:49:19,150 --> 00:49:20,619
who was William Bennett.
1244
00:49:20,619 --> 00:49:22,707
- The moral obtuseness of Time Warner,
1245
00:49:22,707 --> 00:49:24,641
we do not understand
why they don't get it.
1246
00:49:24,641 --> 00:49:26,258
- These are right-wing conservatives.
1247
00:49:26,258 --> 00:49:27,063
Both of them.
1248
00:49:27,063 --> 00:49:28,626
They are would-be sensors.
1249
00:49:28,626 --> 00:49:31,008
Both were attacking Time Warner
1250
00:49:31,008 --> 00:49:32,353
along with Dole.
1251
00:49:32,353 --> 00:49:34,270
- A line has been crossed.
1252
00:49:34,270 --> 00:49:36,095
Not just of taste,
1253
00:49:36,095 --> 00:49:38,547
but of human dignity and decency.
1254
00:49:38,547 --> 00:49:40,341
- Now you've got a presidential candidate
1255
00:49:40,341 --> 00:49:43,034
accusing Time Warner of debasing a nation,
1256
00:49:43,034 --> 00:49:44,921
for handing Death Row product.
1257
00:49:44,921 --> 00:49:47,548
- The mainstreaming of
deviancy must come to an end.
1258
00:49:47,548 --> 00:49:49,389
- Now, I think we do have problems
1259
00:49:49,389 --> 00:49:51,849
with the social fabric of
this country right now.
1260
00:49:51,849 --> 00:49:54,786
I do have trouble believing
that it is caused by
1261
00:49:54,786 --> 00:49:56,827
song lyrics or movies.
1262
00:49:56,827 --> 00:49:59,116
- Time Warner was also doing Ice T.
1263
00:49:59,116 --> 00:50:00,834
They got T off the label,
1264
00:50:00,834 --> 00:50:02,118
but they were stuck with Death Row
1265
00:50:02,118 --> 00:50:03,463
and the numbers were huge.
1266
00:50:03,463 --> 00:50:04,498
They didn't know what to do with it.
1267
00:50:04,498 --> 00:50:06,926
They'd just put $120 million into it.
1268
00:50:06,926 --> 00:50:08,351
They're getting all that money out
1269
00:50:08,351 --> 00:50:09,866
and then some.
1270
00:50:09,866 --> 00:50:11,814
They can't be seen by any of their artists
1271
00:50:11,814 --> 00:50:14,614
to give into political
pressure whatsoever.
1272
00:50:14,614 --> 00:50:16,656
If you do that, they'd
never get another act again,
1273
00:50:16,656 --> 00:50:19,857
and no self-respecting manager
would ever side with a label
1274
00:50:19,857 --> 00:50:21,574
who they thought could be pressured
1275
00:50:21,574 --> 00:50:23,320
for content.
1276
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:26,723
- We, African-American women particularly,
1277
00:50:26,723 --> 00:50:28,890
are tired of being called
1278
00:50:28,890 --> 00:50:31,581
hoes, bitches, and sluts
1279
00:50:31,581 --> 00:50:33,499
by our children
1280
00:50:33,499 --> 00:50:35,585
who are paid to do this
1281
00:50:35,585 --> 00:50:36,992
by Time Warner.
1282
00:50:36,992 --> 00:50:39,082
- She came out with an idea
1283
00:50:39,082 --> 00:50:41,000
that she reportedly pitched to Fuchs
1284
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,892
that what if she started a label,
1285
00:50:43,892 --> 00:50:46,422
a positive rap label,
1286
00:50:46,422 --> 00:50:49,957
and got Suge to distribute
Death Row product
1287
00:50:49,957 --> 00:50:51,210
through her,
1288
00:50:51,210 --> 00:50:53,931
with her as the watchdog
of the lyrical content
1289
00:50:53,931 --> 00:50:56,189
to make sure that the
messages were positive.
1290
00:50:56,189 --> 00:50:58,530
Michael Fuchs, reportedly
desperate to try and
1291
00:50:58,530 --> 00:51:00,556
figure out a solution to this,
1292
00:51:00,556 --> 00:51:02,211
apparently listened to her.
1293
00:51:02,211 --> 00:51:03,758
She got Fuchs
1294
00:51:03,758 --> 00:51:07,762
to guarantee $80 million
if she could pull this off.
1295
00:51:20,075 --> 00:51:22,055
- Interscope was not
about to let Death Row go
1296
00:51:22,055 --> 00:51:23,136
without a fight.
1297
00:51:23,136 --> 00:51:26,571
Suge Knight also protected
those artists lyrically.
1298
00:51:26,571 --> 00:51:28,658
Made sure that everyone was allowed to say
1299
00:51:28,658 --> 00:51:30,438
whatever the hell they wanted to say.
1300
00:51:30,438 --> 00:51:31,472
- Whatever happens,
1301
00:51:31,472 --> 00:51:33,067
we're gonna stand up tall
1302
00:51:33,067 --> 00:51:35,517
and be more successful.
1303
00:51:35,517 --> 00:51:36,754
Only thing anybody doing is
1304
00:51:36,754 --> 00:51:38,547
making us stronger and better.
1305
00:51:38,547 --> 00:51:40,759
- No way he was gonna
let C. Delores Tucker
1306
00:51:40,759 --> 00:51:42,384
decide the lyrical content
1307
00:51:42,384 --> 00:51:44,271
of a Snoop Doggy Dogg album.
1308
00:51:44,271 --> 00:51:46,079
That wasn't gonna happen.
1309
00:51:46,079 --> 00:51:48,370
But, they apparently thought it was.
1310
00:51:48,370 --> 00:51:51,308
Michael Fuchs reportedly
flew to Los Angeles
1311
00:51:51,308 --> 00:51:52,760
in a Time Warner jet
1312
00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:54,482
to Dionne Warwick's house
1313
00:51:54,482 --> 00:51:56,833
where C. Delores Tucker
sitting there waiting
1314
00:51:56,833 --> 00:52:00,164
for Suge to come over to cut a deal
1315
00:52:00,164 --> 00:52:02,764
that would make a tame Death Row Records.
1316
00:52:02,764 --> 00:52:05,347
- What she really wanted
was a record company
1317
00:52:05,347 --> 00:52:07,634
or to have more involvement
in that business.
1318
00:52:07,634 --> 00:52:08,920
I mean, it is
1319
00:52:08,920 --> 00:52:10,202
a very lucrative business.
1320
00:52:10,202 --> 00:52:12,148
She had the wherewithal to see where
1321
00:52:12,148 --> 00:52:14,034
this rap situation was going,
1322
00:52:14,034 --> 00:52:18,149
how it had the nation
really sort of unnerved.
1323
00:52:18,149 --> 00:52:19,918
She was just trying to
parlay it into something
1324
00:52:19,918 --> 00:52:21,541
for herself or she had been promised
1325
00:52:21,541 --> 00:52:23,352
it would be something for herself.
1326
00:52:23,352 --> 00:52:24,232
- Never.
1327
00:52:24,232 --> 00:52:26,522
Never have I discussed
1328
00:52:26,522 --> 00:52:28,904
$80 million with them
1329
00:52:28,904 --> 00:52:31,504
about any kind of
1330
00:52:31,504 --> 00:52:32,817
business deal.
1331
00:52:32,817 --> 00:52:35,030
- The story goes that
they waited five hours,
1332
00:52:35,030 --> 00:52:37,257
Michael Fuchs, C. Delores Tucker,
1333
00:52:37,257 --> 00:52:40,149
at Dionne Warwick's house
1334
00:52:40,149 --> 00:52:41,943
that Suge never showed up.
1335
00:52:41,943 --> 00:52:43,985
Suge went right back
to Interscope and said,
1336
00:52:43,985 --> 00:52:45,841
do you know what these
guys just tried to pull?
1337
00:52:45,841 --> 00:52:47,789
So Interscope then
1338
00:52:47,789 --> 00:52:49,676
promptly sued Time Warner,
1339
00:52:49,676 --> 00:52:52,058
and promptly sued C. Delores Tucker
1340
00:52:52,058 --> 00:52:54,274
for interfering with their
contractual relationship.
1341
00:52:54,274 --> 00:52:56,423
- [Voiceover] Time Warner
has decided to get out of the
1342
00:52:56,423 --> 00:52:57,536
gangsta rap business
1343
00:52:57,536 --> 00:53:00,258
by selling its 50% share
of Interscope Records
1344
00:53:00,258 --> 00:53:01,712
back to that company.
1345
00:53:01,712 --> 00:53:03,600
- Made the right decision,
1346
00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:06,321
the morally responsible
decision, we think,
1347
00:53:06,321 --> 00:53:08,550
and we believe that either action,
1348
00:53:08,550 --> 00:53:10,870
divesting themselves of Interscope
1349
00:53:10,870 --> 00:53:12,446
at some financial loss,
1350
00:53:12,446 --> 00:53:14,506
they have set a standard for the entire
1351
00:53:14,506 --> 00:53:15,712
entertainment industry.
1352
00:53:15,712 --> 00:53:16,687
- I commend them for it.
1353
00:53:16,687 --> 00:53:18,467
I think they're gonna
1354
00:53:18,467 --> 00:53:19,907
be good corporate citizens.
1355
00:53:19,907 --> 00:53:23,046
- Death Row Records was at
the center of controversies
1356
00:53:23,046 --> 00:53:25,134
and if the Republicans
would've had their way,
1357
00:53:25,134 --> 00:53:27,516
would have brought down a president.
1358
00:53:27,516 --> 00:53:30,484
That's how big the controversy got.
1359
00:53:36,852 --> 00:53:38,004
- The origins of Death Row,
1360
00:53:38,004 --> 00:53:40,110
starting with David
Kenner, Michael Harris,
1361
00:53:40,110 --> 00:53:42,551
and Suge Knight,
1362
00:53:42,551 --> 00:53:45,670
didn't seem
1363
00:53:45,670 --> 00:53:47,598
out of the ordinary
until all the information
1364
00:53:47,598 --> 00:53:49,471
started unfolding, because David Kenner,
1365
00:53:49,471 --> 00:53:50,648
nobody knew who he was.
1366
00:53:50,648 --> 00:53:52,881
- David Kenner became the
principal business attorney
1367
00:53:52,881 --> 00:53:55,113
for the label, as well
as the criminal attorney
1368
00:53:55,113 --> 00:53:57,110
for many people at the label.
1369
00:53:57,110 --> 00:53:58,732
- Los Angeles police announced
1370
00:53:58,732 --> 00:54:00,701
that 21-year-old Calvin Broadus,
1371
00:54:00,701 --> 00:54:03,171
better known as rap star Snoop Doggy Dogg
1372
00:54:03,171 --> 00:54:05,013
had turned himself in to police on Friday,
1373
00:54:05,013 --> 00:54:06,372
along with two other young, black men
1374
00:54:06,372 --> 00:54:07,884
all accompanied by an attorney,
1375
00:54:07,884 --> 00:54:10,033
in connection with the
murder on August 25th
1376
00:54:10,033 --> 00:54:12,142
of a man named Phillip Woldermariam
1377
00:54:12,142 --> 00:54:14,553
in what police believe was
a gang-related shooting.
1378
00:54:14,553 --> 00:54:16,009
- It never should have gone to trial.
1379
00:54:16,009 --> 00:54:19,656
The alleged victim in this case had a gun,
1380
00:54:19,656 --> 00:54:22,194
he was reaching to his
waistband to pull that gun out
1381
00:54:22,194 --> 00:54:23,303
at the time,
1382
00:54:23,303 --> 00:54:25,147
Snoop's bodyguard
1383
00:54:25,147 --> 00:54:26,811
fired the shot.
1384
00:54:26,811 --> 00:54:28,558
And that's what we said
from the beginning.
1385
00:54:28,558 --> 00:54:30,125
The testimony makes it clear.
1386
00:54:30,125 --> 00:54:31,735
This is a case of self defense.
1387
00:54:31,735 --> 00:54:33,121
- The D.A.,
1388
00:54:33,121 --> 00:54:34,563
he was a pain in the ass.
1389
00:54:34,563 --> 00:54:36,073
He just tried to do
everything in the world
1390
00:54:36,073 --> 00:54:38,015
to make me seem like
1391
00:54:38,015 --> 00:54:39,609
the most negative
1392
00:54:39,609 --> 00:54:41,717
gang-bangingest,
criminal-minded motherfucker
1393
00:54:41,717 --> 00:54:43,228
he could just imagine.
1394
00:54:43,228 --> 00:54:44,724
He tried to paint a picture of me
1395
00:54:44,724 --> 00:54:46,111
that just wasn't happening.
1396
00:54:46,111 --> 00:54:47,192
It was crazy knowing that
1397
00:54:47,192 --> 00:54:48,329
he was, that's what his job was,
1398
00:54:48,329 --> 00:54:51,621
to do was to get me locked up for life.
1399
00:54:51,621 --> 00:54:54,907
I just wanna say fuck you,
1400
00:54:54,907 --> 00:54:56,602
bitch.
1401
00:54:56,602 --> 00:54:58,919
- Dave Kenner was the guy
1402
00:54:58,919 --> 00:55:01,096
who legally
1403
00:55:01,096 --> 00:55:03,272
made Suge secure.
1404
00:55:10,496 --> 00:55:12,909
One of the benefits Suge Knight
1405
00:55:12,909 --> 00:55:14,962
gave to people to join Death Row
1406
00:55:14,962 --> 00:55:17,318
was to say that I have a legal team,
1407
00:55:17,318 --> 00:55:19,011
people who have a lot of experience
1408
00:55:19,011 --> 00:55:20,632
in the criminal arena
1409
00:55:20,632 --> 00:55:21,840
that can help you.
1410
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:22,864
Whereas in the past,
1411
00:55:22,864 --> 00:55:24,043
coming from a black community,
1412
00:55:24,043 --> 00:55:25,403
you go into a white justice system
1413
00:55:25,403 --> 00:55:27,523
where all the cards are
stacked against you.
1414
00:55:27,523 --> 00:55:29,785
Here, for the first time
in most of their lives,
1415
00:55:29,785 --> 00:55:31,226
they were given a lawyer
1416
00:55:31,226 --> 00:55:32,529
who was very capable,
1417
00:55:32,529 --> 00:55:34,262
and an investigator on top of it.
1418
00:55:34,262 --> 00:55:36,509
And the results spoke for
themselves most of the time.
