Suge Knight Speaks at Length on Doggystye and Death Row, Claiming Dr. Dre Did None of the Production. He Also Speaks About Snoop’s Murder Trial, the Impact of Death Row and More.
Suge Knight spoke at length with Rolling Stone about Doggystyle, Snoop, Dr. Dre, Tupac and Death Row Records in light of the 20th anniversary of Doggystyle. The Death Row captain is not short on words and definitely not afraid of stirring controversy. Below are a few excerpts from the article and a link to read the full story.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
What do you remember most about what went into making Doggystyle?
We were able to make sure [Snoop] didn’t go to prison to make the album. We only had one song done, and then after that it was the [Philip Woldemariam] murder case and the trial. When we got ready to start the trial, $5 million had to be paid to a legal team. And at the time Snoop never sold no records. Jimmy [Iovine], Interscope, those guys were saying they’re not going to participate in trying to help keep him out of prison, because they didn’t think they were capable of doing it. Because of the simple fact that it was a murder case. If he would have got found guilty, he’d have died in prison. He’d have been there the rest of his life.
Did Snoop think he was going to go to jail?
Everybody thought he was going to go. A few times in court they asked him to stand up, and Snoop would actually get weak in the knees and fall back down. It was a lot of pressure. But it was still good to be able to come through and pull that off for him because it opened it up a bunch of doors and showed the world a different side of rap music.
What do you remember about Doggystyle’s production?
[It] was was pretty much luck. Everybody thought [Dr. Dre] would be doing the records, but Daz pretty much did the whole album. And at the end of the day, once Daz finished it, everybody wanted Andre to get the credit. Next thing I know Daz is having a meeting with Andre and them and came back and said, “It’s okay, give me a few bucks and I’ll sign anything over that says produced by Andre instead of me.”
Click here for the full article (it’s a great read).
Related: Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle & The Death Row Records Reign (Food For Thought)