There's much wheeling and dealing that goes on behind the scenes to make things happen in the industry. While there are plenty of deals that fly above board, there are some that go down outside of the boardroom. Yet, apparently, if you were Suge Knight during the hip hop era when Death Row was at the top of its game, you just walked into an executive's office and told them that their artist was now yours.
Chris Gotti, brother to Irv Gotti and co-founder of Murder Inc, sat down with Doggie Diamonds TV to chat about a myriad of topics, one of which was his relationship with the now-incarcerated Suge Knight. According to Chris, there was a time, many moons ago, when Suge attempted to take Ja Rule from his label through methods of intimidation.
"I f*ck with Suge, but you know it wasn't always good," he said. "He showed a good side but he made one move to do...but all predators make one move. They try you, and if you don't stand right, you gon' get tested, right? That's a predator. That is the absolute...anyone who deals with a predator or is a predator, if they try something, it's because they're seeing how far they can get away with something."
Gotti said that although Suge did try to test him and Murder Inc., the Death Row mogul learned that they weren't to be messed with. "[It was] when Ja was doing Blood in My Eye and he made a move for Ja Rule. Kevin Liles calls me from the office talking 'bout, 'Suge Knight is in here talkin' 'bout Ja Rule is his artists' [and] 'What happened in L.A.?' I speak to Irv and was basically like, 'Imma go see him.' Irv wasn't in New York at the time. Irv was like, 'Do what you want.'"
Chris said that he got a "few dudes"—30 or 40 men—together and went to see Suge at his hotel. Gotti claims he was giving the "PG" version of the story, but ultimately, he and Suge sat down and had a conversation about it and in the end, Ja remained with his label. He also mentioned that Liles, who is the former president of Def Jam, was "shook" when he called Chris from his bathroom in his office. Check out the full story below.