1419
00:55:36,509 --> 00:55:38,410
They got to see instances where
1420
00:55:38,410 --> 00:55:39,684
they were acquitted
1421
00:55:39,684 --> 00:55:42,887
in cases in which normally,
they would have been convicted.
1422
00:55:42,887 --> 00:55:44,995
In the rap industry, the problems
1423
00:55:44,995 --> 00:55:47,047
happen at one or two in the morning,
1424
00:55:47,047 --> 00:55:49,071
so it's not a nine to five job.
1425
00:55:49,071 --> 00:55:51,054
David was the rare lawyer
1426
00:55:51,054 --> 00:55:54,568
who would be available
to clients at that hour.
1427
00:55:54,928 --> 00:55:59,185
- Of the $70 or $80 million
that Interscope paid them
1428
00:55:59,185 --> 00:56:01,875
between 1995 and 1997,
1429
00:56:01,875 --> 00:56:04,287
about $13 million of that
went to the law office
1430
00:56:04,287 --> 00:56:06,007
of David Kenner or to David Kenner.
1431
00:56:06,007 --> 00:56:08,267
Certainly, this company
was his bread and butter
1432
00:56:08,267 --> 00:56:09,390
for some time.
1433
00:56:09,390 --> 00:56:09,931
- What's your name again?
1434
00:56:09,931 --> 00:56:12,288
- David Kenner, K-E-N-N-E-R.
1435
00:56:26,307 --> 00:56:28,070
- I was quite surprised
1436
00:56:28,070 --> 00:56:30,968
because you expect a
music business attorney,
1437
00:56:30,968 --> 00:56:31,786
but he wasn't.
1438
00:56:31,786 --> 00:56:33,020
He was a criminal attorney.
1439
00:56:33,020 --> 00:56:34,838
- He had entertain attorney qualitites.
1440
00:56:34,838 --> 00:56:36,431
He's flamboyant.
1441
00:56:36,431 --> 00:56:37,374
He's sharp.
1442
00:56:37,374 --> 00:56:40,563
And he's kinda mafia-ish.
1443
00:56:40,563 --> 00:56:42,560
His whole persona.
1444
00:56:42,560 --> 00:56:43,794
- After a while,
1445
00:56:43,794 --> 00:56:45,361
David might have
1446
00:56:45,361 --> 00:56:47,663
got so caught up in his lifestyle
1447
00:56:47,663 --> 00:56:49,411
that he might become somewhat confused,
1448
00:56:49,411 --> 00:56:50,588
because the thing is that,
1449
00:56:50,588 --> 00:56:52,460
David really was supposed to be working on
1450
00:56:52,460 --> 00:56:53,542
getting Mike out.
1451
00:56:53,542 --> 00:56:55,414
- David was handling Michael's appeal.
1452
00:56:55,414 --> 00:56:58,021
David was involved very
much in Lydia's life.
1453
00:56:58,021 --> 00:56:59,185
He was friends with Lydia.
1454
00:56:59,185 --> 00:57:01,972
This was a person who was
very trustworthy to him.
1455
00:57:08,142 --> 00:57:10,903
- When I talk, man, Mike
is making a ton of money,
1456
00:57:10,903 --> 00:57:12,414
and then, you see Dave Kenner there.
1457
00:57:12,414 --> 00:57:14,467
So, you say if Dave is
there, then Mike is there.
1458
00:57:14,467 --> 00:57:15,853
And then the story starts lashing,
1459
00:57:15,853 --> 00:57:17,491
and then you know that they got
1460
00:57:17,491 --> 00:57:18,488
a war going on.
1461
00:57:18,488 --> 00:57:20,086
- It was rumors that Suge was over there
1462
00:57:20,086 --> 00:57:22,250
trying to get a deal at Interscope,
1463
00:57:22,250 --> 00:57:24,454
but when he would go down to visit Mike,
1464
00:57:24,454 --> 00:57:27,116
him and Kenner would say it wasn't true,
1465
00:57:27,116 --> 00:57:29,709
but Mike said hey, what's
this here in the newspaper?
1466
00:57:29,709 --> 00:57:31,248
And Suge would say,
1467
00:57:31,248 --> 00:57:34,688
oh, you know how the
newspaper print up articles.
1468
00:57:34,688 --> 00:57:36,115
So, Mike said, well,
1469
00:57:36,115 --> 00:57:37,557
they not just gon' print up anything,
1470
00:57:37,557 --> 00:57:39,125
so he start asking David,
1471
00:57:39,125 --> 00:57:40,372
what's going on?
1472
00:57:40,372 --> 00:57:41,788
Then David came and said
1473
00:57:41,788 --> 00:57:43,632
Suge did this behind my back.
1474
00:57:43,632 --> 00:57:46,168
- And that started to
cause Michael concern about
1475
00:57:46,168 --> 00:57:47,763
what exactly was going on.
1476
00:57:47,763 --> 00:57:49,150
He started to get word that
1477
00:57:49,150 --> 00:57:52,227
Suge was telling people, oh,
Michael Harris is nobody.
1478
00:57:52,227 --> 00:57:53,417
He's not my partner.
1479
00:57:53,417 --> 00:57:55,379
And the word on the street was,
1480
00:57:55,379 --> 00:57:57,070
Michael Harris was really
pissed off with Suge.
1481
00:57:57,070 --> 00:57:57,945
It's on.
1482
00:57:57,945 --> 00:57:59,053
- He wanted to get all the credit,
1483
00:57:59,053 --> 00:58:01,105
which Mike don't trip to credit.
1484
00:58:01,105 --> 00:58:02,436
The world thinks
1485
00:58:02,436 --> 00:58:04,558
that Suge did this on his own.
1486
00:58:17,398 --> 00:58:18,784
- Mike's in jail, but he's got a wife.
1487
00:58:18,784 --> 00:58:19,907
He's got a kid.
1488
00:58:19,907 --> 00:58:21,405
He's got family out here.
1489
00:58:21,405 --> 00:58:23,278
He's got people he's taking care of.
1490
00:58:23,278 --> 00:58:24,525
So, you know, his reaction,
1491
00:58:24,525 --> 00:58:25,787
if he stunned,
1492
00:58:25,787 --> 00:58:26,910
that he's kinda mad about it.
1493
00:58:26,910 --> 00:58:29,034
How you gon' punk me?
1494
00:58:29,034 --> 00:58:32,958
- The phone was never blocked
1495
00:58:32,958 --> 00:58:36,605
because it always had
cats calling from the pen.
1496
00:58:36,605 --> 00:58:39,396
Harry-O
1497
00:58:39,396 --> 00:58:41,001
wasn't the only one.
1498
00:58:41,001 --> 00:58:42,424
But after a while,
1499
00:58:42,424 --> 00:58:44,435
I even remember,
1500
00:58:44,435 --> 00:58:47,125
and I think it was because of Harry
1501
00:58:47,125 --> 00:58:49,150
that they then blocked the phone
1502
00:58:49,150 --> 00:58:51,411
where it couldn't take no more calls.
1503
00:58:51,411 --> 00:58:53,407
- David Kenner
1504
00:58:53,407 --> 00:58:55,763
started off to play these guys
1505
00:58:55,763 --> 00:58:56,997
against each other.
1506
00:58:56,997 --> 00:58:59,410
Once the riff between
Suge and Mike happened,
1507
00:58:59,410 --> 00:59:01,601
Dave Kenner had to pledge allegiance
1508
00:59:01,601 --> 00:59:03,825
one way or the other.
1509
00:59:03,825 --> 00:59:06,267
- Throughout this time, even if Suge was
1510
00:59:06,267 --> 00:59:08,512
denying his partnership with Michael,
1511
00:59:08,512 --> 00:59:11,106
denying that Michael had
any role in the company,
1512
00:59:11,106 --> 00:59:13,601
David would be going up to visit Michael
1513
00:59:13,601 --> 00:59:15,723
and saying, oh no, everything's okay.
1514
00:59:15,723 --> 00:59:16,957
There's no problem.
1515
00:59:16,957 --> 00:59:17,830
Everything's fine.
1516
00:59:17,830 --> 00:59:19,369
We're gonna get this taken care of.
1517
00:59:19,369 --> 00:59:21,575
- It reminds me of the
1518
00:59:21,575 --> 00:59:23,030
Brutus and Caesar.
1519
00:59:23,030 --> 00:59:25,225
At some point, Michael gets a hold of
1520
00:59:25,225 --> 00:59:27,279
the incorporation paperwork
of Death Row Records,
1521
00:59:27,279 --> 00:59:29,551
and realizes that Suge and David Kenner
1522
00:59:29,551 --> 00:59:31,092
had set up a different company
1523
00:59:31,092 --> 00:59:33,170
of Death Row Records that was independent
1524
00:59:33,170 --> 00:59:36,070
of this GF Entertainment
Michael had a hand in,
1525
00:59:36,070 --> 00:59:38,329
and I think Michael began to suspect that
1526
00:59:38,329 --> 00:59:40,076
things were not so kosher
1527
00:59:40,076 --> 00:59:41,435
with their partnership.
1528
00:59:45,180 --> 00:59:46,844
- He the one told Dave, hey,
1529
00:59:46,844 --> 00:59:49,492
look at this man, that guy Suge,
1530
00:59:49,492 --> 00:59:50,519
I like him.
1531
00:59:50,519 --> 00:59:51,725
Go talk to him.
1532
00:59:51,725 --> 00:59:53,085
Okay, a record company?
1533
00:59:53,085 --> 00:59:54,665
Okay, I give you this amount of money.
1534
00:59:54,665 --> 00:59:56,260
You tell him to do this, okay?
1535
00:59:56,260 --> 00:59:57,257
Then him and Suge talk,
1536
00:59:57,257 --> 00:59:58,367
and Suge going to visit him.
1537
00:59:58,367 --> 00:59:59,185
Suge, check this out.
1538
00:59:59,185 --> 01:00:00,545
Put it down like this, man.
1539
01:00:00,545 --> 01:00:01,932
Put it down like that.
1540
01:00:01,932 --> 01:00:03,261
Dave, you do this part.
1541
01:00:03,261 --> 01:00:04,648
Keep him out of jail.
1542
01:00:04,648 --> 01:00:06,062
You make sure keep him out of jail.
1543
01:00:06,062 --> 01:00:07,754
That's how Suge got all
the probation stuff.
1544
01:00:07,754 --> 01:00:09,113
Dave fighting like he crazy
1545
01:00:09,113 --> 01:00:10,111
to keep him out of jail,
1546
01:00:10,111 --> 01:00:11,679
because Mike telling him to.
1547
01:00:11,679 --> 01:00:12,801
Keep him out of jail.
1548
01:00:12,801 --> 01:00:13,800
But guess what?
1549
01:00:13,800 --> 01:00:15,160
Soon the money come in.
1550
01:00:15,160 --> 01:00:16,420
Who?
1551
01:00:16,420 --> 01:00:17,627
Harry-O?
1552
01:00:17,627 --> 01:00:18,861
They turned into Scooby Doo in him.
1553
01:00:18,861 --> 01:00:20,344
Who? Who's that?
1554
01:00:21,290 --> 01:00:22,289
- Mike said, where's the money?
1555
01:00:22,289 --> 01:00:23,745
And they said,
1556
01:00:23,745 --> 01:00:26,726
it's gonna be 60 to 90 days
1557
01:00:26,726 --> 01:00:29,083
before we see a warranty check.
1558
01:00:29,083 --> 01:00:31,496
So those 60 and 90 days
1559
01:00:31,496 --> 01:00:33,133
turn into a year.
1560
01:00:39,333 --> 01:00:42,160
I went over and met with Dave at Cohorn
1561
01:00:42,160 --> 01:00:42,843
and he said, well, you know,
1562
01:00:42,843 --> 01:00:43,840
what if they don't pay you?
1563
01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:46,102
And I told him, I'm not threatening you,
1564
01:00:46,102 --> 01:00:49,473
but I'ma go on national TV
and tell what really happened.
1565
01:00:49,473 --> 01:00:52,260
- Everybody knew Harry-O wasn't no joke.
1566
01:00:52,260 --> 01:00:55,338
Everybody knew Harry-O had chips.
1567
01:00:55,338 --> 01:00:57,599
All you gotta do is be
no joke and have chips,
1568
01:00:57,599 --> 01:00:59,498
and you can get somebody handled.
1569
01:00:59,498 --> 01:01:01,605
- [Lydia] As for Michael,
typed up a letter.
1570
01:01:01,605 --> 01:01:04,600
- Michael put his concerns on paper
1571
01:01:04,600 --> 01:01:07,222
in the form of a lawsuit
1572
01:01:07,222 --> 01:01:09,093
that could have been filed,
1573
01:01:09,093 --> 01:01:10,216
that was never filed,
1574
01:01:10,216 --> 01:01:12,934
laying out his grievances
as to how he had been
1575
01:01:12,934 --> 01:01:14,598
a founding partner in Death Row Records
1576
01:01:14,598 --> 01:01:17,275
and had been denied his
fair share of the proceeds.
1577
01:01:17,275 --> 01:01:19,035
That lawsuit was shown to Interscope,
1578
01:01:19,035 --> 01:01:21,143
and Interscope did a
fairly generous settlement
1579
01:01:21,143 --> 01:01:23,501
to make it go away before
they ever got filed.
1580
01:01:32,561 --> 01:01:34,489
- That next day,
1581
01:01:34,489 --> 01:01:35,695
I got a call.
1582
01:01:35,695 --> 01:01:38,635
They told me that Mike
was in a wheelchair.
1583
01:01:38,635 --> 01:01:40,847
His mouth was twisted.
1584
01:01:40,847 --> 01:01:42,054
He couldn't even walk.
1585
01:01:42,054 --> 01:01:43,662
He couldn't even use his hands.
1586
01:01:43,662 --> 01:01:44,591
He couldn't do nothing.
1587
01:01:44,591 --> 01:01:45,687
I said, what happened?
1588
01:01:45,687 --> 01:01:48,127
And that's when the doctor
said he had Guillain-Barré.
1589
01:01:48,127 --> 01:01:48,848
And I asked Mike.
1590
01:01:48,848 --> 01:01:50,304
I said, well that,
1591
01:01:50,304 --> 01:01:53,204
can I give you anything?
1592
01:02:09,078 --> 01:02:13,265
- I started thinking, least to myself
1593
01:02:13,265 --> 01:02:15,624
that Suge was
1594
01:02:15,624 --> 01:02:16,957
getting hisself caught up
1595
01:02:16,957 --> 01:02:19,730
into too many situations
1596
01:02:19,730 --> 01:02:21,242
that were unhealthy.
