After a man named Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested last month and charged with the 1996 murder of Tupac, many looked in the direction of Suge Knight for answers. Knight, who was driving the car that Tupac was riding in when he got shot in ’96, quickly came out and said that he would not testify against Davis if called upon. “One thousand percent. I wouldn’t go,” he told TMZ in an exclusive interview. “I wouldn’t testify. None of that shit.” However, this doesn’t mean that Knight wants to keep his mouth shut entirely.
Recently, Knight, who founded the label Death Row Records that once housed rap greats like Tupac, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, launched a podcast dubbed Collect Call. Though he’s currently serving time in a San Diego prison for a 2015 hit-and-run homicide, Knight put out the first episode this month, where he speaks on the phone with co-host Dave Mays, who famously started hip-hop magazine The Source.
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For the trailer of Collect Call, which was posted on October 20, Knight and Mays advertised that Knight would be addressing bones he had to pick with fellow celebs like Akon, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Iovine, Deion Sanders, and more. And for episode 1, the duo gave us the content they promised.
Warren G
Most notably, Knight took aim at Warren G, a California rapper who was adjacent to many fellow ’90s stars like Tupac and Dr. Dre, as well as being a close collaborator of Snoop and Nate Dogg’s. Knight referenced the interview Warren did with Drink Champs earlier this year, where he claimed he tried to bail Tupac out of jail in 1995 when he was serving time for sex abuse charges.
“Warren G, best stop lying—you didn’t fuck with ’Pac and ’Pac didn’t fuck with you,” Knight said on Collect Call. “On top of that, you couldn’t take care of yourself, how were you gonna get ’Pac out of prison? Everybody, all of a sudden, they want to get ’Pac out of prison …”
[RELATED: Video Surfaces of Tupac’s Murder Suspect Being Arrested]
Akon
On top of this, Knight also verbally attacked world-renowned rap/R&B artist Akon, whom he has shared a beef with for decades. In an interview with VladTV in 2020, Akon claimed their rivalry stemmed from a financial dispute. But, on Collect Call, Knight said the root of the problem was more sinister.
According to Knight, Akon and hip-hop producer Detail had sexually assaulted two young girls that Knight was acquainted with. While at a hotel with one of Knight’s friends, who we’ll call Sally, Akon and Detail took advantage of Sally’s little sister and her friend while Sally took a meeting in another room, per Knight. This is why Knight had bad blood with Akon.
“[Sally] goes to the next room … she says she comes back in about 35 minutes,” Knight recalled during the podcast episode. “When she gets back in the room, her little sister and that other little girl don’t wanna eat. They look scared. And they’re crying. When she gets back in the car with them, they tell her, ‘Akon, you fucked the little girl, 13—Detail fucked the little girl, 12 years old. Y’all raped them.’
“So when she told me, I pulled up on her, and she said she’s going to the police to put you muthafuckas in jail for rape. I said, ‘Nah, we don’t do that, telling to the police. I’ll deal with it. I promise you that.’ So I was trying to catch you muthafuckas about that situation.”
Apparently, this is what led to a public brouhaha between Knight and Akon in 2009. Taking place at a party in Arizona, Knight said the fight had little to do with finances, and more to do with the aforementioned Sally situation.
“I pull up there with a bitch—there’s 20 of you muthafuckas,” Knight said. “I get out, I holla at [Chris Brown] and tell him I’ll catch him later. Fired on your muthafuckin’ brother, chipped his muthafuckin’ tooth, fell to the ground, get up runnin’, take off runnin’. And the rest of y’all runnin’. That’s the end of that. So, chomo-ass muthafucka, don’t get out there puttin’ out stories when you know the truth.”
Akon responded to these claims via Twitter on Sunday (October 29).
“The world knows a lie when they hear it,” he wrote. “It’s unfortunate that this man is going out like this. It’s sad and seriously embarrassing. Regardless of our history, I’m still going to be praying for him.”
Master P
Lastly, Knight used some time in the podcast to touch on his relationship with Master P, a Louisiana rapper who founded the prominent imprint No Limit Records. Specifically, he spoke about the time Snoop Dogg left Death Row for No Limit, which Master P previously said happened because of a visit he made to Knight while Knight was behind bars in the late ’90s.
“[Master P] slipped up and said he came to visit me in prison,” Knight told Mays. “And gave me a couple of bucks—$2 million. I never would have took no shit like that for Snoop. I got a whole list of anybody [who] ever visits me. You got to be approved. That n***a is not on none of it.
“The paperwork is what the paperwork says. I did a deal with Bryan Turner at Priority Records. And [I] loaned Snoop’s services to Priority and gave him the right to go over to No Limit.”
In an interview with The Breakfast Club in 2020, Snoop Dogg spoke about how his move from Death Row to No Limit was momentous for him.
“Master P saved my life,” he said.
Listen to Episode 1 of Collect Call HERE.
Photo by Jesse Grant/WireImage