Marion Hugh "Suge" Knight Jr. is an American record executive and convicted felon who is the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. Knight was a central figure in gangsta rap's commercial success in the 1990s. This feat is attributed to the record label's first two album releases: Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992 and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle in 1993. Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence in prison for a fatal hit-and-run in 2015.
Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle) and 2Pac during the 1990s. At its peak, Death Row was making over US $150 million a year.
Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson was an American Crips gang member suspected in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Anderson belonged to the California-based gang known as the South Side Compton Crips. Detective Tim Brennan of the Compton Police Department filed an affidavit naming Anderson as a suspect; he denied involvement and was never charged. Anderson's uncle, Duane Keith Davis, was charged with Shakur's murder on September 29, 2023.
Biggie & Tupac is a 2002 feature-length documentary film about the murdered American rappers Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and Tupac Shakur by Nick Broomfield.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry is a dispute between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. A focal point of the rivalry was the feud between East Coast–based rapper the Notorious B.I.G. signed by Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur signed by Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label, Death Row Records. Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were murdered in drive-by shootings within six months of each other, after which the feud entered a truce with a "peace" summit in 1997 at the behest of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
The Pirus are a subset of the larger Bloods gang alliance, an organized crime group in the United States.
Sanyika Shakur, also known by his former street moniker Monster or Monster Kody, was an American author and former gangster. He was a member of the Los Angeles-based Eight Tray Gangster Crips. He got his nickname as a 13-year-old gang member when he beat and stomped a robbery victim until he was disfigured. Shakur claimed to have reformed in prison, joined the Republic of New Afrika movement, and wrote a 1993 memoir called Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member.
Tupac Assassination: Conspiracy or Revenge is a documentary film about the unsolved murder of rapper Tupac Shakur produced by Frank Alexander, a Shakur bodyguard who was with the rapper at the time of the shooting, produced and directed by Richard Bond.
The Killing of Tupac Shakur is a biographical, true crime account by American journalist and author Cathy Scott of the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. The book made news upon its September 1997 release, on the first anniversary of Shakur's death, because of an autopsy photo included in its pages. It was the first book to be released covering the rapper's death. The book was reprinted in the UK by Plexus Publishing and in Poland by Kagra. Coverage of the autopsy photo, taken of Shakur's body on a gurney in the coroner's examining room, catapulted the book onto the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. New editions of the book were released in 2002 and 2014.
On September 7, 1996, at 11:15 p.m. (PDT), Tupac Shakur, a 25-year-old American rapper, was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. The shooting occurred when the car carrying Shakur was stopped at a red light at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. The driver, Marion "Suge" Knight, was grazed by a bullet in the shooting. Shakur died from his injuries six days later, on September 13, 1996.
The American rapper Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G., was murdered in a drive-by shooting in the early hours of March 9, 1997, in Los Angeles, California. He was 24 years old. Prior to the event, Wallace promoted his second studio album Life After Death, and attended an after-party in Los Angeles instead of traveling to London.
Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd joined the Compton Police Department as officers in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In 1988, they were promoted to become Compton's two-man gang unit. The police department could only afford to have two people at the time, even though many smaller cities typically had up to four times as many. As the gang unit, Brennan and Ladd were responsible for dealing with and investigating over 55 gangs in the 10.1 square mile area that makes up the City of Compton. They served as the primary or assisting investigating officers on hundreds of gang-related murders and thousands of gang-related shootings, and witnessed instances of gang-related rapes, robberies, drive-by shootings, and shootings at police officers.
All Eyez on Me is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Benny Boom. Titled after the 1996 studio album, as well as the song of the same name, it is based on the life and death of the American rapper Tupac Shakur. The film stars Demetrius Shipp Jr. as Tupac, with Kat Graham, Lauren Cohan, Hill Harper, and Danai Gurira. Jamal Woolard reprises his role as Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace / The Notorious B.I.G. from Notorious (2009).
Wardell Fouse, also known by his aliases Darnell Bolton and Poochie, was an American Bloods gang member who was implicated in the murder of the Notorious B.I.G. Fouse belonged to the California-based gang known as the Mob Piru Bloods. Since Fouse was deceased by the time his alleged involvement became known to the investigating police, no charges were filed against him.
The Mob Piru are a "set" of the Piru gang alliance, which is itself part of the larger Bloods alliance. Suge Knight, the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records, is an affiliate.
On April 3, 2002, Alton "Buntry" McDonald, a member of the Mob Piru Bloods and a production manager at Death Row Records, was shot dead at a gas station in Compton, California. The murder was believed to be the result of fighting between two rival "sets" of the Bloods, the Mob Pirus and the Fruit Town Pirus.
The Fruit Town Piru are a "set" of the Piru gang alliance, which itself is part of the larger Bloods alliance. This Piru set is known for its rivalry with the Mob Piru Bloods during the early 2000s.
The Crips and the Bloods, two street gangs founded in Los Angeles (L.A.), California, have been engaged in a gang war since the 1970s. The war is made up of smaller, local conflicts between chapters of both gangs, and has mostly taken place in major cities in the United States, especially L.A. It is also present in other countries. The gangs often identify themselves using clothing colored blue for Crips and red for Bloods; people wearing those colors in gang territory are often targets of violence.
On June 1, 1997, Death Row Records employee and Mob Piru Bloods member Aaron "Heron" Palmer was shot dead in Compton, California. Palmer's death was followed by the murders of several other Mob Pirus from Suge Knight's inner circle, as part of a gang war between the Mob Piru and another Bloods set (subgroup), the Fruit Town Piru.
The Lueders Park Piru are a "set" of the Piru gang alliance, which itself is part of the larger Bloods alliance. The Lueders Park Piru has its origins in the Lueders Park Hustlers, an independent street gang which was instrumental in the formation of the Bloods gang alliance in 1972.
