All language subtitles for American.Dream.American.Knightmare.

[MALE NEWS ANCHOR]
Breaking news out of LA.

A music industry mogul
under arrest

after a deadly hit-and-run.

[SIRENS BLARING]

Rap mogul, Suge Knight,
has been arrested.

Not just detained. Arrested.
Now accused of murder.

The arrest follows
a deadly crash

yesterday in Compton.

[MALE NEWS REPORTER]
They say the altercation

had started earlier
on the set of a movie.

The movie is called
Straight Outta Compton.

It's about
the rap group N.W.A.

[FEMALE NEWS REPORTER 1]
Knight turned himself in,

casually puffing on a cigar
as he made his way inside.

This will be a third-strikes
case against Knight.

If convicted,
Knight faces life in prison.

SUGE KNIGHT:
I started off with dreams.

If you come from that ghetto,
that's all you got, is a dream.

When I was in elementary school,

I mean,
I was in the third grade.

-ANTOINE FUQUA: Right.
-And they had career people.

They came up there
and they was like,

"Look, what you wanna be
when you grow up?"

So, I was like, "Shit.

-"I'm gonna be
a pro football player."
-FUQUA: Right.

So, they was like,
"Well, pick something else,

"'cause the chance of you
being a pro football player

"is, like, the same as
you seeing a black president.

"You will never in life
see a black president.

"If there ever be
a black president,

"maybe your kids' kids'

"kids' kids,
you'll be long-gone dead,

"but you'll never see
a black president."

-They used to say that to you?
-That's what they said to me.
So, I'm in elementary school

and I raised my hand again
and the teacher say,

"What do you want?"

I stood up. I said, "Fuck you."

And the teacher was like,

"See, that's why
you gotta go to the office."

I said, "Well, send me
to the office, bitch."

And they had
the career people there.

I said, "You know what?
Y'all telling this bullshit.

"They should fire
your motherfucking ass

"for shooting our
motherfucking dreams down."

I met my wife in
high school.

I was a football player,
and she was a cheerleader.

She was the one who really
pursued me and said...

I said, "I'm gonna get me
a football player.

"That's gonna be him."

-I had no choice.
-[CHUCKLING]

She was a little, pretty thing
back then, you know...

"Back then"? I'm not pretty now?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

So, you had the traditional
American family.

Yeah. My pops worked,

my mama stayed home
and was a housewife.

California was
the land of opportunity.

So my whole family
moved out here.

You know, growing up
in Compton, to me, was, like,

the best thing in the world.

People don't realize, you see,

Compton started off
with majority white.

When we first moved to Compton,

we were the only blacks
on the street.

So that first year,
of being in Compton

every morning,

I watched the stories,

I had some coffee,
had some toast with my mama.

-When I was four years old.
-[LAUGHS]

So my mama was making
her coffee,

shit, I was making me
some coffee.

She gave me some,
you know what I mean?

I probably had a lot of milk
and a lot of sugar,

-but, shit, I had
my coffee going, you know.
-[LAUGHING]

Chopping it up, being too grown.

And, you know,
I was real blessed.

I got great parents.

My old man told me I could do
any fucking thing I wanna do,

as long as I be the best at it.

My mother, shit, she let me do
whatever I wanna do.

-Right, right.
-As long as I don't lie to her.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

FUQUA: Selling the towels.

FUQUA: Right.

So, how old were you
the first time you ever
saw somebody get shot?

FUQUA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

FUQUA: Right, right, right.

Ba-rap.

I came from school one time,
there was a motherfucker there.

If they was dead, you know,
we'd check their pockets

and took their rings
and their watches.

But one time, you know,
we got, like, $5,500.

And me and my mama tight,
so, you know, I go home,
I tell my mama.

-She at least want half.
-[LAUGHING]

She'd go, "What? You took
this money from a dead man?

"Where's my cut?"

-You know what I mean?
-[LAUGHS]

FUQUA: Is that where
you got that ambition from?

SUGE: Yeah, I mean,
because, like...

If you come from the ghetto,

and you make it out that water,

you gotta be a cold-ass shark.

You gotta be
a fucked-up motherfucker.

If you make it out,

and you don't got
all the battle wounds,

and you're half-crazy
and on dope or something,

they figure you must be
a serious beast.

MARION KNIGHT SR.:
I loved football,

and I got him into football.

And I told him he could play
anything he wanted to play.

But you got to be rough.

You can't be a crybaby
and stuff, you know.

[CHUCKLES]

And he started off
in Pop Warner.

I knew he was gonna be
kind of rough

when an older kid
hit him really hard.

And I looked, "Oh!"
I thought, I know he ain't...

And he jumped on up, like,
nothing happen to him

and got back in there
and went on to do his thing.

I knew he was gonna be
kind of rough then,

when he kept playing.

SUGE: I used to go to practice
to see how many motherfuckers
I could hurt.

My own players.

If I had to punch
the linebacker,
I'd try to break his leg

-or his neck.
-[PLAYERS GRUNTING]

On the sidelines,
you see maybe, like,

-five hundred motherfuckers
or more.
-FUQUA: Right.

-They're at the practice.
-Right.

So you see the motherfuckers
coming out there,

you know, the running backs,

-they got a cute little bitch
with them or something, right?
-Right. Right.

I'm from Compton.
So, I'm, like, "Shit, nigga."

I could imagine their
little bitches and stuff
be cheering, "Go, go!"

And when I crack them...

[WHISTLE BLOWING]

I used to peel all the skin

off their fucking
motherfucking foreheads.

I could peel all the skin
off their helmet.

I used to have all this...

All this shit
all in my nails and shit.

Why did you do that?

Well, I felt like this.

I played defense,
they played offense.

-At that time,
they were my enemy.
-Right.

You got motherfuckers
trying to block me,

to make sure I don't
get to the running back.

And you got the running back
trying to score a touchdown

and make me look bad.

Whatever I had to do to win.
That's all I knew to do, is win.

Where'd that come from though,
Suge? Where did that come from?

Probably because,

when you're growing up,
you grow up in the ghetto,

everything's a competition.

They can't give everybody
something.

So, whoever wins
gets the reward.

FUQUA:
How do you navigate, Suge,

when you're a young dude,
the gang life?

When you grew up in Compton,

the neighborhood you grew up
was mostly what?

Pirus. Ain't no "mostly."

Either you were a Piru
or you were nothing.

Right.

-You were a Blood
or you were nothing.
-You were nothing.

You ain't gonna go
for nothing else,

you know, period,
not in that neighborhood.

SUGE: It didn't start off
where they were just saying,

"Okay, we're gonna start a gang

"and start
shooting motherfuckers."

But the Crips
were running around, like,

taking motherfuckers'
jackets and shoes.

So homies
put their shit together.

It was like,
protect the neighborhood.

So it started off by
protecting your neighborhood.

Said, "Okay, I don't care
what you got going over there,

"but you ain't gonna
do this shit over here
in our neighborhood."

I didn't have to be
part of a gang for protection.

I fucked with the homies
on the simple fact that...

Pssh.

'Cause I love my homies.

