Marion “Suge” Knight, the 43 year old gangsta’ rap mogul, and former CEO of Death Row Records has been arrested in Las Vegas on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges including assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance.
According to an AP wire report, the rap promoter was booked into Clark County Jail, but later posted a $19,000 bail bond on the promise he would appear in Las Vegas court on September 26.
The incident reportedly took place when Knight was arrested by police in a parking lot near the Las Vegas strip, where he was found beating a woman said to be his girlfriend and brandishing a knife. The woman was not stabbed, but was treated at a nearby hospital. Police also discovered the drugs Ecstasy and hydrocodone in Knight’s possession. Knight surrendered without incident.
During the nineties, Knight was arguably the hottest rap promoter in music with this label Death Row Records. The label specialized in gangsta rap records by such pioneering west coast rappers as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and the late Tupac Shakur. Knight also became just as well known for his violent reputation, which over the years has included rumored gang affiliations and several brushes with the law.
Knight was in fact present the night that Shakur was gunned down gangland style in 1996, also in Las Vegas. Shakur’s murder was never completely solved, and less than a year later Christopher Wallace, a rival East coast rapper better known as Notorious B.I.G., was gunned down in similar fashion. Conspiracy theories connecting the two murders have proliferated on the internet and in music circles in the many years that have passed since, and in fact continue to this day.
