Knight struck a deal with Shakur that October, posting his $1.4 million bail and freeing him from prison pending an appeal of his conviction, while signing him to Death Row Records.

That September, after departing a Mike Tyson boxing match in Las Vegas, a group that included Knight and Shakur assaulted Orlando Anderson, a Southside Compton Crips gang member.

[5][6] Knight's conviction, along with his previous felonies of stealing a camera and sending a harassing text message to Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray, triggered California's three-strikes law.

Initially, Knight fulfilled his ambitions: he secured a distribution deal with Interscope, and Dre's 1992 solo debut album, The Chronic, earned triple platinum status in the United States by the end of 1993.

[17] It also made a career for Dre's protégé, Snoop Dogg, whose own debut album Doggystyle obtained a quadruple platinum certification in the United States in 1994.

Openly critical of Combs's tendency of ad-libbing on his artists' songs and dancing in their videos, Knight announced to the audience, "Anyone out there who wanna be a recording artist and wanna stay a star, and don't have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing, come to Death Row."

[25] The same year, Knight offered to post bail (US$1.4 million) for Tupac Shakur if the rapper agreed to sign with Death Row.

[27][28] However, Hammer did record tracks with Shakur and others, most notably the song "Too Late Playa" (along with Big Daddy Kane and Danny Boy).

[30] He later explained his concern about this circumstance in an interview on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) since he was in Las Vegas with Tupac the night of his death.

Dr. Dre, frustrated with the company's increasingly thuggish reputation and Knight's violent inclinations, left and formed his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, in March 1996.

[32][33] Though never charged by any prosecutor for any involvement, Suge Knight has been the subject of theories in popular culture about the murder of two well-known rap artists.

[40][41] The L.A. Times story indicated that "the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of its members by Shakur a few hours earlier.

"[40] The article implicated East Coast music figures, including Biggie, Shakur's nemesis at the time, alleging that he paid for the gun.

[43]Mark Duvoisin, an editor at the L.A. Times, wrote in an opinion piece in Rolling Stone that Philips's account had withstood attacks to its credibility.

On her website Archived Letters Scott responds to a reader of her book stating that she felt there was never evidence to link Knight to Tupac's murder.

In his 2011 self-published book, Murder Rap,[47] Kading wrote that Duane "Keefe D" Davis, a member of the "Crips" street gang, gave a confession years later saying he rode in the car used in the Las Vegas shooting of Shakur.

[34] While in Las Vegas, Kading's book stated, Davis and fellow Crips members crossed paths with a BMW carrying Knight and Shakur.

Kading alleged that Knight hired Wardell "Poochie" Fouse to kill Biggie, Sean Combs' most valuable star, whose murder was done following a party at the Peterson Automotive Museum.

[53] On April 4, 2006, Knight filed bankruptcy due to civil litigation against him in which Lydia Harris was said to have been cheated out of a 50% stake in Death Row Records.

[59] Global Music Group failed to secure funding and the Death Row Records catalog eventually went to Wideawake Entertainment.

On January 25, 2009, an auction was held for everything found in the Death Row Records office after the company filed for bankruptcy, including some of Knight's personal items.

[62] In a 1995 federal case, Knight pleaded no contest and was sentenced to five years' probation for assaulting two rappers in the summer of 1992 at a Hollywood recording studio.

Knight was then sentenced to nine years in prison on February 28, 1997, for the probation violation[64] but was granted early release and was let out of FCI Sheridan[65] on August 6, 2001.

The lawsuit concerns an August 2005 shooting at West's pre-Video Music Awards party, where Knight was wounded by a gunshot to the upper leg.

[77] On February 8, 2012, Knight was arrested in Las Vegas, after police found cannabis in his car and several warrants for prior traffic violations.

[67] On August 24, 2014, Knight was shot at a pre-Video Music Awards party hosted by Chris Brown at a West Hollywood Sunset Strip nightclub ("1OAK").

Friend Keith Middlebrook told the New York Daily News that Knight returned home with the intention to "heal up in a few days and be stronger than ever".

[82] On October 29, 2014, Knight and comedian Katt Williams were both arrested and charged with second-degree robbery in connection with an alleged theft of a camera from a paparazzi photographer the previous month in Beverly Hills, California.

[83] On January 29, 2015, Knight crashed his car into two men, killing Terry Carter (his friend and co-founder of Heavyweight Records), and fled the scene in Compton, California.

[90][91] Witnesses said Knight followed the men to a burger stand parking lot after an argument on the Straight Outta Compton film set, and that the collision looked intentional.