♪ Well, I'm Marion Knight
with the wavy hair

♪ I'm quick and fast
and always there

♪ I'll take on any O-lineman
what I know, yeah

♪ That's why they call him
the Sugar Bear! ♪

MALE COMMENTATOR:
Marion Knight, number 54!

And you can see his jubilation.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

He asked me which school
should he go to, you know.

I said, "I'm gonna support you,
either one you want to go.

"I don't care which one
you go, just, you know,

"you got to do your best
and make things happen."

But I was real happy
he got them scholarships.

MALE COMMENTATOR:
...Marion Knight.

That was the best time
of my life.

I would go to the game first

and then go gamble.

...with Marion Knight of
the two down linemen

in a very interesting defense.

MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
Marion Knight finally making
the stop on this play.

THOMAS KNIGHT: I thought
he was gonna be a ball player.
He was a good ball player.

He got with the Rams

you know, doing training camp
and stuff, you know, and...

I mean, he would
whoop everybody out there,

I mean, all of the pros.

You know,
they couldn't stop him.

So we just knew that
this guy's gonna...

He gonna make
the first-string squad.

And he played first-string
all through the pre-season.

Then when he got to, uh,
the season games,

they sat him down.
This, he's not used to.

He'd been playing first-string
ever since Pop Warner.

But he always told me,

"Pop, I know I'm good,
better than these guys.

"I know I'm better
than these guys.

"But they don't give me
any game time.

"They don't give me
a shot at it.

"They don't give me
a shot at it."

I said, "Man, you just
got to hang in there.

"Just don't give up.
Don't give up," you know.

But, uh, he couldn't
take it. Uh-uh.

"No, I'm gonna go ahead
and do something better."

Was it what you thought
it was gonna be, the NFL?

Hell, no.

The NFL is the worst
motherfucking place

in the world to be.

Why is that?

Because the NFL is like
a plantation for slaves.

They treat you like a kid.

Because when you're big,
it represents dumb.

-When you're big?
-No matter what. No matter what.

I walk in here
and people see me,
and they'll be like,

even when I was young,
they'll be like,

"Oh, man, that's a big
crazy motherfucker.

"He must be the bodyguard."

Shit, why do I gotta be
the bodyguard? I'm a CEO.

And then, the darker you are,

the more stupid
they think you are.

Because, I think,
you remind them of a slave.

I've had like,
conversations with people

who'd tell me, like,

"You're an African-American."

And I get pissed off.

I ain't no fucking
"African-American."

Africans don't even call
their motherfucking selves
"Africans."

If you look at an African,

if they're from Kenya,

they call themselves "Kenyans."

And then the motherfucker
tells me, he said,

"Well, your ancestors
were slaves."

I heard the fuck out of that.

How do you know my ancestors
weren't the slave owners?

Suge, with that mentality...

Suge, no, I get that,
but with that mentality...

Let me ask you this,
after college,
you did what as a job?

First thing I did,

-I went out there
to play some ball.
-Right.

After playing some ball,

like on the off-seasons,
even in college.

-Right.
-Off-seasons...

All the big shows, big concerts.

Were you just rolling
with them as an employee

or were you body guarding them?

-Shit.
-A little bit of both?

A little bit of everything.

There was times when, you know,

you got to get your hands dirty
on that road.

-FUQUA: What year was this?
-It's the '80s.

-FUQUA: The '80s right?
-Yeah.

From the artists?

My guys come to me.
They're like, "Shit, what's up?"

I said, "Shit,

"I'm bringing Compton
to this motherfucker."
You know what I mean?

Is that where you learned
the music game,

as far as the business,
through that experience?

I've seen guys
come up and be, like,

"Man, I got this hit song,"

and they give a demo
to an artist or the manager.

All of a sudden, somebody else
is singing that song,

and he's not getting no credits.

Or he sold it to them
for $1,000,

and it was worth half-a-million.

So the first thing I did was
I started a publishing company.

You started
a publishing company?

-By yourself?
-By myself.

You just took your own cash?

I took my own cash and started
this publishing company.

So, I didn't have writers.

Once, I'm lying on the couch,
and I hear this song.

♪ Ice Ice Baby ♪

So, I hear that...
[HUMMING TUNE OF ICE ICE BABY]

He's dancing in the video,

and, shit, I'm dancing, too.

When they're singing,
Ice Ice Baby.

I'm like, "Shit, money, money."

-"Shit, I'm gonna make money."
That's my song!
-That was your song?

That was one of your artists?

So, that was my first experience
with the music business,

because when I first called
these motherfuckers

about my bread,

they basically told me,
"Fuck me."

When you called, uh,
Vanilla Ice?

So, your artist...
What's his name,
the artist who wrote that?

♪ Ice Ice Baby ♪

BRIAN ROSS:
Who is Mario La Vell Johnson?

His name is listed.

That's the guy that Suge Knight
brought over there,

that is an acquaintance
of mine

that had nothing to do
with that song.

-And you signed over the rights?
-Signed over the rights to him.

So that Suge and them
could get paid for it.

ROSS:
So Mario La Vell Johnson
didn't write that song?

VANILLA: No way.

Suge roughed
one of my bodyguards up.

They roughed everybody else
in my whole entourage up.

Suge took me
out on the balcony,

started talking to me
personally.

-ROSS: On the balcony?
-On the balcony.

ROSS: High above?

VANILLA: Like, 15 floors.

He had me look over the edge.

He showed me how high
I was up there.

-Were you scared?
-[SCOFFS]

[CHUCKLES]

I needed to wear a diaper
on that day.

I was very scared.

ROSS: How much were
those points worth?

Three or four million dollars.

SUGE: Never happened.

-You didn't take him out
to the balcony?
-No, I did not.

-It never happened?
-Never happened.

-He's afraid of you.
-He shouldn't be afraid of me.

'Cause I can make him a star.

-You can make him a star?
-Exactly.

I remember the first time
I got a big check.

I wasn't gonna give
the bank my check

until they showed me some money.

So I talked to the clerk.

I talked to
the assistant manager,
I talked to the manager.

"Show me some money.
I wanna see some shit.

"If I'm gonna give you
my motherfucking check,

"I want to see some money."

They're like,
"Man, we don't do that."

"I'm from Compton, I don't
care about anybody else.

"I wanna see the money.

"Let me see
how all that money looks."

-[LAUGHS]
-They took me to the back,

opened the vault.
I seen that money.

I put my change in there,
and I felt like... [EXHALES]

Anybody need any help,
I got you. I'm rich.

MAN: Yo!

Dude, I wanna tell you
about a little history
that they just made.

Their album Niggaz4Life
debuted at number two.

Only artist to do that
before them

was Michael Jackson.

And the next week,
guess where they went.

Number one. Straight to the top.

Number one pop album in America.

N.W.A, Niggaz Wit Attitude.

What does that all mean,
you know?

Look, Niggaz4Life started out...

We got the title because,
you know, we niggas,

ignorant brothers out here,

trying to make a dollar,
you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, but how ignorant is N.W.A?

Come on, G,
y'all went to number one.

You got a billboard
on Sunset Boulevard.

What's up with all that, man?

It don't mean nothing
till you get them dollars.

SUGE: I was managing Andre.

-FUQUA: Dr. Dre?
-Yeah.

FUQUA: And what was
the manager's name?

