Suge Knight is a man who seems fond of getting into trouble. He’s been in and out of prison on several occasions, and now – after skipping a court date – it looks as if Suge Knight could lose Death Row records.

Suge Knight was due in court on Saturday to answer questions about his assets. But the big guy didn’t turn up, meaning that there’s now a good chance that Death Row could go into receivership. Death Row is the record label that gave the world Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur so – indirectly, at least – it is also responsible for The Snooperbowl and that dreadful Elton John song from last year. Make your own minds up about whether the loss of Death Row is a good idea or not.

Although Suge Knight is undoubtedly a double hard bastard – as is anyone accused of shooting themselves in the leg
- he might have finally met his match in the US judicial system.
Because, after he skipped a court session on Saturday, Suge Knight
might have lost his record label, Death Row.

The future of Death Row – the record label that convinced legions of
deluded white, middle class teenagers that they could wear baggy
clothes and make funny hand shapes while ending every word with "izzle"
just like the black kids on TV – has been in doubt since last summer,
when Suge Knight had his assets frozen and was ordered to pay Lydia Harris
$107 million, after she claimed to have been the Vice President of
Death Row at its inception in 1989. And then Michael Harris, the
imprisoned former husband of Lydia, claims that he stumped up some
early money as well, and is owed half of the $107 million.

Since then, legal teams representing Lydia Harris, Michael Harris
and Suge Knight have been battling in court. However, Suge Knight had
been infuriating courts by not attending sessions, and last month the
judge said that Death Row would go into receivership if Suge Knight
didn’t attend the next appointment. And – guess what – he didn’t.

Steve Goldberg, the lawyer for Michael Harris, told the BBC that
Death Row would now go into the hands of a court-appointed receiver,
and that he and Lydia Harris’ lawyer would be asking that Suge Knight
is held in contempt of court and thrown in jail until he complies with
orders to declare all of his assets. Dermot Givens, the lawyer for Suge
Knight who didn’t tuen up for the court case either, said:

"We try our cases in the court and not in the press."

Message received, Mr Givens. We understizzle.

Read more:

Rap label in receivership threat – BBC

[story by Stuart Heritage]