1597
01:02:21,242 --> 01:02:23,266
He had created an image
that was working for him,
1598
01:02:23,266 --> 01:02:25,610
and sometimes image merged with reality,
1599
01:02:25,610 --> 01:02:27,788
I'm not sure that as time went on,
1600
01:02:27,788 --> 01:02:29,783
that Suge didn't
1601
01:02:29,783 --> 01:02:31,433
draw the line between
1602
01:02:31,433 --> 01:02:34,068
when it was the image
and when it was reality.
1603
01:02:34,068 --> 01:02:35,482
- Suge wasn't a gangster.
1604
01:02:35,482 --> 01:02:37,479
Suge came from a family.
1605
01:02:37,479 --> 01:02:39,836
His mother and father were still together.
1606
01:02:39,836 --> 01:02:42,360
He was a college football player.
1607
01:02:42,360 --> 01:02:43,817
- I feel I got
1608
01:02:43,817 --> 01:02:45,965
a whole, whole lot of street credibility
1609
01:02:45,965 --> 01:02:47,311
and street smarts,
1610
01:02:47,311 --> 01:02:48,919
and at the same time,
1611
01:02:48,919 --> 01:02:51,054
I graduated from college.
1612
01:02:51,054 --> 01:02:53,537
I hit the books,
1613
01:02:53,537 --> 01:02:55,075
and I put both of them together.
1614
01:03:08,761 --> 01:03:10,869
- He ran that company like
1615
01:03:10,869 --> 01:03:13,046
it was his gang.
1616
01:03:13,046 --> 01:03:15,486
That's his family.
1617
01:03:15,486 --> 01:03:18,564
He might not love us, but
he made us think he did.
1618
01:03:18,564 --> 01:03:20,644
- A lot of what followed,
in part, had to do with
1619
01:03:20,644 --> 01:03:23,972
trying to establish Death Row as a label
1620
01:03:23,972 --> 01:03:25,901
with the most street credibility
1621
01:03:25,901 --> 01:03:28,105
and we're really doing gangsta rap
1622
01:03:28,105 --> 01:03:29,408
and we're keeping it real.
1623
01:03:29,408 --> 01:03:30,753
We're keeping it legitimate.
1624
01:03:30,753 --> 01:03:32,416
And so when you guys get out the joint,
1625
01:03:32,416 --> 01:03:33,691
you can come get a job with me.
1626
01:03:33,691 --> 01:03:34,510
That sorta thing.
1627
01:03:34,510 --> 01:03:36,562
- I ain't never had a
job before in my life
1628
01:03:36,562 --> 01:03:38,378
until I started working for Suge.
1629
01:03:38,378 --> 01:03:41,151
In and out of jail, you
know what I'm saying.
1630
01:03:41,151 --> 01:03:43,110
Did a little bit of everything.
1631
01:03:46,297 --> 01:03:47,576
- Yeah, a lot of them
cats that was up there
1632
01:03:47,576 --> 01:03:49,531
were fresh out the penitentiary
1633
01:03:49,531 --> 01:03:51,375
with their penitentiary mentality.
1634
01:03:51,375 --> 01:03:52,706
It was like working
1635
01:03:52,706 --> 01:03:55,328
at a prison with no guns,
1636
01:03:55,328 --> 01:03:56,838
no knives, no nothing.
1637
01:03:56,838 --> 01:03:58,864
You just had to be in there on your own
1638
01:03:58,864 --> 01:04:00,014
and handle it.
1639
01:04:00,014 --> 01:04:01,969
How many companies do you know
1640
01:04:01,969 --> 01:04:04,423
can have some crips and bloods up there?
1641
01:04:04,423 --> 01:04:05,713
Crips and blods.
1642
01:04:16,690 --> 01:04:20,460
At first, I was totally
with Death Row's concept,
1643
01:04:20,460 --> 01:04:22,568
because it was about time
we had a brother out there
1644
01:04:22,568 --> 01:04:24,691
that wasn't taking no
shit from these companies
1645
01:04:24,691 --> 01:04:26,799
that wasn't paying their money.
1646
01:04:26,799 --> 01:04:27,976
So I was totally with it.
1647
01:04:27,976 --> 01:04:31,262
It was when the nonsense
got too out of hand.
1648
01:04:31,262 --> 01:04:33,467
- We had a system of that kind of thing,
1649
01:04:33,467 --> 01:04:35,339
sorta like a demerit system
1650
01:04:35,339 --> 01:04:37,821
for artists and so on, and for
some of the office workers.
1651
01:04:37,821 --> 01:04:39,957
- Say something wrong, you get a smack.
1652
01:04:39,957 --> 01:04:41,705
If you come late, you get smacked.
1653
01:04:41,705 --> 01:04:44,158
You do this, you get smacked.
1654
01:04:44,158 --> 01:04:45,808
That sounds to me,
1655
01:04:45,808 --> 01:04:48,166
to me, it was like pimps and hoes.
1656
01:04:48,166 --> 01:04:50,397
- I just knew how after a while,
1657
01:04:50,397 --> 01:04:52,519
Suge was unapproachable.
1658
01:04:52,519 --> 01:04:55,140
You couldn't really talk to him no more.
1659
01:04:55,140 --> 01:04:56,984
I just,
1660
01:04:56,984 --> 01:04:57,802
I just knew it.
1661
01:04:57,802 --> 01:04:59,674
There was no more talking to this guy.
1662
01:04:59,674 --> 01:05:02,447
This guy is the fucking man.
1663
01:05:02,447 --> 01:05:07,064
That company was by no ways,
forms, or fashion Hollywood.
1664
01:05:07,064 --> 01:05:08,246
You know how white folks like to do.
1665
01:05:08,246 --> 01:05:10,353
They like to scream at each other,
1666
01:05:10,353 --> 01:05:13,142
I'm gonna get my lawyer on you!
1667
01:05:13,142 --> 01:05:15,733
But the new brothers
wasn't doing it like that.
1668
01:05:15,733 --> 01:05:17,274
They was coming through doors,
1669
01:05:17,274 --> 01:05:18,507
coming through windows,
1670
01:05:18,507 --> 01:05:20,713
and the whole nine on people.
1671
01:05:20,713 --> 01:05:22,556
- You know, these rappers
are from the street.
1672
01:05:22,556 --> 01:05:24,179
They're not used to nothing else.
1673
01:05:24,179 --> 01:05:26,896
So, you have to deal
with them in the street
1674
01:05:26,896 --> 01:05:27,922
mentality.
1675
01:05:27,922 --> 01:05:29,045
- I heard somebody once
1676
01:05:29,045 --> 01:05:31,097
describe them as all thinking they were
1677
01:05:31,097 --> 01:05:32,387
in a Godfather movie.
1678
01:05:32,387 --> 01:05:35,868
- Suge was famous for applying
the old mafia tactics.
1679
01:05:35,868 --> 01:05:37,462
He would instill fear in everybody.
1680
01:05:37,462 --> 01:05:39,632
That guy just walks in,
he walks into a room,
1681
01:05:39,632 --> 01:05:41,878
he has no idea we're in
the middle of a meeting.
1682
01:05:41,878 --> 01:05:42,987
He wants a record deal.
1683
01:05:42,987 --> 01:05:45,471
He walks in and he says
he know how to rap.
1684
01:05:45,471 --> 01:05:48,756
Suge says okay, rap.
1685
01:05:48,756 --> 01:05:51,738
If we don't like what you do,
we're gonna kick your ass.
1686
01:05:51,738 --> 01:05:53,013
He said maybe three words
1687
01:05:53,013 --> 01:05:54,995
and they just lit his ass up.
1688
01:05:54,995 --> 01:05:57,533
- I've seen people get beat up.
1689
01:05:57,533 --> 01:06:00,972
I've seen people get
that door locked on them.
1690
01:06:00,972 --> 01:06:03,870
The infamous door lockings.
1691
01:06:03,870 --> 01:06:07,323
They take you in a room
and touch you up and down.
1692
01:06:07,657 --> 01:06:10,734
- I wasn't the only lady that got beat up.
1693
01:06:13,839 --> 01:06:16,918
I was the only lady beat
up and he held down.
1694
01:06:17,403 --> 01:06:21,149
Suge grabbed me by my feet
and everything went haywire.
1695
01:06:21,993 --> 01:06:24,100
This girl cold-cocked me.
1696
01:06:24,100 --> 01:06:26,306
Loosened up my teeth and
1697
01:06:26,306 --> 01:06:27,748
I had two black eyes.
1698
01:06:27,748 --> 01:06:30,562
David Kenner stood up and watched.
1699
01:06:30,562 --> 01:06:33,640
Somebody else video-taped it,
1700
01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:35,235
and I kicked Suge in his nuts
1701
01:06:35,235 --> 01:06:37,526
and I got the hell up outta there.
1702
01:06:37,526 --> 01:06:40,576
I have not laid eyes
on Suge since that day.
1703
01:06:40,576 --> 01:06:44,543
He won't lay eyes on me 'til he see this.
1704
01:06:52,476 --> 01:06:54,542
- All that drama that people
knew that was happening
1705
01:06:54,542 --> 01:06:57,523
right there at Death
Row on that 12th floor.
1706
01:06:57,523 --> 01:06:59,008
This is at the building right down here
1707
01:06:59,008 --> 01:07:01,489
at the UCLA on Willshire.
1708
01:07:01,809 --> 01:07:04,373
It never leaked over to
the Interscope's side.
1709
01:07:04,373 --> 01:07:05,496
You see the Interscope.
1710
01:07:05,496 --> 01:07:09,643
Interscope looks nice, woody
thing say Interscope Records.
1711
01:07:09,644 --> 01:07:10,581
They'd get in at a reception.
1712
01:07:10,581 --> 01:07:12,424
Death Row is just a door.
1713
01:07:12,424 --> 01:07:15,282
It was just a
1714
01:07:15,282 --> 01:07:18,096
mahogany colored door
1715
01:07:18,096 --> 01:07:19,803
with a camera.
1716
01:07:19,803 --> 01:07:22,619
- DOC and RBX both had problems with Suge.
1717
01:07:22,619 --> 01:07:24,977
They seen what type of
person he was on the inside.
1718
01:07:24,977 --> 01:07:27,237
Not to say nothing bad or
not to say nothing good
1719
01:07:27,237 --> 01:07:29,289
about him, but they seen
the type of person he was.
1720
01:07:29,289 --> 01:07:31,161
And through the grace of
God and good attorneys,
1721
01:07:31,161 --> 01:07:32,728
they were able to leave.
1722
01:07:32,728 --> 01:07:35,598
Everybody else was forced
in a chokehold after that.
1723
01:07:41,782 --> 01:07:43,778
- Tupac Shakur was
1724
01:07:43,778 --> 01:07:45,582
not before his time,
1725
01:07:45,582 --> 01:07:48,549
but one of a kind of his time and era.
1726
01:07:48,549 --> 01:07:49,908
He was a movie star,
1727
01:07:49,908 --> 01:07:51,683
but for him to be doing street stuff
1728
01:07:51,683 --> 01:07:54,219
gave him sort of a Marlon Brando edge.
1729
01:07:54,219 --> 01:07:55,425
The outlaw,
1730
01:07:55,425 --> 01:07:57,604
who was living life in some romantic
1731
01:07:57,604 --> 01:07:59,046
or just Hemingway world
1732
01:07:59,046 --> 01:08:00,890
where you lived out your art.
1733
01:08:00,890 --> 01:08:04,761
- He had that almost
uncontrollable, defiant attitude.
1734
01:08:05,359 --> 01:08:06,287
- I got a big mouth.
1735
01:08:06,287 --> 01:08:07,010
Can't help it.
1736
01:08:07,010 --> 01:08:08,757
I talk from my heart. I'm real.
1737
01:08:08,757 --> 01:08:10,849
Whatever comes, comes.
1738
01:08:10,849 --> 01:08:12,445
But my controversy problem.
1739
01:08:12,445 --> 01:08:13,471
And it's not my fault.
1740
01:08:13,471 --> 01:08:14,676
I'm trying to find my way in the world.
1741
01:08:14,676 --> 01:08:16,110
I'm trying to be somebody
1742
01:08:16,110 --> 01:08:18,219
instead of just making
money off everybody.
1743
01:08:18,219 --> 01:08:20,812
- Tupac's gift was the ability
to take somebody else's
1744
01:08:20,812 --> 01:08:23,142
pain and story and translate it.
1745
01:08:23,142 --> 01:08:24,472
- We as rappers
1746
01:08:24,472 --> 01:08:25,378
bought that violence.
1747
01:08:25,378 --> 01:08:27,373
We bought the violence
that we see on the street
1748
01:08:27,373 --> 01:08:28,454
and put it in our records.
1749
01:08:28,454 --> 01:08:29,815
Put it in our records for years.
1750
01:08:29,815 --> 01:08:31,117
And after three, four years,
1751
01:08:31,117 --> 01:08:33,046
people finally starting to see it
1752
01:08:33,046 --> 01:08:35,334
because all the statistics
that's going on in the streets.
1753
01:08:35,334 --> 01:08:36,719
If we stop talking about it,
1754
01:08:36,719 --> 01:08:38,120
then they wouldn't take statistics.
1755
01:08:38,120 --> 01:08:39,563
And when they stop taking statistics,
1756
01:08:39,563 --> 01:08:40,768
then we be killing each
other in the street
1757
01:08:40,768 --> 01:08:42,308
and these white people
wouldn't care no more.
1758
01:08:42,308 --> 01:08:44,998
- He would definitely give
you something to think about.
1759
01:08:44,998 --> 01:08:46,205
- I know some of y'all white folks
1760
01:08:46,205 --> 01:08:47,896
and some of y'all black
folks don't appreciate
1761
01:08:47,896 --> 01:08:49,103
what we talking bout,
1762
01:08:49,103 --> 01:08:51,030
but this is the only way
we got to make money.
1763
01:08:51,030 --> 01:08:52,999
And if you don't let me make
my money on the streets,
1764
01:08:52,999 --> 01:08:55,467
I guarantee, I will make my money
1765
01:08:55,467 --> 01:08:56,672
on the streets.
1766
01:08:56,672 --> 01:08:58,546
- A lot of people say the same things
1767
01:08:58,546 --> 01:09:01,028
or have said the same things as Pac.