-Jerry Heller?
-SUGE: Jerry Heller.

Wasn't that supposed to be
Eazy-E's company?

SUGE:
It was Eazy's company.

Jerry would take
20% off the top.

And he added himself
as a group member.

FUQUA:
A group member to N.W.A?

You said,
"If I stole from these guys,

"why did they never sue me?"

Nobody ever sued, so obviously

they were just using it
as an excuse in...

In Compton or wherever,

to say, "You know, we got rid of
the white guy, you know,

"because he was helping Eazy
steal or whatever."

But nobody ever sued me
and nobody ever sued him.

So, obviously it was
all bullshit.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

I turned him down.

Instead of Dre being there,
Suge Knight was there,
and guys in black jackets

with lead pipes
and baseball bats.

And forced him,
under threat of his life,

and telling him that
they would kill his mother,

and that they were
holding me hostage.

Under those kinds of duress,

got him to sign releases
for Dr. Dre.

You know, he probably
cost me personally,

like $25 or 30 million,
you know?

MALE INTERVIEWER: Eazy said
y'all came at him with bats,

-you know what I'm saying?
-No, man.

Swinging and all that
whole thing,

you know what I'm saying?

Dr. Dre came that way at Eazy-E,
know what I'm saying?

Is that the way
you got him to sign...

I don't know
what he's talking about.

SUGE: Force can get you
in the door.

Brain is gonna keep you there
to be able to create
and do something.

'Cause if you force somebody
to do something...

If you're a dummy,
how would you know

if they're giving you
a great deal?

FUQUA: How did you create
the name "Death Row"?

We were just trying to
come up with a name
for the record label.

Andre was like,
"I got the perfect name
for the company."

"What you got?"

"Future Shock."

A guy named Unknown was like,

"Russell and them got Def Jam.
What if it was like

"Deaf Row, but like 'deaf,'
you can't hear?"

I was like, "Look, we ain't
no kids around here.

"We ain't Hollywood.

"Motherfucker,
we still in the ghetto.

"We're gonna do some shit
where it's 'Death Row.'

"Like the real death row,

"the electric chair
type of shit."

So that's when it really
became officially Death Row.

MALE EMCEE: Let me see
you put your hands together
and say, "Oh, yeah."

CROWD: Oh, yeah.

Let me see somebody
give Dre, Suge,

DOC, a round of applause.

Death Row Records is gonna be
the record company of the 2000s.

Put your hands together!

-Come on, y'all,
make some noise.
-[APPLAUDING AND CHEERING]

MALE INTERVIEWER: You just
recently bought a studio.

What did you do
to get where you are now?

Work hard. Hard work.

I started on a 4-track
in a garage in Compton.

Dr. Dre was gonna do
his own thing.

And with a lot of help from
Suge Knight and Harry O,

and a number of people
and we got it all together.

SUGE: I get DOC, I get Snoop.

DOC: Death Row is capable

of totally annihilating

any other label
in this music business,

but we ain't like that.
[LAUGHS]

We got the best producers,
we got the best artists.

And we were getting
the talent off the streets
that they can't get.

There's a lot of talent around.

Guys who didn't have
the opportunity

to have a chance
to prove themselves.

As far as GF Entertainment goes,

with the studio and the films,

we're giving all the youngsters
the opportunity,

from all the neighborhoods.

Well, basically,
we haven't forgotten
where we came from.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

See, that's the time we were
putting some music out.

Most of the shit
we were talking about

had something to do
with the troops or the riots.

You know,
shit that was really going on.

[PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

[DR. DRE RAPPING]

MAN: This guy is
laying in the street.

Hit the siren, Doug.

[SIREN BLARING]

I was raised like...

Music, it was like
the struggle of the slaves,

the struggle of the blues,

the struggle of depression.

So, when I got of age,

we weren't about
the struggle of depression

and crying out for help.

We were about saying,

"Fuck you,
we're taking this and...

"This bitch over here..."

And people were cussing
on the records

and saying the fuck
what they wanna say,

and expressing themselves.

[DR. DRE RAPPING]

♪ Yeah, and you don't stop ♪

[SNOOP DOGG RAPPING]

FUQUA: So,
you got your label going,
you got your money

from the soundtrack.
So how did you meet Jimmy?

SUGE: So we go to
the meeting with Interscope.

I said, "I'm gonna get you
the best song
for the summer.

I said, "Better yet,
the best song
for the whole year.

"And I got an album done,
I got a record label.

"The album's called
The Chronic."

They're like,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

So I play 'G' Thang for them.

Jimmy and the rest
of those dudes said

it was the worst song ever.
"Oh, this is not a hit song."

I tell Andre, "Let's go."
So we pushed.

So I take the song to radio.

The song is everywhere,
it's blowing up.

-And then they want
the song back.
-Right.

They say, "We wanna meet."

I met with Ted and Jimmy
and they told me

they didn't wanna mess with
no R&B, hip-hop, rap music,

because they basically
flat-out said, you know,

"Black motherfuckers
is headaches

-"and we don't like
dealing with them."
-Right.

I said, "All right, well,
maybe you shouldn't."

"That's why
I'm dealing with them."

I said, "Because we're
from the same place.

"You're saying
you don't like them,

"you don't know them,

"how could you understand them?"

I said,
"Shit, but the way you say it,

"we're not talking about like,
we monkeys or something.

-Right.
-"You guys are fucked up.

"It's not animals,
this is real people."

We had that bomb-ass music
for that ass.

That sounds good.

People talking about stuff

that they really
identify stuff with.

You got a record
where a song playing...

If it was 'G' Thang
or something like that,

it makes you feel like, "Shit,

"we got hope around
this motherfucker."

MALE NEWS REPORTER 1: Bloods
and Crips, some 100,000 strong

may turn their anger about
the Rodney King verdict

into peace.

The message rose through
the smoke and flames.

Gang graffiti never seen before.

A plea, a call for unity.

MALE NEWS REPORTER 2:
In the past, the mere sight

of their rival gang's colors,

red for Bloods, blue for Crips,

could trigger deadly violence.

FUQUA: What about
the gang affiliations

that everybody
was talking about,
Death Row with the Blood?

Homies who got red rags on
got their red rags on.

Homies, you know,
they wear blue.

Snoop and the Dogg Pound,
they got their blue rags.

It was about the most
powerful movement

that ended up in a negative way.

But it was spreading
all over the world,

it's like gang banging.

Red and blue.

Getting real money.

There ain't no shooting,
there ain't no violence.

I really enjoyed that shit
when the peace treaty was on.

Actually going to
Blood neighborhoods,

having smoke-outs,
chilling at picnics.

That was a feeling that
a motherfucker can't explain.

Everybody was accepting
everybody for what they was,

not for where they were from.

You could still wear
your gang colors.

You know what I'm saying?
You still from this,
you still from that.

It don't matter.

And everybody was black
at that moment,

you know what I'm saying?

Snoop and Dre made
Soul Train tonight.

But Death Row still got
some time to do this

for Dre and Death Row
and everybody.

We gave our own awards out.

Everybody, we got an award
for Dre for Best Producer,

Best Artist,

best motherfucker around here.

[ALL LAUGHING]

Hey! And he ain't no
Captain Save-a-Ho, either.

