WTF: TRUE CRIME? SUGE KNIGHT VS EMINEM

Few things have changed more in my lifetime than Rap Beefs. What was once a legitimate threat to an artist’s life has now become a venue for some meme goof to come up with a whackass excuse for being a deadbeat dad.

Today we go back to the turn of the century to a time when the stakes were a little higher.

Namely, because Suge Knight was involved.

Eminem was too.

If you’re unfamiliar with this story, hold tight, because it’s a doozy.

The clip below is Marshall’s former bodyguard Byron "Big Naz" Williams being interviewed on the Murder Master Mystery Show. Big Naz tells a tale that needs to be fictionalized into a movie as soon as possible.

Listen to the man himself tell his side of the story.

Suge Knight appeared to hate Eminem merely as an extension of his still-going beef with Dr. Dre. This is one of many things rap feuds have in common with middle school feuds. D12 member Swifty McVay explains Shady’s role in the whole melodrama:

“Em was pretty much guilty through association. Dr. Dre inherited this beef from Suge and all that. And here comes Em being with Dre. So, he kinda got pulled in it by default.”

This quotes comes from a separate incident about Suge sending some goons to intimidate 50 Cent and Eminem at the “In Da Club” video shoot. Add that to Big Naz’s account of the 2001 Source Awards and the Honolulu Incident and we’ve got a potential trilogy on our hands.

A Quick Recap of Each Incident

2001 Source Awards: It all started because bodyguards were not sitting with the artists. Which basically means the folks running the Source Awards that year wanted some shit to pop off.

According to Naz, a group gentleman all wearing red tees were in the aisle next to Eminem shouting “Death Row motherf-----s. Suge Knight sent us to strong arm Eminem and it’s going down.”

That would be the end of Em’s time in the audience that evening. Slim was still able to perform, but Naz and Dre’s bodyguards teamed up to escort him off the premise soon as he came off stage.

Lord help the pitiful soul who tried to get an autograph or picture that night as Marshall was swarmed by a group of extremely yolked professional men who don’t fuck around for a living and were going to get him out of the building and into a car at all costs.

Honolulu: Snoop and Eminem are met on the tarmac by 20 Honolulu police and told their show is canceled, because “Death Row is here.”

Interscope had to pick up the tab for the police because of Suge’s deep connection on the island.

The way Naz tells it, soon as they stepped off the plane the whole thing turned into a real life Michael Bay film,

“Suge Knight had sent 50 guys to try to break up the show. When we got there, vacation mode was over, we were locking and loading, putting on bulletproof vests with their wives and girlfriends sitting next to them.”

“In Da Club” Video: There’s a lot less details on this particular incident. The only account of it comes from the aforementioned Swifty McVay. To hear him tell it, Suge and some goons showed up the set of the video to fuck with Dre’s proteges and the boys from D12 explained basic geography to them:

I like the idea of D12 being all like “We’re from Detroit. We don’t know you,” and Suge being like “Excellent point, let’s get out of here guys.”

Regardless, I’m sure some screenwriter can come up with a more cinematic ending to this whole ordeal.

Just be sure to give Big Naz a production credit.

via GIPHY

Calvin Paradise is not any one thing. The half-hearted vagabond and forgetful luddite currently resides in Los Angeles and how he spends his time is none of your damned business.