1768
01:09:01,028 --> 01:09:03,440
But Tupac made it believable.
1769
01:09:03,440 --> 01:09:06,241
- At first, I always
thought he was this crazy,
1770
01:09:06,241 --> 01:09:08,750
arrogant little idiot,
1771
01:09:08,750 --> 01:09:10,677
but I didn't really know how deep he was.
1772
01:09:10,677 --> 01:09:12,518
- We have to be honest
about the tools that we use
1773
01:09:12,518 --> 01:09:13,826
to survive,
1774
01:09:13,826 --> 01:09:16,289
and why is a black life
1775
01:09:16,289 --> 01:09:19,491
any more
1776
01:09:20,753 --> 01:09:22,723
recoupable than a white life?
1777
01:09:22,723 --> 01:09:25,371
We know that they don't put
the same security in the ghetto
1778
01:09:25,371 --> 01:09:28,367
that they do in the white neighborhoods.
1779
01:09:28,367 --> 01:09:30,196
- What I saw in Tupac was
1780
01:09:30,196 --> 01:09:33,580
someone who had a desire
1781
01:09:33,580 --> 01:09:35,147
to be successful,
1782
01:09:35,147 --> 01:09:38,933
and he only had two or three avenues.
1783
01:09:39,071 --> 01:09:40,914
One was rapping,
1784
01:09:40,914 --> 01:09:42,454
one was acting,
1785
01:09:42,454 --> 01:09:44,755
and the other was
1786
01:09:44,755 --> 01:09:47,197
going into the movement
1787
01:09:47,197 --> 01:09:49,221
that his family came out of.
1788
01:09:49,221 --> 01:09:51,301
- [Ton] His mother was a Black Panther.
1789
01:09:51,301 --> 01:09:53,743
All of the anger,
frustration, and everything
1790
01:09:53,743 --> 01:09:55,863
that she was dealing with
and what was going on
1791
01:09:55,863 --> 01:09:58,943
with her, at that time in her life,
1792
01:09:58,943 --> 01:10:01,180
was feeding right into him.
1793
01:10:01,180 --> 01:10:03,427
When Tupac was a kid,
1794
01:10:03,427 --> 01:10:06,226
for punishment, she would make him read
1795
01:10:06,226 --> 01:10:08,889
the New York Times cover to cover.
1796
01:10:08,889 --> 01:10:10,845
And at the end of the day,
1797
01:10:10,845 --> 01:10:13,181
he would be quizzed on everything he read
1798
01:10:13,181 --> 01:10:14,471
out of the paper.
1799
01:10:14,471 --> 01:10:16,857
Tupac, well aware
1800
01:10:16,857 --> 01:10:18,755
of what his mother had gone through,
1801
01:10:18,755 --> 01:10:20,115
brought that into the 90s
1802
01:10:20,115 --> 01:10:21,958
because nothing had changed
1803
01:10:21,958 --> 01:10:23,415
in the 60s to the 90s
1804
01:10:23,415 --> 01:10:26,244
as far as he saw with his race of people.
1805
01:10:26,244 --> 01:10:27,908
- I don't know how to be responsible
1806
01:10:27,908 --> 01:10:29,530
for what every black male did.
1807
01:10:29,530 --> 01:10:30,417
I don't know.
1808
01:10:30,417 --> 01:10:32,857
Yes, I am gonna say that I'm a thug.
1809
01:10:32,857 --> 01:10:34,550
That's because I came from the gutter,
1810
01:10:34,550 --> 01:10:35,880
and I'm still here.
1811
01:10:35,880 --> 01:10:37,933
I'm not saying I'm a thug
'cause I wanna rob you
1812
01:10:37,933 --> 01:10:39,528
or rape people and thing.
1813
01:10:39,528 --> 01:10:40,609
I'm a businessman.
1814
01:10:40,609 --> 01:10:42,454
I mean, you know I'm a businessman
1815
01:10:42,454 --> 01:10:45,573
because you find me at my
place in some business.
1816
01:10:45,934 --> 01:10:47,612
- Tupac was a star at Interscope,
1817
01:10:47,612 --> 01:10:49,789
and Interscope had their
hands full with him.
1818
01:10:49,789 --> 01:10:52,685
He was in jail and in trouble.
1819
01:10:52,685 --> 01:10:55,197
- He just had got beat up by the police.
1820
01:10:55,197 --> 01:10:57,275
He had a lawsuit going
at them that he won,
1821
01:10:57,275 --> 01:11:00,201
and he was getting just
harassed for anything.
1822
01:11:00,201 --> 01:11:02,019
I mean, they just start throwing him
1823
01:11:02,019 --> 01:11:03,972
on a nose as the bad guy of rap
1824
01:11:03,972 --> 01:11:05,636
when he really wasn't that person.
1825
01:11:05,636 --> 01:11:07,745
- I appreciate the
present you have given me,
1826
01:11:07,745 --> 01:11:11,018
for giving me a fair trail
and a fair shot a justice.
1827
01:11:11,018 --> 01:11:12,583
I thank you from the bottom of my heart
1828
01:11:12,583 --> 01:11:14,900
for just destroying
everything I worked for
1829
01:11:14,900 --> 01:11:16,231
for the past 22 years.
1830
01:11:16,231 --> 01:11:17,825
And a Happy New Year to you too.
1831
01:11:17,825 --> 01:11:19,281
- Tupac was in the news everyday.
1832
01:11:19,281 --> 01:11:21,001
I mean, you can't buy
1833
01:11:21,001 --> 01:11:22,235
that kind of publicity.
1834
01:11:22,235 --> 01:11:24,288
It's unfortunate the kinds of
1835
01:11:24,288 --> 01:11:26,491
media coverage that they got,
1836
01:11:26,491 --> 01:11:28,031
but it added to sales.
1837
01:11:28,031 --> 01:11:30,818
- People didn't know Pac had like 15 cases
1838
01:11:30,818 --> 01:11:32,954
in different states in America.
1839
01:11:32,954 --> 01:11:34,368
We would go do a show,
1840
01:11:34,368 --> 01:11:36,088
Pac would go straight to court
1841
01:11:36,088 --> 01:11:38,237
soon as we get off the airplane.
1842
01:11:38,237 --> 01:11:40,010
- Don't block my way
and don't hit my lawyer.
1843
01:11:40,010 --> 01:11:41,232
- Great artists
1844
01:11:41,232 --> 01:11:43,367
are almost always out of step
1845
01:11:43,367 --> 01:11:45,336
with what's going on in society
1846
01:11:45,336 --> 01:11:46,957
because they see the world differently
1847
01:11:46,957 --> 01:11:48,413
and they act differently.
1848
01:11:48,413 --> 01:11:50,549
- The last situation he got into,
1849
01:11:50,549 --> 01:11:52,906
Interscope kinda like, left him for dead.
1850
01:11:52,906 --> 01:11:54,750
They wasn't really fucking
with Pac like that.
1851
01:11:54,750 --> 01:11:55,703
- [Voiceover] Shakur and another man
1852
01:11:55,703 --> 01:11:57,783
were accused of sexually
assaulting and sodomizing
1853
01:11:57,783 --> 01:12:00,986
a 21-year-old woman in
their hotel room last year.
1854
01:12:00,986 --> 01:12:02,040
- It's not a crime
1855
01:12:02,040 --> 01:12:04,064
for me to be with any
girl I wanna be with.
1856
01:12:04,064 --> 01:12:05,630
It's the crime for that girl
1857
01:12:05,630 --> 01:12:07,502
to turn that into a rape charge.
1858
01:12:07,502 --> 01:12:08,528
It was her
1859
01:12:08,528 --> 01:12:09,500
who sodomized me.
1860
01:12:09,500 --> 01:12:11,788
It wasn't me who went down in a dance club
1861
01:12:11,788 --> 01:12:12,939
and ate her out.
1862
01:12:12,939 --> 01:12:14,478
It was her at a dance club
1863
01:12:14,478 --> 01:12:15,920
who had oral sex with me.
1864
01:12:15,920 --> 01:12:17,577
She should be charged. Not me.
1865
01:12:17,577 --> 01:12:19,561
- Last night, just after midnight,
1866
01:12:19,561 --> 01:12:22,069
At 723 7th Avenue,
1867
01:12:22,069 --> 01:12:25,149
that's between 48th and 49th Street,
1868
01:12:25,149 --> 01:12:27,714
our rap star Tupac Shakur
1869
01:12:27,714 --> 01:12:29,737
and three members of his group
1870
01:12:29,737 --> 01:12:31,583
were robbed and shot.
1871
01:12:31,583 --> 01:12:32,844
- The word on the streets is that
1872
01:12:32,844 --> 01:12:34,633
it was a warning to Tupac.
1873
01:12:34,633 --> 01:12:36,577
Who's it coming from?
1874
01:12:36,577 --> 01:12:38,491
- [Voiceover] In a
bizarre twist of events,
1875
01:12:38,491 --> 01:12:40,209
rap singer Tupac Shakur
1876
01:12:40,209 --> 01:12:42,470
checked himself out of Bellevue Hospital
1877
01:12:42,470 --> 01:12:43,828
late Wednesday night
1878
01:12:43,828 --> 01:12:46,575
after the 23-year-old was shot five times
1879
01:12:46,575 --> 01:12:48,391
early that same morning
1880
01:12:48,391 --> 01:12:51,288
in side the lobby of a Times
Square recoding studio.
1881
01:12:51,288 --> 01:12:52,787
- [Voiceover] Shakur had
appeared in court today
1882
01:12:52,787 --> 01:12:55,323
but had little to say about being shot.
1883
01:12:56,438 --> 01:12:58,934
- [Voiceover] After three days
of deliberations, the jury
1884
01:12:58,934 --> 01:13:02,858
has finally decided the
fate of rapper Tupac Shakur:
1885
01:13:02,858 --> 01:13:05,672
guilty on three counts of sexual abuse.
1886
01:13:05,672 --> 01:13:07,517
He now faces one and a half
1887
01:13:07,517 --> 01:13:09,387
to four and a half years in prison.
1888
01:13:09,387 --> 01:13:11,801
- The main evidence for the incarceration
1889
01:13:11,801 --> 01:13:14,491
of Mr. Shakur was from City Hall.
1890
01:13:14,491 --> 01:13:16,030
Mr. Giuliani himself.
1891
01:13:16,030 --> 01:13:17,625
- Being 23, being black,
1892
01:13:17,625 --> 01:13:19,260
and last name being Shakur in America,
1893
01:13:19,260 --> 01:13:21,536
he never had a chance.
1894
01:13:21,646 --> 01:13:23,933
- Tupac was in jail,
1895
01:13:23,933 --> 01:13:26,083
and he wanted out of jail,
1896
01:13:26,083 --> 01:13:27,926
and he wanted out of jail badly.
1897
01:13:27,926 --> 01:13:29,619
No one, including Interscope,
1898
01:13:29,619 --> 01:13:32,725
was putting up any bail
money to get him out.
1899
01:13:32,725 --> 01:13:34,056
And his bill was set at
1900
01:13:34,056 --> 01:13:36,371
$1,400,000.
1901
01:13:36,371 --> 01:13:37,467
- A lot of people on the East Coast,
1902
01:13:37,467 --> 01:13:39,241
a lot of people in New
York City dissed him
1903
01:13:39,241 --> 01:13:40,060
hard, man.
1904
01:13:40,060 --> 01:13:41,390
They dissed him on the radio.
1905
01:13:41,390 --> 01:13:42,777
No one went to go visit him
1906
01:13:42,777 --> 01:13:44,163
except for a few people.
1907
01:13:44,163 --> 01:13:46,938
- And he wanted to be number one again.
1908
01:13:46,938 --> 01:13:48,810
So where else do you go
1909
01:13:48,810 --> 01:13:51,528
but to where the other
number one people are?
1910
01:13:51,528 --> 01:13:54,994
Death Row Records had been
trying to get Tupac for
1911
01:13:54,994 --> 01:13:55,965
some time.
1912
01:13:55,965 --> 01:13:57,684
- If you got Suge Knight
dangling in front of you
1913
01:13:57,684 --> 01:14:00,859
freedom, freedom, money, power,
1914
01:14:00,859 --> 01:14:02,662
respect, and can get you out of jail,
1915
01:14:02,662 --> 01:14:03,605
obviously you're gonna go for it.
1916
01:14:03,605 --> 01:14:04,991
You got a scared young man,
1917
01:14:04,991 --> 01:14:06,350
first time behind bars,
1918
01:14:06,350 --> 01:14:08,375
he's supposed to be back
there for four years.
1919
01:14:08,375 --> 01:14:10,301
- Pac promised him in return.
1920
01:14:10,301 --> 01:14:12,450
You get me outta here,
1921
01:14:12,450 --> 01:14:14,323
I'll put Death Row on the map.
1922
01:14:14,323 --> 01:14:17,069
My first CD'll sell 6,000,000 copies.
1923
01:14:17,069 --> 01:14:18,206
- And I don't think it's a coincidence
1924
01:14:18,206 --> 01:14:20,895
that Suge wanted him on
Death Row Records so badly,
1925
01:14:20,895 --> 01:14:23,336
because even though Snoop was a huge star,
1926
01:14:23,336 --> 01:14:25,762
he didn't have what Tupac had.
1927
01:14:25,762 --> 01:14:28,744
That kind of icon presence
like a James Dean,
1928
01:14:28,744 --> 01:14:30,559
or Elvis.
1929
01:14:30,559 --> 01:14:33,965
- Now, I heard that he
had Pac sign a contract
1930
01:14:33,965 --> 01:14:36,834
on toilet paper (laughs).
1931
01:14:36,834 --> 01:14:38,194
I don't know how true it is,
1932
01:14:38,194 --> 01:14:41,120
but I know when Pac came back,
1933
01:14:41,120 --> 01:14:42,243
he was ready.
1934
01:14:42,243 --> 01:14:44,531
- Tupac got out September of '95.
1935
01:14:44,531 --> 01:14:46,307
He went to Death Row Records the day he
1936
01:14:46,307 --> 01:14:47,404
got off the plane,
1937
01:14:47,404 --> 01:14:50,274
and they laid down their
first track for All Eyez On Me
1938
01:14:50,274 --> 01:14:51,536
in 15 minutes.
1939
01:14:51,536 --> 01:14:53,046
- This albums is more
1940
01:14:53,046 --> 01:14:55,047
celebratory of life.