[ALL LAUGHING]

Here it is. Snoop Dogg
got the Pimp Award.

"Pimp of the Year."
My bitch better have my money.

MAN: Snoop Dogg!

MALE EMCEE:
Come on, nigga, get up.

MAN: Give a speech and shit.

Let me give a shout-out
to all the new talent
on Death Row.

Just a few things
I think are proper

with Death Row, the new artists.

We're gonna make room
for everybody.

So everybody can come up here
and get one of these next year.

There's enough room
for everybody,
you know what I'm saying?

I would take artists
on Death Row

and make them a household name

before they even put
a record out.

Like, everybody knew
who Danny Boy was,
and he didn't have a record out.

Everybody knew who Jewell was,
and she didn't have
a record out.

Or the Dogg Pound, or Nate.
You know.

FUQUA: Explain to me
how you worked.

I go to the studio
from beginning to end.

And once I hear them
and once we do the song,

then it's all about
picking the best song.

For me, I picked
the best song for radio.

At first, in rap music,

if they were getting 5%,
they got 10% airplay,

they popped champagne
and had a party.

So when I told them
I was bringing people in

to do radio,
specialize in radio,

they said, "Don't do it,
it won't work."

I damn near had
100% of the music

playing on the radio
was my shit.

How do you do that?

-Well, I can't tell
everybody that. [LAUGHS]
-I got you.

I mean, 'cause you know,
they say it's called
payola or something.

-You make good music.
-Yeah.

FUQUA: There's a lot of
stories about Death Row

and how it was run from
the inside. They had a, uh...

They said there was
a "red room."

And a lot of people
said that, basically,

if you came in there
wanting a record deal,

then you were gonna rap,

and you'd rap right there
on the floor.

If it was garbage,
you got a beat-down.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER:
22-year-old Snoop Doggy Dogg

will be arraigned
later this week
on murder charges.

MALE JUDGE: What is
your plea at this time?

Not guilty.

SUGE: Snoop was supposed
to go to prison

for the rest of his life.

Well, I laid the money out
to fight Snoop's case,

when he have no songs done.

If we had lost, he would have
been gone to prison

for the rest of his life,
and that's it.

You know, that was my people.

So I didn't wanna see
this nigga go to jail

for the rest of his life,
or anybody else.

So I did whatever I had to do
to put my money to use

and make sure
he didn't go to prison.

And before that,

I stopped Andre from
going to prison three times.

So, we paid all that money,

worked out a little deal,
worked out the situation,

where he had to go
to county jail for a minute.

Nate Dogg had damn near

five Taco Bell robberies
on camera.

FUQUA: He was on camera
five times robbing Taco Bells?

Taco Bells. I paid a quarter
of a million dollars

to get the shit beat
so he wouldn't go to prison.

Everybody had their situations

where they were supposed to
go to prison and nobody went.

When I made it,
when I got some money...

Shit. You best believe
I couldn't wait

to do something back
and give something back.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

And one of the things that
I felt was really important.

Everybody have opportunity.

A lot of artists come from
the same place
you guys came from.

The same place I came from.

Death Row Records held
its annual turkey giveaway,

with the compliments of
Death Row co-founder,

Suge Knight.

Hundreds of turkeys
were handed out

at the parking lot of
the Compton Fashion Center.

MALE NEWS REPORTER:
Death Row Records played
Santa Claus today

to children at
the Martin Luther King
Junior/Drew Medical Center.

Meanwhile, in Beverly Hills,
some 600 single mothers

and their children from LA's
urban neighborhoods

were treated to a feast,

courtesy of Death Row Records.

MAXINE KNIGHT: I didn't know
where the money at.

Then he started giving me money.

KNIGHT SR.: Buying you cars.

He bought me cars all the time.

I wanted some kind of van.

He said,
"No, my momma got class.

"I think you should have
a Cadillac."

Then I fell in love with
the Cadillac.

He liked to come back
to the hood, you know.

And nothing but trouble
in the hood. We all know that.

He liked to socialize with
the guys and stuff like that,

but when you're up
in that bracket

you just can't, uh...
You just can't come back

and sit on the corner.

You know what I'm saying?

[PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

[INAUDIBLE]

[MALE INTERVIEWER SPEAKING]

MALE REPORTER:
Snoop Doggy Dogg's album,
Doggystyle,

has already sold advanced orders
of two million.

Released last Monday,
it sold out immediately.

It's the first debut album ever
to enter the charts
at number one.

MALE REPORTER 2:
We're here at Tower Records,

where this is really
the hottest album
on the shelves right now.

[HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING]

FUQUA: Do you feel like
some of these artists

are portraying themselves

as these characters
they grew up with in movies?

[SUGE SPEAKING]

Right. What's your
favorite movie?

Bugsy. Bugsy Siegel.

-Bugsy Siegel.
-Yeah.

-Tell me why.
-Bugsy was Jewish.

Right, yeah.

And you know, I'm not hatin',
but I'm pretty much,
like, Jewish also.

I just don't want to be
a part of the American dream,

I want to own
the American dream.

[LAUGHS] So, you know...

That's why I feel like,
you know, I'm Jewish.

Like Bugsy Siegel was Jewish,

-but he was running
with the Italians.
-Right.

He was airing motherfuckers out
like he was Italian.

As far as
shooting 'em in the dome,
taking their birthdays.

Right. But he went out,
violently.

-[GUNS FIRING]
-[GLASS SHATTERING]

I like Scarface, though.

Scarface was like,
he learned a lot...

What I learned about Scarface
is that

I take it from a different view,
you know what I mean?

I think it was about
a motherfucker having faith

and believing in himself.

If you believe
you can do better,
you can do better.

And that's what Scarface
was about.

I'm Scarface without the drugs,

and without the motherfucker
getting killed at the end.

[GUN FIRES]

FUQUA: There's a lot
of speculation about,

at that time, the way
most companies got started

in the rap game was through
drug-dealing and all that.

What's your thoughts on that?

Why do you think a lot
of people view Death Row

as a criminal enterprise

as opposed to a record company?

Competition.

You know,
before I started the business,

everybody pretty much done
what they was told.

So, when I decided to
come in and start a label,

where it was owned
by the person

who started the company

and it was black-owned,
people had a problem with it.

Instead of them telling them,
you know,

that I work harder than them,
I'm smarter than them,

they told them I turn around
and I intimidate motherfuckers.

FUQUA:
Some people say you ran
Death Row like a cartel.

Our company
and our organization,

our empire was like
their empire.

Our empire was not ran by a man

who started off on third base
and thought he hit a triple.

You know, I come straight
from the bottom of Compton.

Only thing different was

I was selling music
instead of drugs.

But, as far as being aggressive,

I probably was more aggressive
than some of those dudes,

because I believed
in the business,
I believed in the vision.

So when it came down to it,

I felt I would do
anything and everything

to make sure the people
on my team win.

Make sure these babies get fed.

[SNOOP DOGG SPEAKING]

FUQUA: How'd the whole
East Coast/West Coast conflict
even start?

SUGE: I don't think
there never was no

East Coast/West Coast

-shit like that.
-Right.

SUGE: At one point in time,
when you really look at it,

it was two individuals
who bumped heads.

