Death Row vs Top Dawg
Suge Knight made some interesting comments to Arsenio Hall on his late night show a month or so back concerning the types of record deals that artist, specifically the two most notable ones from Compton (Game, Kendrick Lamar) signed to become major label artists that have riled up the feathers of the otherwise relatively soft-spoken TDE CEO. Suge initially had this to say to Hall:
The deals are still messed up. I think it’s unfair if you really look at it, if you look at Interscope, the two guys from Compton—Game, Kendrick Lamar—got two of the worst deals in the industry. And when you look at it, it’s not so much the production company fault, but what people don’t realize is that if you’re on Universal, it’s the ship. Then Interscope get they cut, then Aftermath get they cut, then G-Unit get they cut. Then the guy who really has Game signed, it was another production company, then it came to Game. The reality is there’s more slavery now than ever.
Last night, on BET, Suge Knight clarified his comments, adding that he wasn’t trying to put the artists down, but he was expressing the sentiment that he felt as if the record labels were treating “my people” like slaves.
Top Dawg, better known as Anthony Tiffith, who famously pulled Kendrick Lamar out of GQ’s celebratory Men Of The Year concert last year because of racial overtones in his cover story, fired back at Suge on Twitter with a simple request:
TELL SUGE I SAID IF HE KAN SHOW ME 1 CHECK WE PAID 2 INTERSCOPE OFF OF R TOUING..ILL SELL HIM TDE 4 $1, NOBODY GETS SHIT OFF OUR TOURS. #TOP
— dangeroo kipawaa TDE (@dangerookipawaa) April 16, 2014
Things are heating up out west.