1941
01:14:56,651 --> 01:14:58,218
Upbeat,
1942
01:14:58,218 --> 01:14:59,480
energetic,
1943
01:14:59,480 --> 01:15:00,993
fun, I think,
1944
01:15:00,993 --> 01:15:03,835
but it's also harsher,
in terms of the language
1945
01:15:03,835 --> 01:15:04,915
because I didn't,
1946
01:15:04,915 --> 01:15:06,733
I've been in jail for 11 1/2 months.
1947
01:15:06,733 --> 01:15:08,716
- Tupac brought the feeling of
1948
01:15:08,716 --> 01:15:11,044
I was nothin', now I'm somethin',
1949
01:15:11,044 --> 01:15:13,153
and I wanted everybody
else to be something too.
1950
01:15:13,153 --> 01:15:14,692
If I could do it, you can do it.
1951
01:15:14,692 --> 01:15:16,412
- He stirred up the whole group there.
1952
01:15:16,412 --> 01:15:18,324
He got them all going, and all working.
1953
01:15:18,324 --> 01:15:20,377
He made sure that every artist
1954
01:15:20,377 --> 01:15:22,095
at Death Row had some part
1955
01:15:22,095 --> 01:15:23,234
of this double CD.
1956
01:15:23,234 --> 01:15:24,440
It was his way of saying, look,
1957
01:15:24,440 --> 01:15:25,950
I'm part of the family,
1958
01:15:25,950 --> 01:15:28,253
and I want you on my album,
1959
01:15:28,253 --> 01:15:29,487
which he did not have to do.
1960
01:15:29,487 --> 01:15:30,900
- I remember doing a session with him
1961
01:15:30,900 --> 01:15:32,083
and it seemed like he
was just running around
1962
01:15:32,083 --> 01:15:33,360
having fun, you know,
1963
01:15:33,360 --> 01:15:34,441
having a good time.
1964
01:15:34,441 --> 01:15:35,745
But the man was done.
1965
01:15:35,745 --> 01:15:37,838
We though that he didn't even write them.
1966
01:15:37,838 --> 01:15:39,745
We thought he came with
his lyrics already,
1967
01:15:39,745 --> 01:15:41,284
but no, he wrote them that day.
1968
01:15:41,284 --> 01:15:43,101
And that's how sharp he was, man.
1969
01:15:43,101 --> 01:15:44,905
- You had people around the studio saying,
1970
01:15:44,905 --> 01:15:46,748
man, we gotta get like Pac.
1971
01:15:46,748 --> 01:15:48,586
Pac just go in there and
kick 'em in, kick 'em out.
1972
01:15:48,586 --> 01:15:49,792
Kick 'em in, kick 'em out.
1973
01:15:49,792 --> 01:15:51,333
And that's all they'd talk about.
1974
01:15:51,333 --> 01:15:52,872
And exactly what they're doing.
1975
01:15:52,872 --> 01:15:54,826
- He made the level of competition,
1976
01:15:54,826 --> 01:15:56,213
which is a good thing.
1977
01:15:56,213 --> 01:15:57,876
He brought that level up.
1978
01:15:57,876 --> 01:15:59,541
Any of the artists will tell you
1979
01:15:59,541 --> 01:16:01,386
that what Tupac put into them
1980
01:16:01,386 --> 01:16:03,646
was this business of work ethic,
1981
01:16:03,646 --> 01:16:06,113
where you can do more if you just
1982
01:16:06,113 --> 01:16:07,237
work at it.
1983
01:16:07,237 --> 01:16:08,679
When Tupac came, it's like,
1984
01:16:08,679 --> 01:16:10,190
Suge wasn't worried about nobody else.
1985
01:16:10,190 --> 01:16:10,888
Not Snoop,
1986
01:16:10,888 --> 01:16:12,634
nobody at the time.
1987
01:16:12,634 --> 01:16:13,661
Nobody.
1988
01:16:38,985 --> 01:16:41,273
- By the time that Tupac got out of jail,
1989
01:16:41,273 --> 01:16:45,086
Sean Puffy Combs was about to become
1990
01:16:45,086 --> 01:16:47,831
I would say the East Coast
version of Suge Knight
1991
01:16:47,831 --> 01:16:49,092
with Bad Boy Records.
1992
01:16:49,092 --> 01:16:52,295
His first big artist
was the Notorious B.I.G.
1993
01:16:52,295 --> 01:16:54,902
- This bullshit about the
East Coast and the West Coast
1994
01:16:54,902 --> 01:16:57,342
started when we went out to New York
1995
01:16:57,342 --> 01:16:59,062
to do the Source Awards,
1996
01:16:59,062 --> 01:17:02,516
and Mr. Knight went on stage
1997
01:17:02,516 --> 01:17:03,861
and he's in New York City,
1998
01:17:03,861 --> 01:17:06,522
and we all know Puff
is from New York City.
1999
01:17:06,522 --> 01:17:08,934
- Any artist out there wanna be an artist
2000
01:17:08,934 --> 01:17:10,544
and wanna stay at star,
2001
01:17:10,544 --> 01:17:12,886
won't have to worry about
an executive producer
2002
01:17:12,886 --> 01:17:16,035
trying to be all in the videos,
2003
01:17:16,035 --> 01:17:17,989
all on the records,
2004
01:17:17,989 --> 01:17:19,084
dancing,
2005
01:17:19,084 --> 01:17:20,984
come to Death Row.
2006
01:17:21,608 --> 01:17:24,576
(crowd booing)
2007
01:17:27,627 --> 01:17:29,581
- I mean, the whole crowd started booing
2008
01:17:29,581 --> 01:17:32,272
and then I thought to myself like,
2009
01:17:32,272 --> 01:17:33,534
why would you do that?
2010
01:17:33,534 --> 01:17:36,501
- The East Coast don't love
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?
2011
01:17:36,501 --> 01:17:37,736
(crowd cheering)
2012
01:17:37,736 --> 01:17:40,814
The East Coast ain't got no
love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?
2013
01:17:40,814 --> 01:17:42,684
And Death Row?
2014
01:17:42,684 --> 01:17:44,821
Y'all don't love us?
2015
01:17:44,821 --> 01:17:47,237
Y'all don't love us?
2016
01:17:47,237 --> 01:17:49,253
Well, let me be known then!
2017
01:17:49,253 --> 01:17:50,638
We know y'all East Coast.
2018
01:17:50,638 --> 01:17:52,371
We know where we at.
(crowd booing)
2019
01:17:52,371 --> 01:17:54,425
East Coast (mic tunes out).
2020
01:17:58,432 --> 01:18:00,303
- I'm the executive
producer that that comment
2021
01:18:00,303 --> 01:18:02,204
was made about a little bit earlier.
2022
01:18:02,204 --> 01:18:03,594
But check this out,
2023
01:18:03,594 --> 01:18:06,395
contrary to what other people may feel,
2024
01:18:06,395 --> 01:18:07,782
I would like to say
2025
01:18:07,782 --> 01:18:10,112
that I'm very proud of Dr. Dre
2026
01:18:10,112 --> 01:18:12,885
of Death Row and Suge Knight
for their accomplishments.
2027
01:18:12,885 --> 01:18:14,910
And all this East and
West thing need to stop.
2028
01:18:14,910 --> 01:18:17,142
- It was so
2029
01:18:17,142 --> 01:18:18,376
personal.
2030
01:18:18,376 --> 01:18:20,039
Puffy was a good friend of mine.
2031
01:18:20,039 --> 01:18:22,036
- There's enough room in this business
2032
01:18:22,036 --> 01:18:25,294
for two young black males
who are entrepreneurs
2033
01:18:25,294 --> 01:18:26,529
to exist, I mean.
2034
01:18:26,529 --> 01:18:29,192
Can you imagine if Al Bell and Berry Gordy
2035
01:18:29,192 --> 01:18:31,175
were fighting or if the
Temptations had beef
2036
01:18:31,175 --> 01:18:32,047
with the Four Tops?
2037
01:18:32,047 --> 01:18:34,099
I mean, it sounds fucking
retarded when you think about it.
2038
01:18:34,099 --> 01:18:36,527
The Four Tops got beef
with the Temptations.
2039
01:18:36,527 --> 01:18:38,246
Marvin Gaye and Smokey
Robinson were fighting
2040
01:18:38,246 --> 01:18:39,758
at the Grammy Awards last night.
2041
01:18:39,758 --> 01:18:41,533
I mean, think about it for a second.
2042
01:18:41,533 --> 01:18:44,431
- A lot of people in
the West Coast felt that
2043
01:18:44,431 --> 01:18:46,204
we have always
2044
01:18:46,204 --> 01:18:48,714
had love for the East Coast.
2045
01:18:48,714 --> 01:18:51,710
They come here and break their records.
2046
01:18:51,710 --> 01:18:54,054
They come here and play at the clubs.
2047
01:18:54,054 --> 01:18:55,690
They come do in-stores.
2048
01:18:55,690 --> 01:18:58,281
We do the whole nine with
them East Coast cats.
2049
01:18:58,281 --> 01:19:01,153
And we go out there, and we
don't get that same love.
2050
01:19:01,153 --> 01:19:03,593
- I remember New York DJs at parties
2051
01:19:03,593 --> 01:19:05,228
refusing to play West Coast records.
2052
01:19:05,228 --> 01:19:06,713
They country, they're bammers,
2053
01:19:06,713 --> 01:19:08,431
they wear jheri curls, they can't rhyme.
2054
01:19:08,431 --> 01:19:10,082
They're wack. It's not danceable.
2055
01:19:10,082 --> 01:19:11,621
- It was the media that blew it up.
2056
01:19:11,621 --> 01:19:13,922
You're seeing
2057
01:19:13,922 --> 01:19:16,281
certain things that somebody said
2058
01:19:16,281 --> 01:19:18,360
highlighted in magazines
2059
01:19:18,360 --> 01:19:20,537
about the West Coast and vice versa
2060
01:19:20,537 --> 01:19:22,769
and it just,
2061
01:19:22,769 --> 01:19:24,155
it just boiled over from there.
2062
01:19:24,155 --> 01:19:25,056
- All these people talking about
2063
01:19:25,056 --> 01:19:26,540
a East Coast/West Coast war,
2064
01:19:26,540 --> 01:19:28,592
they like Judas was to Jesus.
2065
01:19:28,592 --> 01:19:30,228
They only here to cause confusion.
2066
01:19:30,228 --> 01:19:31,920
- It made rap music look bad.
2067
01:19:31,920 --> 01:19:34,153
It made rap music look like
2068
01:19:34,153 --> 01:19:36,231
it's just another part of the dope gang.
2069
01:19:36,231 --> 01:19:38,588
- Controversy is what Death Row started
2070
01:19:38,588 --> 01:19:40,392
living off of, instead of talent.
2071
01:19:40,392 --> 01:19:41,446
- If this was chess,
2072
01:19:41,446 --> 01:19:43,899
we'd be yelling checkmate
three motherfucking years ago,
2073
01:19:43,899 --> 01:19:45,646
'cause we been beat these motherfuckers.
2074
01:19:45,646 --> 01:19:48,130
- Then the disrespect just
started getting worse and worse
2075
01:19:48,130 --> 01:19:50,472
between the West Coast and the East Coast.
2076
01:19:50,472 --> 01:19:52,289
- Overthrow the government
y'all got right now
2077
01:19:52,289 --> 01:19:54,827
which is Bad Boy and Nas
and all that bullshit,
2078
01:19:54,827 --> 01:19:56,214
and we will bring a new government here
2079
01:19:56,214 --> 01:19:58,266
that will feed every person in New York.
2080
01:19:58,266 --> 01:20:01,912
- And then you had
Tupac and Big situation,
2081
01:20:01,912 --> 01:20:03,965
flaming in even more.
2082
01:20:03,965 --> 01:20:04,991
- [Tupac] I possess his soul.
2083
01:20:04,991 --> 01:20:05,905
Him and Puffy.
2084
01:20:05,905 --> 01:20:08,465
They know that I was the truest nigga
2085
01:20:08,465 --> 01:20:10,183
involved with Biggie's success.
2086
01:20:10,183 --> 01:20:11,419
I was the biggest help.
2087
01:20:11,419 --> 01:20:12,291
I was the truest.
2088
01:20:12,291 --> 01:20:13,372
I don't write his rhyme,
2089
01:20:13,372 --> 01:20:15,523
but you know how much
you borrowed from me.
2090
01:20:15,523 --> 01:20:17,383
He know how I used to stop my shows
2091
01:20:17,383 --> 01:20:18,688
and let him touch the shelf.
2092
01:20:18,688 --> 01:20:20,711
Let him blow up and do his whole show
2093
01:20:20,711 --> 01:20:21,891
in the middle of my show.
2094
01:20:21,891 --> 01:20:23,692
How I used to buy him
shit and give him shit,
2095
01:20:23,692 --> 01:20:25,051
and never asked for it back.
2096
01:20:25,051 --> 01:20:26,202
How I used to share.
2097
01:20:26,202 --> 01:20:28,075
How I used to share my
experiences in the game
2098
01:20:28,075 --> 01:20:29,878
and my lessons and my rules and
2099
01:20:29,878 --> 01:20:31,666
my knowledge on the game with him.
2100
01:20:31,666 --> 01:20:33,206
He owe me more.
2101
01:20:33,206 --> 01:20:34,619
He owe me more than to turn his head
2102
01:20:34,619 --> 01:20:35,979
and act like he didn't
know niggas was about
2103
01:20:35,979 --> 01:20:37,406
to blow my fucking head off.
2104
01:20:37,406 --> 01:20:38,239
He knew.
2105
01:20:38,239 --> 01:20:39,085
But for me to know,
2106
01:20:39,085 --> 01:20:41,414
three weeks ago this happened, and then
2107
01:20:41,414 --> 01:20:42,898
three weeks later, your album's coming out
2108
01:20:42,898 --> 01:20:45,394
and you are fucking don in your album.
2109
01:20:45,394 --> 01:20:46,642
But you don't know how shot me
2110
01:20:46,642 --> 01:20:47,667
in your fucking hometown?
2111
01:20:47,667 --> 01:20:49,235
This nigga is from your neighborhood
2112
01:20:49,235 --> 01:20:50,829
and I gotta find out by myself
2113
01:20:50,829 --> 01:20:52,701
and I don't even call myself a don,
2114
01:20:52,701 --> 01:20:54,364
just a capo
2115
01:20:54,364 --> 01:20:55,336
from the Westside.