They started off friends
and they bumped heads.

Me and Puffy, we used to
run around with each other.

You know, we'd hang out.
Went to clubs and shit.

And it was way back different
then, you know.

He was getting in the business,
I was in the business.

So he got at me by...
When he first started
his first album,

when he did that first project
with Biggie...

MAN 1: Open C-74! Smalls!

MAN 2: Mr. Smalls,
let me walk you to the door.

SUGE: Me and Puffy,
we was friends.

How it really got out of hand,
is that the Source Awards.

MAN: Now I lay me down
to sleep

Pray the Lord, my soul to keep

And if I should die
before I wake

I pray to God
I die a Bad Boy.

I live in the east
and I'm gonna die in the east.

MAN 2: Yeah! Yeah!

♪ Grab your d...
if you love hip-hop

♪ Rub your...
if you love Big Poppa ♪

-Everybody performed.
-Right.

And then we performed.

[AUDIENCE CHEERING]

Come on, New York!

♪ Yeah! As I look up
at the sky

♪ My mind starts tripping
a tear drops my eye ♪

-FUQUA: Right.
-Back in the years before,

nobody had no respect
for the west.

So, as they're going up there,
they're so used to booing them

and going crazy on them.
You know what I'm saying?

So even when they went
to get their award...

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]

What's up, baby? Yeah!

In the house.

-What?
-Wait, wait, wait!

The East Coast don't love
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?

[AUDIENCE SHOUTING
INDISTINCTLY]

The East Coast
ain't got no love

for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?
And Death Row?

We know y'all East Coast.
We know...we at.

Y'all don't love us?

DR. DRE: Check it out.

I got to give a shout-out
to my homie, Big Suge,

for paving the way
so I can make my music.

Shout-out to everybody
at Death Row once again.

And we out.

When I went up there
and grabbed the award,

and I basically told
the motherfuckers the truth.

Second of all, I'd like
to thank my whole,
entire Death Row family.

On both sides,

-you know what I'm saying?
-SNOOP DOGG: West side, baby!

SUGE: And one other thing
I'd like to say.

Any artist out there
who wanna be an artist,

and wanna stay a star,

and don't wanna
have to worry about
the executive producer

trying to be all in the videos,

all on the record, dancing,
come to Death Row.

[AUDIENCE CHEERING]

If you're an executive
and you're on the business side,

-be on the business side.
-Right.

Don't turn around
and be in a nigga's video.

Don't turn around
and hop on their record.

-Let the artist be the artist.
-Right.

I'm the executive producer
that a comment was made about

a little bit earlier. But...
Check this out.

Contrary to what
other people may feel,

I would like to say

that I'm very proud of Dr. Dre,

of Death Row and Suge Knight
for their accomplishments.

They want the fame,
they don't want the money.

I'm the only nigga
who wants the money.

They want the fame.

Period.

Like to tell Tupac
to keep his guards up.

We ride with him.

TUPAC: The police violence
against us.

That's making us crazy.
That's what's making us
kill each other.

'Cause we really want to
kill the police,

but we're scared,
so we kill each other.

You know, we got guns.

We're just scared to shoot
the motherfuckers
that's doing it to us.

Rapper and actor, Tupac Shakur,

has been arrested in Atlanta

for allegedly shooting
two off-duty police officers.

You can't survive out here
by yourself.

The police ain't nothing
but a gang.

The National Guard is a gang.
The Army is a gang.

We learn all our gang shit
from the government.

MALE NEWS REPORTER:
The rap music artist,
Tupac Shakur

says he's getting a bum rap
in New York City,

where he is now accused
of sexual abuse.

I grew up Panther-wise,
you know what I'm saying?

Nowadays, a nigga like,
"Fuck that,"

'cause you've got to survive.

You know, I'm screaming
"Black" like the next man,

but when the first shot
lick off,

you know, it's all good.

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER:
Rap musician, Tupac Shakur,

is hospitalized
with gunshot wounds
in the head and groin,

suffered in an apparent
robbery attempt.

MALE NEWS REPORTER:
Shakur was shot in the head

and groin outside a New York
recording studio.

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER:
Shakur's expected
to make a full recovery.

Excuse us through. Excuse us,
excuse us, excuse us.

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER 2:
Tupac Shakur has been
sentenced to a maximum of

four-and-a-half years
in prison.

The state judge
in New York condemned

the 23-year-old rapper

for the crimes
he said had escalated

as Shakur's career progressed.

MALE NEWS REPORTER:
In a recent interview
from behind bars,

rapper and actor, Tupac Shakur,

has accused rappers Puff Daddy
and Notorious B.I.G.,

of involvement
in his New York shooting.

You were on house arrest
while this was going on?

Rapper, actor,
and sex-abuse convict,
Tupac Shakur,

walked out of a New York jail
last week.

Bailed out to the tune
of $1.4 million

by Suge Knight
of Death Row Records,

which has signed Shakur
to a record deal.

When I got Pac out,
it was like, "Okay, look."

I said, "I'm gonna be
working on these songs."

I said, "You don't got to do it.

"If you want to be on Death Row,
you got to work.

"And it's immediate work."

Pac looked at me and said,

"Man, this all
I've ever been waiting for.

"To be in a situation
to fuck with you,

"and I can go into the studio
as much as I want to."

He said, "Man, you know how
hard it is to go to a studio?

"God, they had me begging
to find a studio to go to.

"Then there'd be
some bullshit."

He said, "Man, y'all be having
your artist shit right."

I said, "Shit. 24 hours,
you can go to the studio
as much as you want."

-You left the studio open?
-Twenty-four hours.

It's a lot of money.

Two rooms out of my money.

♪ Out on bail, fresh outta jail

♪ California dreaming

♪ Soon as I step on the scene

♪ I'm hearing hoochies
screaming

♪ Fiending for money
and alcohol

♪ The life
of a West Side player

♪ Where cowards die
and the strong ball ♪

Nobody ever thought about doing
a double CD

on a rap album, but me.

I was the first one
who thought of that.

Pac wanted to name
his album Euthanasia,

meaning "life after death."

I wanted to name it,
All Eyez On Me.

And I named it
All Eyez On Me.

FUQUA:
What did you see in Tupac?

What did you see in him
that made you know

-he was that talented?
-Shit.

I seen myself.
I seen me in Pac.

And anytime you get
to a certain level,

when you're dealing with men
on a certain level who got...

If they're good friends,

they got a lot of things
in common.

I could tell that Pac was down.

But you could tell
he ain't never had no real love.

Like, no real homie love.

He ain't never had no homies.

[AUDIENCE CHEERING]

SUGE: I had confidence
in our squad.

And everybody did their part.

So you need a team.

If it's really gonna be tight,
you're gonna need a family.

And at that point,
we were a family.

For us, a Death Row family.

-Death Row.
-MAN: Death Row.

West Coast at its finest.

Niggas better not
wanna see this!

West Coast at its finest.

Pac was like,

"Look, I go to New York,
I go to the studio.

"These niggas set me up
and shot me. Period."

I was like,
"Shit, you're with us.

"Your friends are my friends.
Your enemies are my enemies."

Niggas shot me five times.

