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He's Back! Suge Knight Returns to Death Row with New Artists, Projects in Place

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LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2001--A major -- and controversial -- figure in the world of music is back in business.

Friends and rivals alike are bracing this week for the return of Suge Knight to his desk at Death Row Records, a label he founded, owns and from which he has been separated for approximately five years while serving a prison sentence for probation violation.

He has new plans for the label involving several West Coast rap artists -- both known and new -- and projects, all to be announced later.

Said Knight: "I'm back. At my desk. In the studio... and on the street, which is where we're going to find the next generation of Death Row superstars. Death Row is going back to where it belongs -- at the top!"

At its helm nearly a decade ago, Knight turned Death Row Records into the top selling rap label, made gangsta rap a major and controversial, commercial force, and produced a series of platinum-selling artists and recordings that defined the West Coast rap/hip hop genre.

Knight returns to Death Row at an opportune moment.

The label has just released "Death Row Presents: Tha Dogg Pound, 2002," a collection of unreleased tracks from rap stars Tupac, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, Crooked I and Soopafly.

Death Row has also released the recent double platinum 2PAC CD, "Until The End Of Time," which debuted at No. 1.

"Death Row has been successful during my absence," noted Knight. "But now we're going to take it to the next level..."

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This story circulated on the newsgroup alt.rap and reached the archive on August 8, 2001. It is reproduced as posted — headlines, typos and all. The post did not credit a source; this story is preserved as it reached the newsgroup.