Suge Knight is notorious for intimidating nearly everyone in the music industry. Even now, the former head of Death Row Records sits in jail awaiting trial for murder and attempted murder after a hit-and-run incident in January 2015.
Not even Eminem was immune to Knight’s wrath as revealed by Eminem’s former bodyguard, Byron “Big Naz” Williams, in an interview with the Murder Master Music Show.
According to Big Naz, it all went down at The Source Awards in 2001 when Eminem performed at the event. The bodyguard knew his job was going to be a tough one that night.
“We were at The Source Awards and we all know historically in the past, The Source Awards, someone always got shot,” he says. “That was our first encounter with Suge Knight and his henchman. Em was going to his seat. The way they had the seating was all messed up and the bodyguards couldn’t sit with the artists. I think that was by design ’cause I think they really wanted the artists to be able to network with each other, but it also gives people who got beef with other artists to get at them.”
He saw a scene starting to happen in the middle of the aisle where Slim Shady was sitting.
“He’s beefing with all these guys in these red shirts,” Big Naz says. Knight is affiliated with the Bloods. “So I come from where I was at, I had to come back around, I noticed Em’s face changing, he’s turning like tomato red. There’s a sea of red guys around him. I had to bust through the middle man and snatch him up. Like, ‘Hey man what the hell’s going on up here?’ This is exactly what they said, ‘Death Row, motherfucker, Death Row.'”
Big Naz says that he confronted the goons and learned that Knight sent them to get into it with the Aftermath Entertainment signee and Detroit native.
“‘Man, Suge Knight sent us to strongarm him and it’s going down,'” Naz remembers them saying. “I was like, ‘Oh man, I just inherited the East Coast – West Coast beef.'”
He remembers running around trying to take control of the situation with Dr. Dre.
“I had to snatch him up, I had to call Dre and his bodyguards and tell them what was going on because they was backstage, snatched him up backstage, called the limo driver,” he says. “I said, ‘Look, I need you all to have that car around when I call y’all. But the way they had it set up, the limos can only stay seated for like 30 seconds at a time in front of the red carpet for security reasons. So long story short, we ended up going backstage, Eminem did his presentation and we had to watch out for guys backstage. So I pretty much had to have him stand behind me and I just had to be on knockout mode, man. So it was me, Dre, Dre’s bodyguards, we were in beast mode the whole time. So anybody that got anywhere close trying to get an autograph or trying to talk, trying to speak, they were gonna get laid out, man because that was the kind of atmosphere that was set up.”
Big Naz Shares Details On Eminem Biopic
This is just one of the many adventures the bodyguard had with Eminem and he chronicles his time with the man born Marshall Mathers in his book, Shady Bizzness. Big Naz says that he is in the process of getting the book made into a movie and is the “closest I’ve ever been” to getting a deal in place. He says
that directors Danny DeVito and Ron Howard have reached out to him.
He details a meeting he had with producers in Hollywood and drew them in by comparing the film to the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, which set many box office records upon its release last year.
“I got a standing ovation,” Big Naz says of his pitch. “You know how I pitched the book, man? I said Shady Bizzness is the sequel to Straight Outta Compton. It’s the sequel, baby. The way it was written, it’s the sequel to Straight Outta Compton. Dre leaves Death Row, starts his own label, signs Shady, boom. It’s a continuation. You can’t avoid that. You can try to ignore it, but you can’t avoid that.”
Big Naz says he was part of the early process of Eminem’s classic film 8 Mile, but was blocked from further involvement by Slim’s team. He thinks he has a winning formula for an Eminem biopic because of the copyrighted material that is in Shady Bizzness that the rapper’s team cannot release without his permission.
“I own that. You can tell any other part of your life,” he says. “All artists, what do they always do? What do they always tell? When Prince passed away, Michael Jackson. They always go back to what? The beginning. You can’t tell the end without the beginning, baby. You gotta come to daddy. I’m daddy. You gotta come to me. And I’m humble enough to sit down and I’ve tried with them several times. I’ve reached out to them, ‘Look, I’m burying the hatchet. Let’s move forward. I don’t have no ill feelings t
owards y’all.’ I even went to Proof’s funeral. I’ve extended an olive branch more than three times. At a certain point, you have to step back, man, you have to step back. I got a lot of respect for them guys ’cause they know how to get money, but at the same time, I’m a businessman, too.”
Listen to Big Naz’s discussion about Eminem’s run-in with Suge Knight’s goons and the biopic based on Shady Bizzness in the clips below:
Yeah that’s nothin. This colione from the world famous justice league. I know both suge and em. They both punks. I’ll beat both they ass. Em can’t rhyme and suge just a big ol teddy bear. I’d fuck em both tho. So if y’all wanna talk, just know that me and the justice league are forever. Nigga.
