The questionable inner-workings of early Death Row Records politics and the blossoming of the label’s artists often come hand-in-hand. Former label head Suge Knight’s name in general tends to lead to debate especially regarding the way he ran the label.
In a recent interview with 2Pac Forum Channel, former Death Row Chief Engineer Rick Clifford talked about Suge Knight’s personality and says he’s not what many portray him as.
“Suge’s not a bad person,” Clifford said when Suge Knight was brought up. “He loves music. The only problem Suge had is if you mess with one of his artists and then he would go beyond the call of duty about his record company and his artists.”
Rick Clifford also talked about why he believes Dr. Dre left Death Row Records and says it was because the producer lost creative control of the record label.
“When [Dr.] Dre left, that caused a lot of confusion,” Clifford said. “Dre left due to the fact that he thought, the only reason Dre left ’cause he thought he lost creative control.”
When asked whether Dr. Dre left Death Row because of Tupac, Clifford responded saying those rumors are false.
“That’s not true at all,” he says. “Here’s what happened. We were mixing ‘California Love.’ Dre usually mixes something in four or six hours, then he’d leave and come back. I talked to him saying, ‘Why don’t we leave ’cause we have to do the regular version and remix version.’ So I told Dre, ‘Why don’t we block out the studio for the whole weekend?’ He goes, ‘Hey I always heard about that. I never did it.’ I go, ‘Well dude, this is your studio.’
“So I put the tape on the board for him and we was all excited ’cause nobody could touch it so,” Clifford continues. “Next day we’re working on ‘California Love’ and these guys come in and they’re walking in the studio and they’re like all excited. They’re hugging Dre and giving us handshakes and saying, ‘We’re glad to be on the same label with you.’ So, they leave and Dre got this strange look on his face and I go like, ‘What’s wrong man?’ and he looks around and nobody’s in the room with me. Dre and the assistant and stops the tape and he goes, ‘Big Rick, I don’t know how, the way this is supposed to be set up, Suge’s supposed to take care of the business and I’m supposed to be taking care of the creative and nobody’s supposed to sign to this company unless I hear them first. I’m trying to keep a certain quality and integrity to our company. Now Suge’s just signing people, not checking with me. They signing people now.’ About a week later, he was gone.”
Dr. Dre left Death Row Records in 1996, four years after signing with the label. Dre and Tupac collaborated on “California Love” after Pac signed with Death Row in 1995. It was the last single Dr. Dre would produce before leaving the label in early 1996.
Listen to the full interview with 2Pac Forum Channel below:
RELATED: Suge Knight Details Assistance On The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ready To Die”
Wow what an insightful and thought-provoking article.
Yeah I’m sure he’s pretty cool if hes your friend or you give him money
Checkout thegrandreport, they got some good hip hop and viral videos on there
Why the fuck did you put the video at the very end? Thanks for wasting my time in reading your shitty article…
the moment your finger breaks through the toilet paper
Thanks a lot for dropping the interview here! I am the person doing all the interviews on that channel. We have lots of others coming soon, about 2pac ofcourse.
One love!
fuck 2pac most overrated rapper ever
Birdman and I discuss Suge frequently. Birdman has a very high opinion of Suge. His only criticism is that Suge pays people too much, which Birdman doesn’t like to do. So I can see which Rick Clifford likes Suge. Rick probably got rich by being affiliated with him.
you need to get laid
I haven’t heard a new good song in a month i’m waiting.
“When [Dr.] Dre left, that caused a lot of confusion,” Clifford said. “Dre left due to the fact that he thought, the only reason Dre left ’cause he thought he lost creative control.”
Was this written by a 10 year old?
It was a direct quote. Listen to the interview.
I thought the same thing
This guy is full shit.
This nigga looks mad old, he gotta be 80 years or something.
Why do old folks Always talk about the past, its 2013 fuck of with your deathrow days.
Its dumb ass young kids like yourself that are gonna be the main reason why hip hop dies. Im only 20, but I still understand that in order to be a part of hip hop, you gotta respect the culture. this article is about the culture of gangster rap. I never knew why Dre left, and now I have a good idea. Don’t worry about the negative comments Paul Meara, there are people like me that love readin this shit, try and soak up as much info as I can. K.R.S.
@Johnny Blaze
so-sign
@Anonymous
You are a faggot, sorry
*co
this is such a lie
there is an audio tape available on youtube where Pac said clearly Dre was FIRED from death row cause he took months to produce one beat.
considering everybody is waiting for detox more than a decade now I believe 2pac told the truth.
Thanks a lot
Great article.
The California remix wasn’t done by Dre,he might have mixed it but he didn’t do the track. It was done by Laylaw!
until I saw the check which had said $6064, I did not believe that my mother in law had been realey bringing home money part time on their laptop.. there friend brother has been doing this for only about 16 months and resently cleard the dept on their place and purchased themselves a Mitsubishi Evo. try here… http://www.Fb39.com
still kendrick is nothing compared to drake an sbsolute 0 compared to the greatest of our generation. Good kid fag city has nothing on take care which is considered album of the decade.
Finally someone without an agenda says something. The day Death Row died along with Ruthless was the day Dre left.
Nigga i will leave to, know that i am a punk and didnt wanted to get shoot, ask Snoop Dogg and pac, that why Dre left.
I wish Death Row had sign me. I wanted to be on that label so bad I once saw Suge I got on my knees begging to be signed he laughed at me!!