Former Death Row boss Marion “Suge” Knight went volcanic on former label member Snoop Dogg, resoundingly denouncing the Doggfather as a lousy music executive and a has-been rapper.
Snoop, 53, bought Death Row from Blackstone-owned MNRK Music Group in February 2022. The acquisition included the brand, catalog, trademark, and logo, according to Deadline.
The former NFL player-turned-music executive accuses Snoop Dogg of failing to even resuscitate Death Row Records back to life, much less return it to legendary days in the 1990s.
Suge Knight torches Snoop for Death Row’s failures
“You trying to create something that Suge Knight created, but instead of making something big, you disappointed the world by making everything flops,” Knight said during a phone call from prison on the ‘Art of Dialogue’ podcast. “When I put out Tha Dogg Pound, they sold records. You put out Tha Dogg Pound, they sold nothing — it flopped.”
Suge Knight says Snoop is turning Death Row soft
In addition to Knight’s claims of substandard product being churned out by Snoop’s Death Row Records, Knight also said Snoop is turning the West Coast label soft.
“You don’t got to talk tough,” he added. “We don’t got to talk about each other that gets [us] nowhere. One person or three or four people is not bigger than hip-hop. We should be trying to figure out how to make hip-hop better. Everybody destroying hip-hop — you guys are making it worse. If you have Death Row, you destroyed it. You messed up the name.”
Suge Knight takes satisfaction that Snoop’s Missionary album was an alleged flop
Furthermore, Knight seems to gloat over the fact that Snoop and Dr. Dre, who was the main producer on the Death Row label, recently dropped the Missionary album that he says is a commercial and critical failure.
Missionary was supposed to be the spiritual follow-up to Snoop’s Death Row debut, Doggystyle. “You and Dr. Dre got together, Andre says it’s the best album he ever did in his whole life,” Knight noted. “We couldn’t tell because it came and went so fast.”
Knight and Snoop have been beefing on and off since the late 1990s in the aftermath of Tupac Shakur’s death. Snoop’s acquisition of Death Row Records only exacerbated the tensions between the two men.
“You said I’m mad because you bought Death Row,” Knight said. “What you buy? Show me where y’all paid the money to buy it. Show me the paperwork, show me what you own.”
Moreover, Knight said Snoop is not moving units today the way he did 30 years ago.
“You trying to create something that Suge Knight created,” he said. “Instead of making something big, you disappointed the world by making everything flops.”
Suge Knight remains imprisoned on a 28-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter for running over and killing businessman Terry Carter and injuring longtime rival Cle “Bone” Sloan. Knight doesn’t become eligible for parole until October 2034.