Stupid fucking troll
Lol good 1
Just another person to come up off someone else’s hard work. How can you “own” another man’s life story. I’m pretty sure everybody already watched 8 mile. Plus, the only thing that looks “shady” on that book is the cover…
I saw the title and wondered why he would go after Eminem… then I realized it’s because Dre…
I literally just fucking Forgot About Dre just now…
I see what u did there
I stopped reading when he tarted pitching a book…bullshit
This is also the same man that was on Sally Rafael talking about he went to Eminem’s door with a gun ready to shoot him…while his children were there. Smh just for some money
I told you before Eminem is a fruity. Death Row never ever gonna start shit with Gucci. Gucci just gonna pull his gun and shoot. Gucci aint a fake gangsta like: dre, ice cube, mobb deep, nas, jay-z, 50 cent, game etc.
Who are you even talking to? You look like an aborted fetus
And we will never ever know cause by the time guccis career really took off death row was basicly non existent and anytime hes out in public he has an entourage or security so? Again will never ever know how he would handle real shit hes just playing a part like an actor on audio love gucci mane one of the best to ever do it out of ATL… FYI you dont need to be gangsta to pull a gun and take a mans life i carry 2 guns on me everywhere i go (other than federal/state property) legaly with permits… and why would i carry those? Oh yeah if someone tries taking my life and i have no other option its what im going to everytime to get my back out of the corner…had to use mine twice unfortunatley…no deaths just injuries but both times lawful…. just like gucci did when he killed a man who broke into his place you gotta defend yourself and push come to shove its you and youe family or them….
Gucci gay ass aint doing shit he would have probably blew every one of suges goons. no straight man puts a fucking ice cream cone tattoo on his face. we need to get all this gay shit like Gucci drake and kanye out of hip-hop.
Are you retarded? Gucci ain’t even the real Gucci anymore and he was never realer than anybody from up north. period. You worship wack niggas.
Nice pic clown shoes
Shady and Dre carry them guns and It ain’t like they haven’t been using them. U were not ever there.There is nothing fake about Dre,D-12,royceDa’5’9″or shady.Houses still getting shot up with shady riding shotgun. They are smart enough not to do it in front of the cameras.You don’t know what they do outside the so ,Shut off your shit spitter and stop hating .
Anybody else read this in Coles voice from Gears of War
Kill yourself, White people. Y’all are wack.
If it wasnt for us you would still be sitting in africa, in a puddle of rain water swatting at flies. So fucking hateful about slavery still and want reparations for something you never experienced?
And if it wasn’t for us, you’d be still walking on all fours over the mountains in Europe and still trying to figure out how the pyramids were built.
you know, civilization came from africa. they had kingdoms to sit in. i mean egypt is part of africa. it’s not just dudes in huts lol
You first, dipshit.
Free Suge Knight.
In High school we were skipping school riding round smoking tress when we heard on the radio Eminem was being arraigned for his little crime spree a couple weeks before MMLP dropping in Royal Oak, MI court. We went over there and I was in an elevator w this guy and he said “So what do you think about whats going on w Em?” We pretty much told him we thought it was a publicity stunt to look gangster or hard. The guy had a look on his face like a child that got caught doing something wrong. lol
The only good thing Suge has done was ride on biggie
FUCK the justice league it’s SUICIDE SQUAD BITCH ur momma can get it ANYBODAY CAN GET IT
Suge Knight is in jail yet again only this time without even being able to put out Doggystyle or The Chronic for the millionth time disguised as a “Death Row Compilation”. The guy is a fucking idiot and deserves zero respect. I’d rather be a near billionaire (Dre) or one of the most respected lyricists of all time (Em) than some washed up, single minded, tough guy moron that’s old enough to be someone’s grandad. All the people he tries to disrespect are in infinitely better positions than he is. Dre pretty much gave him a successful record label and he ran it into the ground, whilst Dre formed Aftermath. Snoop called him a bitch and even Proof mugged him off right to his face. Fake industry tough guy. Try that crap with some actual gangsters (not hip hop “gangstas”) and see how his credibility holds up.
Why black people are biggest racists pricks on Earth?
“we knew at the source awards someone always gets shot” hahahaha dumba$$es
Glad nothing happened to him,on track to be one of the top three in my book he’s on that 2pac and Biggie and BIG L level, don’t Hate people, deep down YOU ALL KNOW he can spit….e`nuff said, keep it pushing ‘E’
“He thinks he has a winning formula for an Eminem biopic because of the copyrighted material that is in Shady Bizzness that the rapper’s team cannot release without his permission.”
You can’t own someone else’s life story you moron.
He’s free to tell the events too.
Funny how everybody gangsta and talking crap about being tough, but the truth is every rapper, if they about that life or not gotta come through L.A. and when they come here they on crickets..Nobody tough no more when they come here because if you get to talking wreckless you’ll ge showed the exit…especially if you gangbanging from out of town.. stick to conscious rap because all that other stuff will make you an angel in the city!!