I came out of jail
and sold five million.

Them niggas can't fuck with us.

That's how we do it.

You know the playas
are on the west side.

Fuck that "peace" shit.

I ain't even trying to
make peace. Fuck them all.

The playas are on this side.

Pac was saying,

"They set me up at the studio.

"They shot me, they robbed me,
blah, blah, blah," right?

He didn't say it in code.

Shit, Pac called out names.

When they say something to us,

we wanna make sure we mash
their ass like we did Biggie.

See that nigga quiet
as a fucking church mouse.

Dropped Hit 'Em Up,
that nigga quiet as fuck.

He ain't got shit to say.

His wife's pregnant,
that nigga is waiting like

an expectant father
not knowing whose the baby is.

The world don't know I used
a rubber, so it ain't mine.

I'll tell you straight.

I didn't wanna fuck
that fat bitch, no way.

But you know
that's the secret to war.

He's my enemy,
so she looked all right.

Fat motherfucker, Biggie,
came in a gang

gonna try to cross a nigga.

Them niggas don't know.

They gangbang in LA.
They love fighting.

MAN: Killing and shooting.

Niggas trying to play
that gangsta shit,

but we MOB
for motherfucking real.

Every nigga on the road
got strikes and shit.

I see Biggie throwing up this.

Biggie don't know nothing
about no gang signs.

Why does the nigga keep
throwing up gang signs?

Be careful, homie.

All you fake brand-ass niggas,
you've got to be careful,

'cause it's very dangerous
out here.

You can do that little
set-me-up in the studio

and shit in New York.

But in California, nigga,
that's where the Gs ride.

MALE INTERVIEWER: If any,
what pressure do you feel

without Dre?

I mean,
it's a lot of pressure,

but this label was built
on the fact that

Snoop Dogg was tight,

Daz was tight,
Nate Dogg was tight,
Kurupt was tight.

Dre fell off and not here
no more,

and it's hurting us a whole lot,

but the push is that we've
got to keep everything going

because that's what
it all started from,

us having belief in ourselves

and knowing that we could do
with or without anybody.

So, just keeping that push alive

and keeping the dream alive
on Death Row.

TUPAC: Ain't no other
record company out there

that sold as many records
as we did.

We outsold Bad Boy, LaFace,

every black record label
out there,

we outsold them in one year.

And I'm a convict,
and my homeboy
just got off a murder case.

So that tells you
that it's pure talent.

No hype, we don't got no
all-American smiles.

They don't even
wanna buy our records.

But they gotta buy our records
'cause we represent the street.

We were in Maui,
you know what I mean,

and Pac had never been to Maui
or Hawaii or just a vacation.

He get to talking about
faking his own death.

No, no, no. Where he at?

[GUNS FIRING]

And Pac was more down
for doing, like,

the last little videos and shit

of him dying and all in white,
you know what I'm saying,

with Redd Foxx and everybody
like that, right?

Man, I've been struggling,
trying to get in here
a long time.

You're gonna have to
earn your way.

Sure hope you can make it.

I'm gonna try. Thanks a lot.

SUGE: We had this situation.

Pac wouldn't even go
and do his shit

if I didn't come and be there
on time for the video shoot.

He wouldn't go on.

He's cussing everybody out.

With this particular video,
he was like,

"Man, what's up, right?"

But I felt like

he was talking about his shit.

Our dreams and our futures

built together
that we planned on doing.

So if you're talking about
not being here, losing your life

in one of these
motherfucking videos,

or you're dead and shit...

I'm like, "Shit,
I won't be at that video.

"Just like if something
really happened to you, nigga,

"I ain't gonna be there
with motherfucking tears

"in my motherfucking eyes.

"I'm gonna be there
motherfucking, like, shit...

"Still pushing for you."

MALE ANNOUNCER: Please welcome
the former undisputed

heavyweight champion
of the world.

Introducing the one and only

"Iron" Mike Tyson.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

COMMENTATOR: And down goes
Bruce Seldon!

COMMENTATOR:
Tyson with a left hook

and Seldon is down on his...

SUGE: So, you know...

This my little brother.

He pushing that MOB.

I'm gonna you down there
and tell you step by step.

I'll show you exactly what
we started from

and where we ended up at

that Saturday night.

We're in this middle lane.
We've got, like, 20 cars.

As we're getting right up
to this point right here...

[GUNS FIRING]

They wanted to search us
and shit.

So when the ambulance
finally came,

I'm like, "Hey, get him
out of the motherfucking car."

The police
were jamming me up, too.

So, they didn't know how to
take the seat belt off,

-because it was that new shit.
-Right.

So, I'm like, "Hold up, man."

I had to go in and show them
how to take the seat belt off.

Tupac was cool, laughing. He was
like, "Man, you could tell

"y'all are some broke
motherfuckers.

"Y'all don't know how to take
no expensive seat belts off."

He said, "If the motherfucker
was in a Honda,

"you'd have me
out of the car already."

He was laughing and shit,
you know what I'm saying?

We both
were going to the hospital.

We laughed and joked
the whole way.

He looked at me and was like,
"Man, Simon, sweaty-head.

"You need to be at
the hospital faster than me,

"you're bleeding
all out of your head and shit.

"How could you see with blood
all in your eyes?" Right?

So we start laughing.

On the television,

they never said
that my son was shot.

They only said Tupac.

And when Suge got shot,

he was trying to protect Tupac.

COSTELLO KNIGHT: My daughter
called me that night.

I was in Compton, California.
I was at home.

When she called me, she said,
"Suge just got shot."

And Tupac.

I jumped straight up
out of the bed,
started putting on my clothes.

I was going to Las Vegas,
right then.

They called me back and told me
that he was gonna be all right,

but Tupac had a problem.

[SIRENS BLARING IN DISTANCE]

FEMALE REPORTER:
Rap artist Tupac Shakur

has succumbed to bullet wounds
and died at the age of 25.

MALE REPORTER: Doctors at
University Medical Center
in Las Vegas

say Shakur's heart
and respiratory system

simply were overtaxed,

by the devastating
gunshot wounds

and now Shakur has died

before detectives could
even try to speak to him.

FUQUA: A lot of people
said that, uh,

or think that you had something
to do with Tupac's murder.

I'm the only person that lost
when Pac moved on.

Not only did I lose the idea

of a friend you can have

or a little brother
you can have.

Pac was one of those
incredible artists that,

I know for a fact, he's worth
way more alive than dead.

[SUGE RETCHING]

FUQUA: Where and why
do you think people say

Pac wanted to leave Death Row
and that's why he was killed?

Where do you think
those rumors came from?

Why? Because of
the motherfuckers
who feared Pac the most.

Probably just competition.

When Jimmy Iovine
heard or thought
that Pac was dead, right,

the first thing he said was,

He said, "You're lucky as fuck.
You done hit the jackpot."

MAN: There were some shootings
approximately 12 in nature,

that we believe may possibly
have been retaliatory

for the incident
that occurred in Las Vegas.

MAN 2: Some of the motivation

for some of the shootings
in the city of Compton

may have been retaliation

for events that occurred
in the city of Las Vegas

on September 7, 1996.

Las Vegas police department
has not announced any suspect

in the Tupac Shakur shooting.