2116
01:20:55,336 --> 01:20:56,444
And I'm on the Eastside in jail
2117
01:20:56,444 --> 01:20:57,388
and I know who touched me
2118
01:20:57,388 --> 01:20:59,217
and I know everything that happened.
2119
01:20:59,217 --> 01:21:01,700
- Tupac was wrong in blaming
2120
01:21:01,700 --> 01:21:03,808
whoever the individual figures were
2121
01:21:03,808 --> 01:21:05,346
who actually had something to do with it
2122
01:21:05,346 --> 01:21:06,830
in New York,
2123
01:21:06,830 --> 01:21:08,370
and making it into this whole
2124
01:21:08,370 --> 01:21:09,367
New York City thing,
2125
01:21:09,367 --> 01:21:11,143
then this East Coast/West Coast thing.
2126
01:21:11,143 --> 01:21:13,528
And I think he definitely
had someone in his ear,
2127
01:21:13,528 --> 01:21:14,582
probably Suge,
2128
01:21:14,582 --> 01:21:15,829
exacerbating it.
2129
01:21:15,829 --> 01:21:16,967
It sells records.
2130
01:21:16,967 --> 01:21:18,879
It continues to get media attention,
2131
01:21:18,879 --> 01:21:20,999
which sells more records.
2132
01:21:20,999 --> 01:21:23,040
- Tupac had claimed to have
2133
01:21:23,040 --> 01:21:25,574
gone out with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans.
2134
01:21:25,574 --> 01:21:29,428
This was a great humiliation
reportedly for Biggie.
2135
01:21:29,428 --> 01:21:31,513
It was all over.
2136
01:21:31,900 --> 01:21:34,521
- We were in Manhattan
2137
01:21:34,521 --> 01:21:36,102
shooting a video.
2138
01:21:36,102 --> 01:21:39,180
Biggie Smalls had gotten
on the radio station
2139
01:21:39,180 --> 01:21:42,035
and Biggie said that I cannot believe
2140
01:21:42,035 --> 01:21:44,213
that New York is allowing
2141
01:21:44,213 --> 01:21:47,625
Tupac and the Dogg Pound
2142
01:21:47,625 --> 01:21:49,857
to shoot a video in our city
2143
01:21:49,857 --> 01:21:51,826
right in the heart of Times Square.
2144
01:21:51,826 --> 01:21:53,849
The words out of Biggie's mouth was,
2145
01:21:53,849 --> 01:21:56,748
"Tupac and the Dogg Pound,"
2146
01:21:56,748 --> 01:21:57,705
and it wasn't.
2147
01:21:57,705 --> 01:21:59,494
It was Snoop and the Dogg Pound.
2148
01:21:59,494 --> 01:22:01,477
Tupac was not with us.
2149
01:22:01,477 --> 01:22:03,779
Snoop, at the time, was
having his hair braided.
2150
01:22:03,779 --> 01:22:05,526
All of the artists was in the trailer,
2151
01:22:05,526 --> 01:22:06,885
then all of a sudden,
2152
01:22:06,885 --> 01:22:07,812
gunfire.
2153
01:22:07,812 --> 01:22:09,171
Someone shot into the trailer.
2154
01:22:09,171 --> 01:22:10,656
They weren't shooting in there
2155
01:22:10,656 --> 01:22:12,445
to say get out.
2156
01:22:12,445 --> 01:22:14,677
They were shooting in
there to kill someone.
2157
01:22:14,677 --> 01:22:16,118
- There was a shift in
2158
01:22:16,118 --> 01:22:18,503
Tupac Shakur's lyrical content.
2159
01:22:18,503 --> 01:22:20,403
He at first was more political,
2160
01:22:20,403 --> 01:22:23,815
then at some point, he became more street.
2161
01:22:23,815 --> 01:22:26,990
It was West Coast versus East Coast.
2162
01:22:26,990 --> 01:22:30,123
The person at Riker's
Island was very reflective
2163
01:22:30,123 --> 01:22:32,024
and he's gonna change
his life and everything.
2164
01:22:32,024 --> 01:22:34,740
This new person was like,
2165
01:22:34,740 --> 01:22:35,865
fuck New York,
2166
01:22:35,865 --> 01:22:37,016
fuck the East Coast.
2167
01:22:37,016 --> 01:22:38,125
Suge is the man.
2168
01:22:38,125 --> 01:22:39,066
He takes care of me.
2169
01:22:39,066 --> 01:22:41,356
He's flashing money in
front of the MTV cameras.
2170
01:22:41,356 --> 01:22:43,685
It was like, wow, his jet going high.
2171
01:22:43,685 --> 01:22:44,947
- One of the songs
2172
01:22:44,947 --> 01:22:46,694
was a song called Hit 'Em Up.
2173
01:22:46,694 --> 01:22:48,511
It talked about killing
2174
01:22:48,511 --> 01:22:50,202
the Bad Boy camp.
2175
01:22:50,202 --> 01:22:51,409
Different artists.
2176
01:22:51,409 --> 01:22:52,643
It was a lot of threats.
2177
01:22:52,643 --> 01:22:53,737
I go, Pac,
2178
01:22:53,737 --> 01:22:55,846
did you hear what you said?
2179
01:22:55,846 --> 01:22:58,021
He was like, yeah, nigga, I wrote it.
2180
01:22:58,021 --> 01:22:59,673
Okay, um.
2181
01:22:59,673 --> 01:23:01,904
We're gonna need some more security
2182
01:23:01,904 --> 01:23:04,609
and you need to start wearing a vest.
2183
01:23:09,487 --> 01:23:10,999
- Any time you have this
2184
01:23:10,999 --> 01:23:13,508
synergy between two or more people
2185
01:23:13,508 --> 01:23:15,020
and they make things happen,
2186
01:23:15,020 --> 01:23:16,739
when you start breaking that up,
2187
01:23:16,739 --> 01:23:18,570
things are never the same again.
2188
01:23:18,570 --> 01:23:20,636
- When you think about Dr. Dre,
2189
01:23:20,636 --> 01:23:23,255
here's a cat who's always had some sort of
2190
01:23:23,255 --> 01:23:25,668
big brother or father figure around him.
2191
01:23:25,668 --> 01:23:27,569
Earlier on, it was Alonzo Williams.
2192
01:23:27,569 --> 01:23:29,773
Then it was Eazy-E, Jerry Heller.
2193
01:23:29,773 --> 01:23:31,257
Then it becomes Suge Knight.
2194
01:23:31,257 --> 01:23:32,671
And so, Dre was one of those cats
2195
01:23:32,671 --> 01:23:34,876
who always needed
guidance from someone else
2196
01:23:34,876 --> 01:23:36,928
because Dre is really an artistic person.
2197
01:23:36,928 --> 01:23:38,286
He's an artist. He's a true artist.
2198
01:23:38,286 --> 01:23:39,312
- Seem like after a while,
2199
01:23:39,312 --> 01:23:41,573
somebody was pulling his strings.
2200
01:23:41,573 --> 01:23:44,444
Like, Dre had to answer to somebody.
2201
01:23:44,444 --> 01:23:45,622
- [Voiceover] Who do you think that was?
2202
01:23:45,622 --> 01:23:47,439
- We all know who that was.
2203
01:23:47,439 --> 01:23:49,824
- The King, i.e. Suge Knight
2204
01:23:49,824 --> 01:23:51,833
felt the need to have
the court around him,
2205
01:23:51,833 --> 01:23:54,190
and I don't think Dre felt
comfortable with that.
2206
01:23:54,190 --> 01:23:58,240
- I've got all these people around me.
2207
01:23:58,240 --> 01:23:59,648
How many of them do I really need?
2208
01:23:59,648 --> 01:24:02,727
- Tupac and Dr. Dre
2209
01:24:02,727 --> 01:24:04,988
was fine from the beginning.
2210
01:24:04,988 --> 01:24:06,165
Everything was great.
2211
01:24:06,165 --> 01:24:07,830
I mean, you didn't see any problems.
2212
01:24:07,830 --> 01:24:10,603
From the time that I worked there in '95
2213
01:24:10,603 --> 01:24:12,628
up until early '96,
2214
01:24:12,628 --> 01:24:14,860
Dr. Dre had been in the studio twice.
2215
01:24:14,860 --> 01:24:17,703
Pac took offense to that.
2216
01:24:17,703 --> 01:24:20,017
- He wasn't producing shit.
2217
01:24:20,017 --> 01:24:22,166
Other niggas was producing
the beats I put on my album.
2218
01:24:22,166 --> 01:24:23,373
Other niggas was doing the beats,
2219
01:24:23,373 --> 01:24:24,761
and Dre was getting the credit.
2220
01:24:24,761 --> 01:24:28,503
- Daz and all the other
little producers and
2221
01:24:28,503 --> 01:24:30,347
Assassin, all the ones we have,
2222
01:24:30,347 --> 01:24:32,401
they did the tracks.
2223
01:24:32,401 --> 01:24:34,576
Dre wasn't doing the tracks and
2224
01:24:34,576 --> 01:24:35,715
Dre didn't write the lyrics.
2225
01:24:35,715 --> 01:24:38,557
- Suge basically took
on the role for Tupac
2226
01:24:38,557 --> 01:24:41,150
that he had taken on for Dre.
2227
01:24:41,150 --> 01:24:43,298
And I don't think it's a
coincidence at a certain point,
2228
01:24:43,298 --> 01:24:46,017
Tupac started becoming
a mouthpiece for Suge
2229
01:24:46,017 --> 01:24:47,735
and started dissing Dre.
2230
01:24:47,735 --> 01:24:48,998
- He is a dope producer,
2231
01:24:48,998 --> 01:24:50,662
but he ain't worked in years.
2232
01:24:50,662 --> 01:24:52,894
I'm out here in the street,
you know what I mean,
2233
01:24:52,894 --> 01:24:55,432
whooping niggas' ass,
starting wars and shit,
2234
01:24:55,432 --> 01:24:57,358
putting it down, dropping albums,
2235
01:24:57,358 --> 01:24:58,206
doing my shit,
2236
01:24:58,206 --> 01:25:01,047
and this nigga taking
three years to do one song.
2237
01:25:01,047 --> 01:25:02,849
- I'm seeing the change like
2238
01:25:02,849 --> 01:25:04,972
right after we finished
Murder Was the Case
2239
01:25:04,972 --> 01:25:07,316
and we moved into Can Am Studios,
2240
01:25:07,316 --> 01:25:09,089
start working on the Dogg Food album.
2241
01:25:09,089 --> 01:25:10,927
I just seen that
2242
01:25:10,927 --> 01:25:12,911
he wasn't as inspired and it was like,
2243
01:25:12,911 --> 01:25:15,295
it was too many thugs and
2244
01:25:15,295 --> 01:25:17,292
niggas up there that didn't
have nothing to do with nothing.
2245
01:25:17,292 --> 01:25:19,345
- It was mostly just
the way the studio was.
2246
01:25:19,345 --> 01:25:21,576
And that's where I have
to spend most of my time.
2247
01:25:21,576 --> 01:25:23,172
- It was not a work atmosphere no more.
2248
01:25:23,172 --> 01:25:24,809
It became fun and games
2249
01:25:24,809 --> 01:25:26,112
and the success had kicked in,
2250
01:25:26,112 --> 01:25:27,374
and we were stars.
2251
01:25:27,374 --> 01:25:29,633
And motherfuckers just
loved being around us,
2252
01:25:29,633 --> 01:25:30,908
and bringing bullshit around us.
2253
01:25:30,908 --> 01:25:32,171
And Dre wasn't for that.
2254
01:25:32,171 --> 01:25:33,529
- I just didn't like
2255
01:25:33,529 --> 01:25:35,014
some of the things that were going on.
2256
01:25:35,014 --> 01:25:36,968
There was nothing being done to stop it.
2257
01:25:36,968 --> 01:25:38,023
- Dre and I used to work in
2258
01:25:38,023 --> 01:25:40,297
an environment where he can create,
2259
01:25:40,297 --> 01:25:42,169
and everybody's on a creative atmosphere
2260
01:25:42,169 --> 01:25:44,304
and it's not about what's
going on in the hood,
2261
01:25:44,304 --> 01:25:46,175
how many niggas you shot,
2262
01:25:46,175 --> 01:25:47,839
and how much shit you done did.
2263
01:25:47,839 --> 01:25:49,019
He don't want that.
2264
01:25:49,019 --> 01:25:52,586
- Suge took over the company.
2265
01:25:53,028 --> 01:25:55,414
It was no mystery to nobody.
2266
01:25:55,414 --> 01:25:58,574
I don't think Dre wanted to
be a yes man for somebody,
2267
01:25:58,574 --> 01:26:01,446
so he wanted his own situation again.
2268
01:26:01,446 --> 01:26:03,734
So he bailed out.
2269
01:26:03,734 --> 01:26:06,062
- He says wait, I want out of this world.
2270
01:26:06,062 --> 01:26:07,545
I want to form Aftermath,
2271
01:26:07,545 --> 01:26:09,598
where I'm not part of Death Row anymore.
2272
01:26:09,598 --> 01:26:10,679
I wanna be beyond that.
2273
01:26:10,679 --> 01:26:11,804
I wanna be with my family.
2274
01:26:11,804 --> 01:26:13,163
I wanna live.
2275
01:26:13,163 --> 01:26:14,936
- When Dr. Dre left Death Row Records,
2276
01:26:14,936 --> 01:26:17,045
that was the biggest shock to me.
2277
01:26:17,045 --> 01:26:20,553
'Cause I was real confused
at how you start a label
2278
01:26:20,553 --> 01:26:22,702
and you leave the label.
2279
01:26:22,702 --> 01:26:24,476
I always figured if you
had a problem with somebody
2280
01:26:24,476 --> 01:26:26,044
on your label,
2281
01:26:26,044 --> 01:26:27,610
you make them leave the label
2282
01:26:27,610 --> 01:26:29,455
and you go on with what you're doing.
2283
01:26:29,455 --> 01:26:30,814
I guess that was the way of learning
2284
01:26:30,814 --> 01:26:33,078
it wasn't all his label.
2285
01:26:33,078 --> 01:26:35,725
- Dre's departure
2286
01:26:35,725 --> 01:26:38,236
wasn't a loss for me.
