10 Times Suge Knight Lived Up To His Reputation

The rise and fall of N.W.A is a complex and interesting story with so many moving parts, that it's hard to pinpoint one figure as the sole reason for the eventual breakup of the group.

Contract disagreements and favourable treatment of Eazy-E from manager Jerry Heller, put the group on track for a nasty breakup, but Suge Knight helped to orchestrate the split too, by facilitating the release of Dr Dre from his contract with Eazy and Heller's Ruthless Records label.

After realising that the lion's share of the money in the industry came from actually owning music, Knight sought to create a record label and capitalised on the friction within N.W.A by getting one of the best producers of all time on his side in Dr Dre. The only problem was that Dre was still in contract with Ruthless and would be unable to release anything under Knight.

A simple fix for Knight, as he supposedly paid Eazy a visit with a few goons armed with baseball bats. After some roughing up and apparent threats of visiting his mother, Eazy-E signed a release form and Dre was a free agent. While he may not have been the only one with a hand in it, Suge definitely expedited the process of the downfall of one of the most influential music groups of all time.