MALE REPORTER: For the
second time in six months,

real-life violence has taken
the life of a rap star.

Twenty-four-year-old
Notorious B.I.G.,

gunned down
in a drive-by shooting

outside a music industry party
in LA, early Sunday.

MALE REPORTER 2: Speculation
that it was a result

of a longstanding
East Coast/West Coast feud
among rap artists.

MALE REPORTER 3:
Biggie's death comes almost
exactly six months

after the drive-by slaying
of his arch-rival

even more popular rap star,
Tupac Shakur, in Las Vegas.

FUQUA: Right. Now some
people say that you had

Biggie murdered
because of Pac's murder.

[SUGE SPEAKING]

When it's something about me
they push the envelope.

Try to destroy me.

But it turns on the next man
who is really guilty
of something.

According to the facts,

there's not one thing
being said.

From that day on,
it changed a lot of shit.

It changed the fact that
they made it their mission,

basically, to try to destroy us.

FEMALE REPORTER:
Now, Los Angeles prosecutors

claim Suge Knight
was also in the group

kicking a man on the ground.

Did Knight take part
in this fight?

If so, it would be a violation

of the Death Row Record
executive's probation

on a 1995 assault charge.

PROSECUTOR:
Did you punch anybody
during that altercation?

No, sir.

PROSECUTOR:
Did you kick anybody
during that altercation?

Absolutely not.

KNIGHT Sr.:
I noticed the judge,

like, he wasn't interested
in what everybody was saying,
you know?

-And, uh...
-He had already
made up his mind.

When I first went to court,
I had five lawyers.

And one of those lawyers
has been the mayor
for Las Vegas forever.

I gave them
five million dollars.

So I had five lawyers,
I spent five million dollars,

and then the judge looked at me

and gave me
nine motherfucking years.

FUQUA: Because you didn't
show remorse.

SUGE: I didn't show remorse.

He told me he watched the tape
92, 98 times.

Still couldn't see that
I did nothing,

but I didn't show no remorse.

He wanted me
to shed a tear or something,

but I just didn't have it
in me, or I didn't mean it.

What happened today
is a reaction

to the overall general animosity

that appears to exist in the
law-enforcement community

with regard to
Mr. Knight's record label,

Death Row Records,

and with regard to
a variety of his artists.

The judge asked Suge,

"Do you have anything to say,
Mr. Knight?"

Suge said, "No.

"I walked in here like a man

"and I'm gonna
walk out like a man."

If I could do it all over again,

I would've walked in
the courtroom,

with no lawyer,

no public defender,
none of that.

Looked at him and said,
"Okay, Your Honor,

"I know you're gonna
fuck over me,

"but let me see
how far I can piss?"

And I would have
whipped my shit out

-and tried to pee on him.
-Right.

Only thing different is,

I'd have had
five million dollars
in my pocket

instead of paying the lawyers
that made me get nine years.

I started off with dreams.

You come from that ghetto,
that's all you got, is a dream.

But you know,
if you believe enough,

that dream becomes your reality.

But if you dream too much,

that dream
becomes your nightmare.

And if you take advantage
of the power,

God will take it from you.

SUGE: I was so glad
to get in that motherfucker
and get me some rest.

It was a good thing.

You know, before I went
to the penitentiary,

I never slept in a bed alone.

If it weren't one bitch,
it was five bitches.

Have you ever slept in a bed
with seven, eight bitches
at once? Just you?

How could you fucking sleep?

Every time you doze off,

there's somebody
sucking on your toes,
licking on your balls

and trying to wake you
the fuck up.

So, it was good for some rest,

but prison gave me
the opportunity

to see shit that
you normally don't see.

I had the right
to live like a beast.

When you open those
motherfucking doors

and those gates
in that motherfucking jail,
when I hit that yard,

it's up to me if I want to
slap the shit

out of a motherfucker,
kick him up his ass,

stab him or have him stabbed.

You take me from everything
that I've built.

You take me from everything
you think I care about.

You put me in a cell.

There's no housekeeping
in that motherfucker.

I had to get down
and keep scrubbing

because I ain't gonna have

no dirty-ass
motherfucking cell.

So prison really taught me
how to be self-sufficient.

Prison, it really helped me
in a motherfucking way.

I stood up for these niggas

and these niggas
didn't appreciate it.

So, when I got locked up,
these niggas cheered.

FUQUA: When you say
"these niggas," who...

Black motherfuckers
in the industry.

They turned around,

they were happy to see me
go to prison,

but at the same time,

I'm going
and telling these dudes,

"Look, I'm not gonna
let you go in,

"sell 10 million records
or two million records,

"or even 100,000 records

"out of the back door
and don't pay them."

I turned around
and tackled the buses.

I didn't get thrown
under the bus.

I ran into the bus for these
motherfucking house niggas.

Shit, Jimmy Iovine,
looked back at me and said,
"We'll take care of you."

Fuck, taking care of me.
I'll take care of myself.

If a man lets another man
take care of him,

he shouldn't be offended
or get upset

when that man
treats him like a bitch.

If you allow another man
to take care of you,

how could you get mad
when they tell you,

"Shut your punk-ass up
and go get me a drink"?

Because you're putting
yourself in that position

by allowing another man
to feed you.

I didn't allow them to feed me.

I let them know,
I'll handle my business,

do what I need to do
to feed myself.

FEMALE REPORTER: Death Row
Records CEO, Suge Knight,

celebrating
his newfound freedom

after serving five years
for a probation violation.

SUGE: Damn! You know,
still ain't nothing changed!

Death Row is back.
Back on the streets,

back in those clubs.

Back in those ghettos,
back in your car.
Back in the system, you know?

FEMALE REPORTER: Rap music
impresario Suge Knight,

is in
a California jail tonight.

He is on parole

and could be
sent back to prison.

Knight claims
a long list of arrests,

parole violations
and prison sentences.

MALE REPORTER: Police are
looking for a gunman

who allegedly shot rap mogul,
Marion Suge Knight,

during a party in Miami beach,
early this morning.

FEMALE REPORTER: Police say
they have no suspects

in the weekend shooting
of rap mogul, Suge Knight.

MALE REPORTER 2: Miami police
say they have complained

about a lack of cooperation
from witnesses in the shooting.

Before I went to the
penitentiary and went to court

my own momma didn't even know
how much money I had.

But then,
when I went to prison,
I got exposed.

So, that made people
want to steal more.

That made people want to
get you more.

Death Row Records founder,
Marion Suge Knight,

has been ordered
by a Los Angeles County
Superior Court judge

to pay $107 million
in damages

to a woman who says
she helped create Death Row.

According to
the Los Angeles Times,

Lydia Harris filed a lawsuit
against Suge three years ago,

seeking record sale profits
and royalties

she claims she was
entitled to,
but was never paid.

According to the suit,

Knight refused to honor
a partnership deal

he had signed with Harris's
husband, Michael,

who was in prison
on attempted murder

and drug-related convictions

during the Row's early days.

Once Death Row
started turning a profit,

Lydia Harris says Suge
forced her out of the label.

And later signed a lucrative
deal with Interscope

giving that label marketing
and distribution rights

to all Death Row releases.