2287
01:26:38,236 --> 01:26:40,801
If you have a multi-million dollar company
2288
01:26:40,801 --> 01:26:43,670
maybe worth a billion dollars or so,
2289
01:26:43,670 --> 01:26:46,750
and you own it 100% and
don't have a partner,
2290
01:26:46,750 --> 01:26:48,287
then you don't have to give him nothing
2291
01:26:48,287 --> 01:26:49,440
but his walking papers.
2292
01:26:49,440 --> 01:26:50,367
That's great.
2293
01:26:50,367 --> 01:26:52,185
- Dre made Death Row Records.
2294
01:26:52,185 --> 01:26:53,211
You know what I'm saying?
2295
01:26:53,211 --> 01:26:55,928
And this is absurd that
he's gone from one situation
2296
01:26:55,928 --> 01:26:57,675
to another situation
2297
01:26:57,675 --> 01:27:00,338
where he feels like he's
being under-compensated.
2298
01:27:00,338 --> 01:27:02,501
- To give up 50% of your label
2299
01:27:02,501 --> 01:27:04,068
and move on elsewhere
2300
01:27:04,068 --> 01:27:06,065
from a dangerous situation
which Death Row Records
2301
01:27:06,065 --> 01:27:07,299
was becoming and
2302
01:27:07,299 --> 01:27:08,658
we now find out that it is,
2303
01:27:08,658 --> 01:27:10,932
was a smart move for him.
2304
01:27:15,936 --> 01:27:16,797
(record scratches)
2305
01:27:18,961 --> 01:27:20,472
- September 7th,
2306
01:27:20,472 --> 01:27:23,604
we were just leaving the fight.
2307
01:27:23,604 --> 01:27:25,810
Tupac, Mike Tyson, friends,
2308
01:27:25,810 --> 01:27:27,348
we're at the fight.
2309
01:27:27,348 --> 01:27:30,248
And we go backstage
2310
01:27:30,248 --> 01:27:31,869
to leave the building.
2311
01:27:31,869 --> 01:27:36,017
Immediately after coming from backstage,
2312
01:27:36,017 --> 01:27:38,664
one of Suge's homeboys came up
2313
01:27:38,664 --> 01:27:40,466
and whispered into Tupac's ear.
2314
01:27:40,466 --> 01:27:41,799
Pac took off running.
2315
01:27:41,799 --> 01:27:44,212
There was a gentleman standing with a
2316
01:27:44,212 --> 01:27:46,846
MGM security guard by a pillar
2317
01:27:46,846 --> 01:27:49,133
as Tupac was approaching him.
2318
01:27:49,133 --> 01:27:51,006
Now when I think about it,
2319
01:27:51,006 --> 01:27:53,112
the guy was standing there waiting.
2320
01:27:53,112 --> 01:27:54,541
Then Pac ran up on him,
2321
01:27:54,541 --> 01:27:55,956
and the fight broke out.
2322
01:27:55,956 --> 01:27:57,301
Orlando Anderson
2323
01:27:57,301 --> 01:27:59,835
and a couple of Suge's homeboys
2324
01:27:59,835 --> 01:28:02,803
had gotten into a
2325
01:28:02,803 --> 01:28:05,882
fight at the Lakewood Mall in California
2326
01:28:05,882 --> 01:28:08,350
back in April of '96
2327
01:28:08,350 --> 01:28:10,790
over a Death Row chain
2328
01:28:10,790 --> 01:28:13,272
because there was a bounty on
2329
01:28:13,272 --> 01:28:15,782
the Death Row chains.
2330
01:28:15,782 --> 01:28:18,888
The same person that had
gotten into altercation
2331
01:28:18,888 --> 01:28:21,273
with Orlando Anderson in the mall
2332
01:28:21,273 --> 01:28:23,297
whispered into Tupac's ear
2333
01:28:23,297 --> 01:28:25,530
and it caused this fight.
2334
01:28:25,530 --> 01:28:28,843
They were beating Orlando
Anderson up on the ground.
2335
01:28:28,843 --> 01:28:31,810
Tupac, Suge, and the
rest of the entourage,
2336
01:28:31,810 --> 01:28:33,432
they were pretty much bragging
2337
01:28:33,432 --> 01:28:34,763
about what had happened.
2338
01:28:34,763 --> 01:28:36,540
We get back to the Luxor Hotel.
2339
01:28:36,540 --> 01:28:37,996
We go up to Tupac's room.
2340
01:28:37,996 --> 01:28:39,202
He changed clothes,
2341
01:28:39,202 --> 01:28:40,686
come back downstairs.
2342
01:28:40,686 --> 01:28:42,363
We're all just standing around.
2343
01:28:42,363 --> 01:28:43,513
All the women are coming out,
2344
01:28:43,513 --> 01:28:46,177
everybody's ready to go over to 662,
2345
01:28:46,177 --> 01:28:48,437
the after party.
2346
01:28:48,437 --> 01:28:50,697
So Tupac turns to me and says,
2347
01:28:50,697 --> 01:28:52,638
no, don't ride with us.
2348
01:28:52,638 --> 01:28:54,233
He hands me the keys and says,
2349
01:28:54,233 --> 01:28:56,493
you go drive your little homies
2350
01:28:56,493 --> 01:28:58,364
because we're going to the
club, gonna be partying
2351
01:28:58,364 --> 01:29:00,000
and you're gonna drive us.
2352
01:29:00,000 --> 01:29:01,054
So I said okay.
2353
01:29:01,054 --> 01:29:03,646
Pac and Suge get into the BMW.
2354
01:29:03,646 --> 01:29:06,268
We get back onto the Las Vegas strip.
2355
01:29:06,268 --> 01:29:07,489
Suge's the lead car.
2356
01:29:07,489 --> 01:29:08,805
I'm the car right behind him,
2357
01:29:08,805 --> 01:29:11,108
and then, there's just cars all behind us.
2358
01:29:11,108 --> 01:29:13,798
So we turn right off
of Las Vegas Boulevard
2359
01:29:13,798 --> 01:29:15,628
onto Flamingo
2360
01:29:15,628 --> 01:29:17,776
to go down to 662.
2361
01:29:17,776 --> 01:29:20,093
As we approach the next stoplight,
2362
01:29:20,093 --> 01:29:23,420
which is Koval on Flamingo,
2363
01:29:23,420 --> 01:29:24,960
there is a car
2364
01:29:24,960 --> 01:29:27,453
coming down the open lane
2365
01:29:27,453 --> 01:29:29,053
that is next to
2366
01:29:29,053 --> 01:29:30,938
myself and the BMW.
2367
01:29:30,938 --> 01:29:34,164
As the car's approaching,
2368
01:29:34,164 --> 01:29:36,957
I turn and I look to my right,
2369
01:29:36,957 --> 01:29:39,191
and I see the car.
2370
01:29:39,191 --> 01:29:40,667
It's a white Cadillac.
2371
01:29:40,667 --> 01:29:43,079
It kinda had moved over,
2372
01:29:43,079 --> 01:29:46,424
and I would say closer to the BMW
2373
01:29:46,424 --> 01:29:50,351
probably about that close
2374
01:29:50,351 --> 01:29:53,441
and an arm just comes out
2375
01:29:53,441 --> 01:29:55,439
and just starts firing.
2376
01:29:58,086 --> 01:29:59,817
- I heard the shots being fired.
2377
01:29:59,817 --> 01:30:02,417
Pac stood up to try to
get into the backseat
2378
01:30:02,417 --> 01:30:03,806
to get out the way of the shots.
2379
01:30:03,806 --> 01:30:05,148
That's how he got shot in his hip,
2380
01:30:05,148 --> 01:30:07,061
which hit one of the bones
2381
01:30:07,061 --> 01:30:09,689
and travelled and hit his lung.
2382
01:30:09,689 --> 01:30:11,450
I grabbed him and said get down,
2383
01:30:11,450 --> 01:30:13,003
and covered him.
2384
01:30:13,003 --> 01:30:14,601
When I pulled him down,
2385
01:30:14,601 --> 01:30:16,394
that's when I got shot in my head.
2386
01:30:16,394 --> 01:30:17,171
I said, you hit?
2387
01:30:17,171 --> 01:30:18,050
He said I'm hit.
2388
01:30:18,050 --> 01:30:20,262
So I'm driving like a madman to a hospital
2389
01:30:20,262 --> 01:30:22,425
and the first thing he said
2390
01:30:22,425 --> 01:30:25,218
laughingly, jokingly, loudly,
2391
01:30:25,218 --> 01:30:27,816
is I need a hospital?
2392
01:30:27,816 --> 01:30:29,742
You the one shot in the head.
2393
01:30:29,742 --> 01:30:32,367
(sirens wailing)
2394
01:30:33,728 --> 01:30:35,192
- Coming up next on the 10:00 news.
2395
01:30:35,192 --> 01:30:37,926
His lyrics, his life
reflected a gangsta lifestyle.
2396
01:30:37,926 --> 01:30:39,942
Tonight, Bay Area rapper Tupac Shakur
2397
01:30:39,942 --> 01:30:41,540
is dead of gunshot wounds.
2398
01:30:41,540 --> 01:30:43,808
- All over the media, all over the news,
2399
01:30:43,808 --> 01:30:45,018
all over the radio.
2400
01:30:45,018 --> 01:30:45,947
- [Voiceover] Hundreds
line the streets outside
2401
01:30:45,947 --> 01:30:47,965
the Nation of Islam school
2402
01:30:47,965 --> 01:30:50,738
to pay their respects to the slain rapper.
2403
01:30:51,086 --> 01:30:52,413
- The first things I started hearing
2404
01:30:52,413 --> 01:30:55,401
were rumors that Suge had had Tupac shot
2405
01:30:55,401 --> 01:30:58,163
because Tupac was thinking
of leaving the industry,
2406
01:30:58,163 --> 01:31:00,404
and I started to laugh when I heard that.
2407
01:31:00,404 --> 01:31:01,552
I said, you know,
2408
01:31:01,552 --> 01:31:02,852
the problem with this is
2409
01:31:02,852 --> 01:31:04,794
why would someone like Suge
2410
01:31:04,794 --> 01:31:06,646
have the shooter shoot across the car
2411
01:31:06,646 --> 01:31:08,498
so that the bullets would hit him?
2412
01:31:08,498 --> 01:31:10,708
- There are so many
different layers to the story
2413
01:31:10,708 --> 01:31:11,782
and it's so tragic.
2414
01:31:11,782 --> 01:31:13,739
Tupac Shakur is
2415
01:31:13,739 --> 01:31:15,651
one of those kids who was really
2416
01:31:15,651 --> 01:31:18,488
one of the great creative forces
2417
01:31:18,488 --> 01:31:19,158
of our agents.
2418
01:31:19,158 --> 01:31:20,501
He wasn't just a rapper.
2419
01:31:20,501 --> 01:31:22,520
He was a kid who was really insightful.
2420
01:31:22,520 --> 01:31:23,549
- He had said
2421
01:31:23,549 --> 01:31:25,999
I didn't wanna go to Vegas anyway.
2422
01:31:25,999 --> 01:31:27,716
He almost didn't even come.
2423
01:31:27,716 --> 01:31:30,225
That day was gonna happen.
2424
01:31:30,225 --> 01:31:32,465
It was the destiny of his life.
2425
01:31:32,465 --> 01:31:34,599
He had the thought of not going,
2426
01:31:34,599 --> 01:31:36,228
but he went
2427
01:31:36,228 --> 01:31:38,795
because destiny was to die that next day.
2428
01:31:38,795 --> 01:31:41,858
- And it's just a shame that
2429
01:31:41,858 --> 01:31:43,993
another brother gets lost
2430
01:31:43,993 --> 01:31:45,950
as a victim of his music.
2431
01:31:52,580 --> 01:31:55,500
- If you have any street sense
knowledge about yourself,
2432
01:31:55,500 --> 01:31:58,291
you knew that company was
gon' come crashing down
2433
01:31:58,291 --> 01:31:59,562
feds first.
2434
01:31:59,562 --> 01:32:01,100
- People
2435
01:32:01,100 --> 01:32:02,952
let the fame go to their heads
2436
01:32:02,952 --> 01:32:05,834
and their egos took over,
2437
01:32:05,834 --> 01:32:06,849
and the next thing you know
2438
01:32:06,849 --> 01:32:09,313
it wasn't nowhere to go but down.
2439
01:32:09,313 --> 01:32:10,492
- Coming up, will the founder
2440
01:32:10,492 --> 01:32:13,039
of one of rap music's most
successful record labels
2441
01:32:13,039 --> 01:32:15,935
be doing time for a probation violation?
2442
01:32:15,935 --> 01:32:18,072
Last year, he pled no contest
2443
01:32:18,072 --> 01:32:19,998
at two counts of assault,
2444
01:32:19,998 --> 01:32:23,283
standing from a 1992 attack
on two aspiring rappers
2445
01:32:23,283 --> 01:32:25,389
in a Hollywood recording studio
2446
01:32:25,389 --> 01:32:26,317
and this is a man
2447
01:32:26,317 --> 01:32:28,603
who has eight different convictions.
2448
01:32:28,603 --> 01:32:29,902
- And Your Honor, I ask you,
2449
01:32:29,902 --> 01:32:31,986
how many bites at the probation apple
2450
01:32:31,986 --> 01:32:33,741
does this defendant get?
2451
01:32:33,741 --> 01:32:35,339
- I think it is very clear
2452
01:32:35,339 --> 01:32:37,912
that Mr. Knight
2453
01:32:37,912 --> 01:32:41,165
delivers a kick with his right foot.
2454
01:32:41,165 --> 01:32:42,748
- That man made a choice
2455
01:32:42,748 --> 01:32:44,346
to ignore his conscience.
2456
01:32:44,346 --> 01:32:45,705
And it's only him
2457
01:32:45,705 --> 01:32:47,138
that can reconcile that
2458
01:32:47,138 --> 01:32:48,078
and can change it.
2459
01:32:48,078 --> 01:32:48,735
We can't.
2460
01:32:48,735 --> 01:32:50,140
We can just move on,
2461
01:32:50,140 --> 01:32:52,708
give our contribution
to the music industry,
2462
01:32:52,708 --> 01:32:54,650
and hope that nothing like this
2463
01:32:54,650 --> 01:32:56,171
ever happens again.
2464
01:32:56,171 --> 01:32:59,174
- He was an active
participant in this assault,
2465
01:32:59,174 --> 01:33:01,937
and I do find a violation of probation.
