During a newly-released interview with Vulture, Timbaland spoke on his new memoir, “The Emperor Of Sound.” At one point in the conversation, the Virginia beatsmith was asked about a particular section in his book where he speaks on wanting to avoid Suge Knight during the Death Row era.
According to Timbaland, Knight was “a great man,” but may have been the victim of his own power.
“I think we all went through the same thing,” Timbaland said. “None of us avoided anything, it was just trials and tribulation. Suge was young. Everybody was young. Suge was probably one of the biggest visionaries there was. But sometimes visionary and power can be too much. Sometimes you can’t handle both. Suge is a great man. But having all that power and losing it can eventually mess you up.”
Later in the interview, Timbaland revealed his plans to release a free mixtape in the future.
“Okay, I’m gonna rule the mixtape era,” the producer said. “I’m gonna rule it. I’mma put out a mixtape. Why not? Let’s do it. It’s gonna be ill, too…Look, y’all done paid for my music all these years, why not give something back? It’s about being apart of the culture and showing people how to make it. If we gonna do trap music, this is how we gonna do it. I’m gonna control this thing. Y’all come to me, I got it. The dirtiness? Mmm, mmm. We gotta clean this up.”
The musician later offered praise to Drake, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar for being familiar with internet culture as artists.
“He is really tapped into everything in the culture,” he said while speaking on Drake. “Him, J. Cole, and Kendrick [Lamar]. ‘Cause they are that [points to computer], the internet. They know that shit up and down. Drake got playlists. An old-school cat would be like, ‘A playlist? We ain’t doing that!’ We got to. We gotta be the ones to invent the next wheel. But sometimes we get complacent. Drake is on everything. All that stuff I thought about five, six years ago. But what happened is life. Now I’m getting back to it, like, ‘Okay, you jumped the boat, but I started this. You are my baby. So now I gotta come and play with you, brother. Let me show you how I really played back in the ’90s.’”
calling Suge Knight a visionary and a great man when all he did was messing with people’s lives and promoting violence.
that’s the kind of statement that makes me realize how dumb these so-called artists (rapper, producer, actor, etc.) are.
Nigga, dont believe the hype. Suge, saved Dres life. Look, this is what they left out of “Straight Outta Compton”: 1. Dre was financially well-off until the D. Barnes settlement, 2. Around the time of his departure from NWA, he was hit with outrageous amounts of Child Support, 3. He was in a creative rut with Ruthless. What does all this say? One, Suge was able to free Dre of Eazys greed, a type of greediness thats only made of legend, which didnt concern him until his cost of living outpaced his earnings (i.e., lawsuits and child support). But one stupid mistake, like beating a womans ass on camera, bad enough to become a part of Hip Hop history, put Dre in a tight ass bind. Two, Dre was fine with Eazys chump change checks until real bills like child support, mortgages, lawsuits, and car notes started to pile on like a ton of bricks. More specifically child support, which I remember hearing through the grapevine like it was yesterday, and is still mind boggling to this day. Three, Suge was able to help Dre get a clean slate and create a new genre of West Coast Rap. Whereas if he stayed with Eazy, he would have had to use all of Ruthless’ subpar talent over some of the best production in Hip Hop history–imagine MC Ren or Eazy rapping over “Let Me Ride” or “Stranded on Death Row” or “Bitches Aint Shit”. That shit wouldnt have worked worth shit. Well maybe a little, but not on the same level as what all the above ended up sounding–and we will never know anyway. Lastly, did your silly as know rap labels prior to Suge were making pennies on the dollar, including both Def Jam and Ruthless. Suge cut out the middle man, for the first time in Hip Hop. Study your history. Had Suge fell for people like Dick Griffeys bullshit like all of Suges predecessors did with their respective benefactors, all of his artist wouldnt have earned a fucking penny until Death Row was a multi-billion dollar company and, hopefully, artist like Snoop, Daz, or Kurupt would have had to stay relevant up that point. Look at LL Cool J, his ass didnt get any real money out of Def Jam until real late in his career, and thats after they were able to reach a certain level of success on the backs of LLs successors at Def Jam (e.g., DMX, Jay Z, Ja Rule, etc.). Now, if LL wasnt relevant at the point of the point of their ultimate success, they wouldve said fuck his ass and escorted him to the lobby, where they wouldve put shoe to his back to quickly push him through the exit.
