Sunday, April 02, 2006

Good Knight, Suge

I always favored the Left Coast in the epic East-West rap battle. No contest: I'll take thuggery over glitz any day. Sean Combs stands for most that is evil, obtaining gairsh excess on the shoulders of middling talent. Not so with Suge Knight, who stayed out of the way and nurtured a much more gifted roster of artists.

"To all you artists out there, who don't wanna be on a record label where the executive producer's ... all up in the videos, all on the records, dancin'... then come to Death Row!"

Sure, he might've threatened to murder some of that talent. Maybe he had people killed, I don't know (and would anyone have been that upset had he thrown Vanilla Ice off that balcony?) But when I choose a side, I stick with it.

Unfortunately, it's time to raise the white flag.

Rap-music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight skipped a court-ordered appearance at a hearing about his assets Saturday, setting the stage for courts to take control of his Death Row Records label.

Knight has missed several hearings in a legal battle since he lost a $107 million judgment last year to Lydia Harris, a former associate who claimed she helped start the rap record empire with her former husband, Michael Harris.

Michael Harris, an imprisoned drug dealer, says he put up $1.5 million to help start the record label — an assertion Knight has repeatedly denied.

A judge last month ordered the record company into receivership, which hinged on Knight's appearance at Saturday's hearing.

A court-appointed "receiver" would take control of all assets of Death Row Records, including a music library containing the records of such artists as Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre, said Steve Goldberg, attorney for Michael Harris.

Lawyers for the Harris' said they would ask that Knight be held in contempt and jailed until he participates in the hearing to disclose his assets.

"He's had his last chance as far as we're concerned," Goldberg said.

No comments:

Post a Comment