The suit also accuses Knight
of pressuring Michael Harris

into signing away
his legal claims to Death Row

in an arrangement
the lawsuit says

cost Knight and Interscope
just $300,000.

Jimmy Iovine, Interscope,
Universal,

I'm the only
black motherfucker

that owns his masters,
that's why they attack me.

Only reason why I'm
the only one in this business

that never said I sold dope.

And they put
the dope thing on me

and tried to take
my company down

because they said
I come from bad money.

But the motherfuckers
who came from bad money,

they didn't do nothing about it,

because they don't own it.

MALE SPOKESPERSON:
At approximately 5:00 a.m.,

one hundred and seventy-five
Los Angeles County
Sheriff's deputies,

served a total
of 15 search warrants

in this location here
in Los Angeles,

-two in North Hollywood...
-[CELL PHONE RINGING]

...and one in Lakewood.

SUGE:
They used to raid my office,

where I'm not a suspect.

They say I did nothing wrong,

but there would be 165 police.

Helicopters, motherfuckers
jumping off the...

Coming off the helicopters
like SWAT.

Broke every
motherfucking window.

Broke every motherfucking door.

Mr. Knight is in no way

wanted by the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department.

He's not currently a suspect
for our department.

We are simply serving
some of these warrants

seeking evidence to crimes
that have been committed

in Los Angeles County.

I wasn't even living
in my Vegas house.

And they were out there
talking about,

"Fuck him. Look at this shit.

"All this is blood-money.

"Nothing but fucking
blood money."

Like I said, you know,

if they can't take
the money from you,

they take you from the money.

MAXINE: Be happy.

I'd rather him to be happy,
if he can't buy me nothing.

As long as he's happy.

I love him to death, man.
I'm really proud of him,
you know.

The success he's made.

And if I had to do it
all over again,

I'd just have him,
you know, just like that.

FEMALE REPORTER: We are
following developing news

closer to home
in West Hollywood,

where a night of fun
turned violent.

Several people have been shot

at a party hosted
by singer Chris Brown.

FEMALE REPORTER 2:
Rap mogul, Suge Knight,
was inside the club.

Witnesses say they saw him
stumbling out
after he was shot

early this morning
at around 1:30, this morning.

MAN: Sure does
look like Suge, bro.

[POLICE OFFICER OVER SPEAKERS]
You'll possibly be arrested

for entering this crime scene.

SUGE: I'll tell you the truth,

I ain't never
thought about death.

I felt like, "Shit, God got me."

I'll be feeling like,
"Shit, what's that?"

You know what I mean?

I've been getting shot at
since high school.

I've been
in situations where, shit...

I wasn't supposed to make it,
or so they say.

But I'm still here.

I don't wear no vest.

You don't see me paranoid.

I still run around
eating off the land,
you know what I mean?

I still get up and go hunt.

So I ain't thought about death.

You know, if I could go
all the way back
and I rewrite it,

the way things should be,

and how it should have ended up,

I think, uh...

As men coming from the ghetto,
we all failed.

The reason
why I say we all failed

is because
of the simple fact that...

We got a black president.
President Obama.

President of the whole
United States.

And we have black presidents

of production companies
and record labels

that can't figure out how to
get along with each other.

So we constantly
destroy each other.

I think we all could have had,
like, a situation

where we were friends

to the point where you had

enough knowledge
to make things grow.

Instead of people worrying about

who killed Biggie
or who killed Pac,

it would be more like,

"Look at Biggie,"
and, "Look at Pac."

I got shot in Miami. Pssh.

But I'm still in Miami.

You see me happy
as a motherfucker,

enjoying this shit.

You know,
I take out time to say,

"Damn, look at the view.
Look at the water." You know?

It's not about
putting nobody down.

I know one thing.

The amount of records I sold

and the amount
of money I made...
[SCOFFS]

Ain't never happening again.

But, I wish it would

at the same time.

I had like, every court hit me.

I had like,
every authority hit me.
I had everybody...

Anything negative to be
said about Suge Knight

has been said already.

Some of the most
incredible people
in the music business...

People that you had the blessing

to help their life
and help their career...

I feel like if I didn't give

a lot of motherfuckers
record deals,

they'd have been dead
a long time ago, or in prison.

I gave them jobs.

I turned their dreams
into reality.

I took from...

If it was Snoop,
supposed to be in prison
for the rest of his life,

I made sure he didn't go.

If it was Pac having
a bad time in prison,

when nobody else was there,
I made sure I stepped up.

You see a person doing
a Tupac documentary,

and they'll be like,

"When Pac got with
Suge Knight,

"we felt he sold his soul
to the devil, right?"

So I'll be saying to myself,
"Damn.

"They want motherfuckers to
really believe in God so much,

"they wanna paint me
to be the devil."

So before you judge,

before you say something
that you don't know about,

just take time to think.

Because I ain't
the average nigga.

When you're picking up your
favorite daughter from school,

I'm picking up my daughter
from school, too.

And they go to the same school.

Our sons might play
on the same football team.

So before you decide
to judge me, think.

I might be your neighbor.

Some of you motherfuckers,
I might be your landlord,

you just don't know it.

So, I know your moves,

understand mine.

[MALE NEWS ANCHOR]
Breaking news out of LA.

A music industry mogul
under arrest

after a deadly hit-and-run.

Rap mogul, Suge Knight,
has been arrested.

Not just detained. Arrested.
Now accused of murder.

The arrest follows
a deadly crash
yesterday in Compton.

-JUDGE: Is Marion Hugh Knight
your true name, sir?
-Yes, sir, Your Honor.

You're charged in
Information TAA 136401,

Count one, murder count.
Two, attempted murder count,

three, felony hit-and-run,

various enhancements
are alleged.

At this time, it's best
you await further reading

-regarding your rights.
-Yes, sir.

-To all charges, sir,
how do you plead?
-SUGE: Not guilty, Your Honor.

-You deny all the enhancements?
-Yes, sir, Your Honor.

The focus is definitely
the victim, which is my father.

And, uh,
we just want justice for him.

And we want peace
as the trial moves forward.

A multi-millionaire rap mogul
to inmate, Suge Knight,

got a surprise plea deal today
to avoid being tried for murder.

-Mr. Knight,
is this what you want to do?
-SUGE: Yes.

A "no contest" plea is
the same as a guilty plea.

-There is no difference.
You understand that?
-Yes.

Very well.

All right,
I'll hear from the people.

NEKAYA CARTER:
Your actions after you callously
murdered my dad in cold blood

were calculating and deplorable

and reflective of a lack of
moral character

and no respect for human lives.

Those of a low-life thug,
career-minded criminal.

Three-striker was
the representation
of being a murderer.

A violation of penal code,
section 192.

Submission A,
voluntary manslaughter

with a strike prior of which
can be found true.

Defendant sentenced
to state prison
for the high term.

High term of 11 years
must be doubled
under the strike law.

Defendant'll serve a term
in state prison
of 22 years.

Pursuit of penal section 667,
section A, section 1,

a prior conviction
the felon has admitted,

is levied an additional
five years in state prison,

for a total
on State term of 28 years.

At this time, this case is done.

If there's nothing further,
that'll be it.

Thank you, Your Honor.

♪♪