2466
01:33:01,937 --> 01:33:03,042
I also keep in mind,
2467
01:33:03,042 --> 01:33:06,087
I think the way he left the
scene evidenced a consciousness
2468
01:33:06,087 --> 01:33:06,744
of guilt.
2469
01:33:06,744 --> 01:33:08,432
I think he had been involved in assault,
2470
01:33:08,432 --> 01:33:09,643
and the way he left the scene
2471
01:33:09,643 --> 01:33:11,299
causes me to believe that he knew exactly
2472
01:33:11,299 --> 01:33:12,405
what it was he was doing,
2473
01:33:12,405 --> 01:33:13,703
what he was involved in.
2474
01:33:13,703 --> 01:33:16,302
Your prior record
indicates one of violence.
2475
01:33:16,302 --> 01:33:18,183
You are a danger to the community.
2476
01:33:18,183 --> 01:33:19,900
Your prior performance on probation
2477
01:33:19,900 --> 01:33:20,976
was not satisfactory.
2478
01:33:20,976 --> 01:33:21,687
You committed other crimes
2479
01:33:21,687 --> 01:33:23,449
while you were on probation.
2480
01:33:23,449 --> 01:33:25,822
You are not a suitable
candidate for probation,
2481
01:33:25,822 --> 01:33:26,688
in other words,
2482
01:33:26,688 --> 01:33:29,033
and therefore, probation is denied.
2483
01:33:29,033 --> 01:33:30,766
- I don't think anybody
here has any question
2484
01:33:30,766 --> 01:33:32,319
that if we were dealing with somebody
2485
01:33:32,319 --> 01:33:33,783
other than Mr. Knight,
2486
01:33:33,783 --> 01:33:35,993
what we saw in that
video tape, first of all,
2487
01:33:35,993 --> 01:33:38,203
would not be sufficient to constitute
2488
01:33:38,203 --> 01:33:39,801
a probation violation,
2489
01:33:39,801 --> 01:33:41,817
and secondly and most importantly,
2490
01:33:41,817 --> 01:33:43,668
even if somebody thought it was,
2491
01:33:43,668 --> 01:33:45,802
it's certainly not the kind of violation
2492
01:33:45,802 --> 01:33:47,178
and the kind of activity
2493
01:33:47,178 --> 01:33:49,716
that warrants a nine-year sentence.
2494
01:33:49,716 --> 01:33:51,493
- How can Suge be in jail?
2495
01:33:51,493 --> 01:33:53,120
How can one of the most powerful people
2496
01:33:53,120 --> 01:33:53,941
in the record business,
2497
01:33:53,941 --> 01:33:54,883
not black people,
2498
01:33:54,883 --> 01:33:57,093
one of the most powerful people
2499
01:33:57,093 --> 01:33:59,078
in the record business
2500
01:33:59,078 --> 01:34:00,498
be in jail
2501
01:34:00,498 --> 01:34:03,171
for something as silly
2502
01:34:03,171 --> 01:34:05,053
as stopping a fight
2503
01:34:05,053 --> 01:34:06,815
or even kicking somebody?
2504
01:34:06,815 --> 01:34:08,472
- In my opinion,
2505
01:34:08,472 --> 01:34:10,876
this is a miscarriage of justice.
2506
01:34:10,876 --> 01:34:12,922
- You got this lawyer, this attorney,
2507
01:34:12,922 --> 01:34:15,267
this guy who's pretty brilliant,
2508
01:34:15,267 --> 01:34:17,342
so you know that this
isn't a regular attorney.
2509
01:34:17,342 --> 01:34:18,806
He's got some pull somewhere
2510
01:34:18,806 --> 01:34:21,016
because he's got somebody
from the DA's office
2511
01:34:21,016 --> 01:34:22,612
involved in this thing,
2512
01:34:22,612 --> 01:34:24,301
and you're saying to yourself,
2513
01:34:24,301 --> 01:34:25,733
if all these people were involved,
2514
01:34:25,733 --> 01:34:28,393
all these powerful people,
2515
01:34:28,393 --> 01:34:31,781
what kind of situation
did he set Suge up in?
2516
01:34:31,781 --> 01:34:34,380
I mean, Dave Kenner was a
big man in our business,
2517
01:34:34,380 --> 01:34:35,544
on all levels,
2518
01:34:35,544 --> 01:34:37,666
and you have to ask yourself,
2519
01:34:37,666 --> 01:34:39,383
did the money get to him?
2520
01:34:39,383 --> 01:34:41,728
Did the power get to him?
2521
01:34:41,728 --> 01:34:43,639
You gotta ask yourself, was
Suge thinking about this?
2522
01:34:43,639 --> 01:34:44,939
Is he sitting in jail saying,
2523
01:34:44,939 --> 01:34:46,760
is this guy really on my side?
2524
01:34:46,760 --> 01:34:49,523
- Suge Knight was and is Death Row,
2525
01:34:49,523 --> 01:34:51,121
and for me, without Suge Knight,
2526
01:34:51,121 --> 01:34:52,553
there is so Death Row.
2527
01:34:52,553 --> 01:34:55,047
- If Suge has grasped
2528
01:34:55,047 --> 01:34:56,930
all that has happened to him,
2529
01:34:56,930 --> 01:34:58,437
I think that he can come out
2530
01:34:58,437 --> 01:35:00,738
and again, start up Death Row Records
2531
01:35:00,738 --> 01:35:02,394
and start a record company
2532
01:35:02,394 --> 01:35:04,787
that would be more viable than ever.
2533
01:35:05,121 --> 01:35:07,002
- They will be legends
no matter what happens,
2534
01:35:07,002 --> 01:35:09,048
but if that had continued to go on,
2535
01:35:09,048 --> 01:35:11,333
no telling what kind of
influence they may have had
2536
01:35:11,333 --> 01:35:13,377
on the inner city youth in America.
2537
01:35:13,377 --> 01:35:15,170
When you have guys that have the ears
2538
01:35:15,170 --> 01:35:16,529
of not only black America,
2539
01:35:16,529 --> 01:35:18,604
but white America also,
2540
01:35:18,604 --> 01:35:20,502
you can call some shots.
2541
01:35:20,502 --> 01:35:22,114
Anybody can sell 4,000,000 records?
2542
01:35:22,114 --> 01:35:23,324
5,000,000 records?
2543
01:35:23,324 --> 01:35:25,400
Anybody can sell out
concerts around the world?
2544
01:35:25,400 --> 01:35:28,431
Whatever they put their
name and faces on will sell.
2545
01:35:28,431 --> 01:35:31,162
Whatever they endorse,
will be backed up 100%.
2546
01:35:31,162 --> 01:35:33,075
- The Death Row Records story
2547
01:35:33,075 --> 01:35:35,703
told the tale of three
major record labels,
2548
01:35:35,703 --> 01:35:37,434
almost brought one of them down,
2549
01:35:37,434 --> 01:35:39,181
rattled another to its core,
2550
01:35:39,181 --> 01:35:41,302
and set the framework
2551
01:35:41,302 --> 01:35:43,379
for a whole new way of doing business
2552
01:35:43,379 --> 01:35:44,708
in the music business.
2553
01:35:44,708 --> 01:35:47,023
This was a story that wasn't
just about a bunch of guys
2554
01:35:47,023 --> 01:35:47,902
from Compton,
2555
01:35:47,902 --> 01:35:50,173
it was a story that affected
the whole music business
2556
01:35:50,173 --> 01:35:52,608
and ultimately, the business world.
2557
01:35:52,608 --> 01:35:54,564
- It's about empowerment.
2558
01:35:54,564 --> 01:35:56,744
It's about greed. It's about ego.
2559
01:35:56,744 --> 01:35:58,820
It's about sex. It's about violence.
2560
01:35:58,820 --> 01:36:01,297
It's about fame. It's about failure.
2561
01:36:01,297 --> 01:36:04,061
I mean, you don't get any
more American than that.
2562
01:36:04,061 --> 01:36:06,943
- The legacy that Death
Row Records has left
2563
01:36:06,943 --> 01:36:08,369
is both positive and negative.
2564
01:36:08,369 --> 01:36:10,260
I think the positive legacy was that
2565
01:36:10,260 --> 01:36:13,385
if you have talent, if
you're prepared to work,
2566
01:36:13,385 --> 01:36:16,474
you can create a business
and it can be successful.
2567
01:36:16,474 --> 01:36:17,864
People always say,
2568
01:36:17,864 --> 01:36:20,239
remember how Suge started
his company from nothing?
2569
01:36:20,239 --> 01:36:21,372
We can do that.
2570
01:36:21,372 --> 01:36:22,701
We're gonna hear
2571
01:36:22,701 --> 01:36:24,017
this music forever.
2572
01:36:24,017 --> 01:36:26,450
It's gonna forever mark an era
2573
01:36:26,450 --> 01:36:28,990
in American culture and American history.
2574
01:36:28,990 --> 01:36:31,945
- Now, the sad part about
this whole thing is that
2575
01:36:31,945 --> 01:36:36,007
Jimmy Iovine and Ted
Fields sold Interscope
2576
01:36:36,007 --> 01:36:38,308
for $400 million.
2577
01:36:38,308 --> 01:36:40,159
I still have the articles.
2578
01:36:40,159 --> 01:36:41,472
Wall Street Journal.
2579
01:36:41,472 --> 01:36:44,235
It says, "Warners
2580
01:36:44,235 --> 01:36:47,282
"Ups Its Stake in Rap Music."
2581
01:36:47,282 --> 01:36:51,509
So what they were buying was Death Row.
2582
01:36:51,509 --> 01:36:55,376
They paid $400 million for it.
2583
01:36:55,376 --> 01:36:59,214
So Jimmy Iovine and Ted
Fields got $400 million.
2584
01:36:59,214 --> 01:37:01,454
Tupac's dead,
2585
01:37:01,454 --> 01:37:02,886
and Suge's in jail.
2586
01:37:02,886 --> 01:37:04,709
- Who's in jail?
2587
01:37:04,709 --> 01:37:06,666
Mike Harris,
2588
01:37:06,666 --> 01:37:08,995
Suge Knight.
2589
01:37:08,995 --> 01:37:12,250
Where's the money?
2590
01:37:12,250 --> 01:37:16,057
Who controls the money?
2591
01:37:16,057 --> 01:37:18,881
(laughing) What happened to the power
2592
01:37:18,881 --> 01:37:22,330
that all these black folks controlled?
2593
01:37:22,330 --> 01:37:24,629
- Death Row is the named party
2594
01:37:24,629 --> 01:37:26,691
in scores of lawsuits
2595
01:37:26,691 --> 01:37:28,542
over its financial management
2596
01:37:28,542 --> 01:37:30,095
and mismanagement
2597
01:37:30,095 --> 01:37:31,468
with the federal investigation.
2598
01:37:31,468 --> 01:37:33,799
They're looking into Suge's
dealing in Las Vegas.
2599
01:37:33,799 --> 01:37:36,059
They're looking into his
dealings with Michael Harris.
2600
01:37:43,998 --> 01:37:46,537
- Michael has an attempted
murder charge over his head
2601
01:37:46,537 --> 01:37:47,941
and a drug case over his head.
2602
01:37:47,941 --> 01:37:49,718
If the government offered Michael
2603
01:37:49,718 --> 01:37:52,389
an opportunity to get out
of jail to testify against
2604
01:37:52,389 --> 01:37:54,735
David Kenner or Suge Knight
2605
01:37:54,735 --> 01:37:56,781
or Andre Young or someone else,
2606
01:37:56,781 --> 01:37:58,991
there's a good chance that
Michael could take it.
2607
01:38:08,500 --> 01:38:10,396
- Suge, I would imagine,
2608
01:38:10,396 --> 01:38:15,039
in the minds of white corporate
American record business
2609
01:38:15,039 --> 01:38:17,445
had to be stopped.
2610
01:38:17,445 --> 01:38:19,162
He had to be stopped.
2611
01:38:19,162 --> 01:38:21,536
- When we start taking the money
2612
01:38:21,536 --> 01:38:23,685
that we make in the streets,
2613
01:38:23,685 --> 01:38:25,537
however we do it, if
it's hustling bottles,
2614
01:38:25,537 --> 01:38:26,703
selling bottle tops,
2615
01:38:26,703 --> 01:38:28,434
selling a bag of weed on the corner,
2616
01:38:28,434 --> 01:38:29,630
however we do it,
2617
01:38:29,630 --> 01:38:30,450
when we do it,
2618
01:38:30,450 --> 01:38:32,199
and we start realizing, you know what,
2619
01:38:32,199 --> 01:38:34,289
let me find something legal to do,
2620
01:38:34,289 --> 01:38:36,065
that's when it becomes a problem.
2621
01:38:36,065 --> 01:38:37,858
They don't want us legal.
2622
01:38:37,858 --> 01:38:38,829
They rather we,
2623
01:38:38,829 --> 01:38:40,038
'cause they feel like, you selling dope,
2624
01:38:40,038 --> 01:38:41,980
you ain't gon' never really get rich,
2625
01:38:41,980 --> 01:38:45,623
unless you the man sitting
next to the goddamn man.
2626
01:38:45,623 --> 01:38:48,162
It'll be hard to dig up and find
2627
01:38:48,162 --> 01:38:50,178
who started what
2628
01:38:50,178 --> 01:38:52,089
with what kind of legal money,
2629
01:38:52,089 --> 01:38:54,014
but they wouldn't wanna do that.
2630
01:38:54,014 --> 01:38:55,836
If they were to take Death Row
2631
01:38:55,836 --> 01:38:57,943
right now from Suge Knight,
2632
01:38:57,943 --> 01:38:59,838
what about Atlantic Group?
2633
01:38:59,838 --> 01:39:01,781
What about Interscope Records?
2634
01:39:01,781 --> 01:39:04,318
They made more money than Death Row did
2635
01:39:04,318 --> 01:39:05,424
off of Death Row.
2636
01:39:05,424 --> 01:39:07,469
If Death Row's founded by drug money
2637
01:39:07,469 --> 01:39:08,799
and Death Row made money,
2638
01:39:08,799 --> 01:39:09,739
Interscope made money,
2639
01:39:09,739 --> 01:39:10,890
Atlantic Group made money,
2640
01:39:10,890 --> 01:39:12,606
you take everybody record company.
2641
01:39:12,606 --> 01:39:14,843
You don't take just the black man's.
2642
01:39:17,087 --> 01:39:21,608
(hip-hop music)
192998
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