@ will….you have an idea but……firstly, Dee Barnes was not settled until late 93 after the chronic had dropped. So, Dre was rolling in doe…the only time I believe Dre’s pocket was light was b4 the chronic dropped. Dee barnes’ beating was not caught on camera lol…In 1989, Suge was a bodygaurd @ ruthless, Dre was multi platinum, sought after record producer, Dre had been successful b4 Ruthless (WCRC), suge didn’t get Dre outta his Ruthless contract, Jimmy iovine did, the releases suge got was null and void due to the lwasuits, Jimmy had to negotiate with ruthles..Dre, suge, chronic album saved interscope records from going under, chronic launched deathrow records, Dre created suge the biz man, pac didn’t make DR successful, he elongated their reign/success, suge has been on decline since Dre left him, Puff showed record exec and the industry that u can make money without the drama, putting suge’s style of handling biz on the clock, thats Y suge went after him, Suge wasn’t innovative, he stole his biz model from Eazy E, DR was Ruthless on steroids, Suge was and is still a one trick pony, for how long can u continue to thrive off intimidation, he refused to switch up his biz approach! Even Mike tyson (the baddest man on the planet) gives motivational speeches these days…lastly, the industry got rid of suge coz he wasn’t making money anymore bro…if he still had Dre, snoop, pac etc. Jimmy would have gotten him outta jail LOL!
@the teacher What the fuck are you talking about? How long do you think legal proceedings lasts? One month? Nigga, he beat D Barnes ass in 91. So, guess what? Dre was most likely scared of financial bankruptcy over those two years. His ass was probably pushing Eazy for a bigger piece of Ruthless which Eazy wouldnt relent to. And how was he rolling in doe with the World Class Wrecking Crew if he couldnt even bail his own ass out of jail? And I like how you ignored the Child Support part. Yes, Suge was a security guard. But, guess what? I bet he mightve been making more money than Dre working security. How much do you think celebrities pay for security? Definitely not pennies. And if Suge didnt pressure Eazy, Jimmy wouldnt have had the leverage to Dre out of his contract. Its chess not checkers. Dumbass. Theres one thing youre right about: Suge shouldve changed his business practices.
Hey…Y call me a dumb ass? That’s childish.Cussing coz ur post was full of inaccuracies LOL…I’mma bout to bury you with facts!! firstly, I SAID DRE WAS ROLLING IN DOE IN 1993, his DR days, after the chronic had dropped & possibly Doggystyle nigga!! & not WCRC days but he was a celebrity in the LA area back then (84-86) but was getting pumped by Alonzo Williams…Dre made alotta money off chronic that he had ever made in his career b4 #fact….But @ the same time (in my best suge’s voice) Dre was living in a big house on the same street with Jerry Heller and Eazy E back in 1989, check Jerry Heller’s recent interview. Suge was making bout 30O dollars per gig/day in Ruthless as a body gaurd & he wasnt the only one check michel’le’s interview on VLADTV…you are right on one thing though dumb ass, Suge did set dre’s release from deathrow in motion…Peace!
About Dre paying for his tribe of kids (child support), I didnt ignore lol…Dre’s pocket might have been light for some months when he left Ruthless in mid 1991 and was trying to set up DR with suge…Rem the chronic dropped in 1992 coz I watched Doug Young speak on seeing Dre & D.O.C @ a fast food joint and Natasha too (dated pac & dre) spoke on Dre struggling for a while…Jewell spoke on eating chicken wings str8 with Dre while recording the chronic in the studio…the point is Dre reached a settlement with Dee in late 93 for a sum less than a mil which interscope (Jimmy) would have gladly taken care off including legal fees he might have racked up & recouped that shii later….Interscope did pay over a mil for snoop, pac (Suge got the money from interscope) Rem sales of chronic kept the lights on in interscope offices lol….Jimmy iovine did say his career wouldnt have been the same without Dr Dre.
tim speaking the truth
Suge Knight was a visionary. Everyone makes mistakes. Suge let fame go to his head.
Nah fat Timmy just didn’t wanna get extorted
Tim says this shyt every couple years and then doesnt do shyt. I bet he dont drop shyt
this nigga sound stupid af…nigga acts like the mixtape era just started..take yo old gray hair ass home boy