Warren G Recalls Suge Knight Altercation Over Snoop Dogg That Changed His Career

Death Row Records will go down in history as one of the most influential music groups in not just hip hop history, but in the music industry in general. The label, under Marion “Suge” Knight’s management, birthed icons such as Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, putting West Coast style of rap on the map. Eventually, Tupac Shakur signed with the label. But Knight’s gang ties and the way he ran his business caused major issues, including with his artists. Snoop Dogg was no exception. In the aftermath of Tupac’s death and Knight’s reputation becoming more notorious, Snoop wanted out of his contract — but Knight refused. During a recent appearance on Talib Kweli’s People’s Party podcast, Warren G, a close associate of the label, recalled the time he got into an altercation with Knight over Snoop Dogg’s Death Row contract. In fact, Snoop even made a grave mistake at the beginning of his career.

Warren revealed that he advised Snoop against signing the record contract without having a lawyer review it. “I told Snoop ‘No, don’t sign that. You don’t know what you’re signing. You gotta get a lawyer to look at that stuff,’” he remembered. “And I was a young buck saying this!”

Knight learned of Warren’s advice to Snoop from a “whistleblower,” which pissed Knight off. “He was like, ‘Aye, blood! Where Warren G at?!’” Warren said. “And I was like, ‘S–, what’s up?’ He said, ‘Aye, blood. You told them not to sign that contract?!’ I took off! But the only way you could get down was the elevator, so I’m at the elevator like [hurriedly pressing the button]. He grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall and was like, ‘You told them not to sign that contract, blood?!’”

But Warren wasn’t intimidated and warned Suge that he too had connections. “I said, ‘N—a, if you don’t get your hands off me, I’m calling my brother, I’m calling all my homeboys,’” he said he told Knight. “He let me go. And I had one of my guys with me; luckily he didn’t have no gun ’cause he was a gunner. If he’d have had something, he probably would’ve shot him — and I didn’t want him to do it, but he probably would’ve. I know how he is.”

His relationship was forever changed with Knight, which Warren admits hurt him. As a result, he was blacklisted by Death Row and couldn’t tour.

Knight was eventually arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison. While he was incarcerated, Snoop took it as an opportunity to leave the label and sign with No Limit Records. Snoop now owns Death Row Records and had major plans to revamp it.