In the latest episode of Suge Knight’s podcast, Collect Call, the former rap mogul—who is serving a 28-year sentence in prison—opened up about his relationship with the late rapper Tupac Shakur. Knight also discussed his roots growing up in Compton, California, and the various rifts he’s endured along the way.
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Knight opened the episode, which dropped Wednesday (December 20), by talking about trying to make “situations better.” His hope, he said, is to make “the culture” more positive. “I’d rather focus on the good,” he says.
From there, he went on to talk about going on tour for Dr. Dre’s album, The Chronic, which dropped in 1992 and remains one of the most beloved rap records. On the tour, Knight talks about various items he purchased for those around him. Knight lists them off along with several names from his youth, though the grainy phone call and Knight’s meandering memory at times make it hard to discern or follow his storytelling.
Knight turns his attention next to Tupac and the “justice” that needs to take place regarding his death. “Jealousy is worse than hate,” Knight says. “Jealousy can destroy.” Knight continues to tell the story of him and Pac talking about building Knight’s Death Row Records and how Shakur wanted to help the cause through his connections and recordings. So, Tupac wrangled artists like Snoop Dogg for a song for his 1996 album, All Eyez on Me.
But all of Shakur’s hard work on the 1996 album eventually led to conflict, Knight alleges, “When ‘Pac got bigger,” Knight says, “that’s when the jealousy kicked in.” He adds, “Once All Eyez on Me came out, people was like, ‘Hey Snoop, where’s Tupac?'” Knight talked about jealousy leading to trouble—and the reason, he says, “he’s speaking on it,” is because “we should never have to go through this again.”
Check out more from American Songwriter’s recaps of the pod here and here.
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
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