Suge Knight has shared a story about how a decision by Eazy-E‘s widow to end a deal involving Dr. Dre‘s earnings may have cost the late N.W.A member’s family hundreds of millions of dollars.
The former Death Row boss shared his memory on the most recent episode of his podcast Collect Call With Suge Knight, which aired on Sunday (November 19) via Dave Mays’ Breakbeat Media.
Suge said that he made a deal with Eazy where, in exchange for a cut of the proceeds — somewhere in the range of a quarter of the total, according to Knight — Eazy would receive a portion of all of Dre’s earnings, no matter how he made it.
Knight explained: “I did a deal for [Eazy] where…he gets a dollar off of anything that Dre does. In other words, if he do a movie, if he do a beat, if he promote some type of merchandise, if he do a commercial, if he produce — off of his part, [Eazy] gets a dollar.”
The former exec estimated that the deal may have been worth a billion dollars had it remained in place due to the lucrative moves Dre would go on to make, including launching Beats By Dre (which sold to Apple for $3 billion in 2014), producing albums for Eminem and 50 Cent, as well releasing his own solo LP Compton.
But, he said, that’s not what happened. Knight said that after Eazy-E’s death in March, 1995, the rapper’s widow Tomica Woods-Wright took over his estate.
Knight continued, claiming that Interscope Records was anxious to end the deal that was eating in to their star producer’s earnings, so they made Woods-Wright an offer.
Suge said: “Tomika met with Interscope, and Interscope said, ‘Hey, why you want to get a dollar off of everything Dre does? Me and you could do business later on. Sign off and just let Dre out of it. We’re gonna do business later.’
“She signed off. They ain’t did no business with that bitch later. And guess what? That fucked Eazy’s kids, his momma, at the time his father was still living. It’s fucked his family.”
You can hear the story beginning at the 15:34 mark below.
During his lifetime, Eazy-E commented on a deal similar to the one Suge Knight discussed. In a 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, Eazy told the host about it.
“I had no idea that you make money off product from Dr. Dre and Snoop. Now, how did that work out?” Hall asked.
“Basically, I had Dre signed as exclusive producer and an exclusive artist,” Eazy replied. “So when Dre tried to make his deal over at Interscope, I was included for the next six years.”
The late rapper also alluded to the deal on his 1993 Dr. Dre diss track “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s”: “‘Damn, E, they tried to fade you on Dre Day’/ But Dre Day only meant Eazy’s payday.”
Knight has mentioned Dr. Dre on Collect Call before, including when the former label boss claimed that he covered for Dre in a federal gun case.
“My fed case is behind Dre,” he said. “If I had to do it all over again I still would do it again because that’s the kind of man I am. The other person, I don’t keep it 1,000 and keep it gangsta because of the next muthafucka, I keep it because that’s my DNA.”
Why is this website so obsessed about reporting on this murderous fool? This place has become a TMZ for trash rap nonsense. Shame.
One of the best strategic moves in rap history. Dre day only means Eazy’s pay day. Dre was winning the popularity contest but Eazy was making more money off Dre than Dre was making for himself
It’s crazy how those in the east and the Midwest back then really thought Eazy was getting destroyed by Death Row. Don’t get it twisted, I know Death Row was putting out better music. But Eazy had a classic diss song that still get rotation out here and his biggest W was everytime yall do something great I get paid probably more than any artist actually making the music.
I always hypothesized how much Ruthless got paid off Dre, Snoop, Tupac, Eminem. And this dizzy broad that knows nothing about business sold out? How really dumb can you be. That’s like somebody want to buy dope from someone they never did business with before, and that person said wait here I will be back. And run off with the money. She might as well give the company to his kids she bleed it dry. This is the only podcast I wanted to listen to. A story about Eazy I never heard. This has a ring of truth cause you never heard nothing else about it when Eazy died. Sad how Eazy last words were don’t sell the my company. But the black widow spider single Handley destroyed the company. The only thing left is the name and the royalties. She not coming out with nothing new. She picking the meat off the bones of whatever is left!
I always hypothesized how much Ruthless got paid off Dre, Snoop, Tupac, Eminem. And this dizzy broad that knows nothing about business sold out? How really dumb can you be. That’s like somebody want to buy dope from someone they never did business with before, and that person said wait here I will be back. And run off with the money. She might as well give the company to his kids she bleed it dry. This is the only podcast I wanted to listen to. A story about Eazy I never heard. This has a ring of truth cause you never heard nothing else about it when Eazy died. Sad how Eazy last words were don’t sell the my company. But the black widow spider single Handley destroyed the company. The only thing left is the name and the royalties. She not coming out with nothing new. She picking the meat off the bones of whatever is left!
Instead of Nick Cannon sitting there by himself with Suge on a speaker phone. They should have a hologram image of Suge sitting behind bars to give it some realism.
At least she didn’t end up in prison .
Never trust Jimmy Iovine.
Suge just be saying shit for hype…. He didn’t do it for Eazy,….He wanted Dre released so he did it for business….
Suge just be saying shit for hype…. He didn’t do it for Eazy,….He wanted Dre released so he did it for business….