ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Calling the late rapper Tupac Shakur his best friend, Death Row Records co-founder Marion „Suge“ Knight said it was „crazy“ to speculate that he had anything to do with Shakur’s death in Las Vegas.
„I loved ‚Pac then. I love ‚Pac now. He loved me. That’s my little homey and it’s always going to be that way, you know, and nothing’s going to change that,“ Knight said in his first jailhouse interview with Fox’s TV show „America’s Most Wanted.“
Last month, Knight was was sentenced to nine years in prison for violating his 1995 probation.
The judge said Knight violated his probation by taking part in a fight at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas hotel on Sept. 7. Hours later, Shakur was shot in a drive-by attack as he rode in Knight’s car. Shakur died six days later. Knight was struck in the head.
The case remains unsolved.
„September 7th is a part of history. It’s a sad day. It’s an educational day,“ Knight told the TV show in an episode broadcast Saturday night.
Asked about rumors that Shakur was going to leave the rap label, Knight said there was no friction between he and Shakur.
„If you look at any interview that Tupac did, if you look at any video, any TV show he did, one thing he always did was praise Death Row and me and him praised each other,“ Knight said.
Common sense should tell homicide investigators that he didn’t shoot Shakur, Knight said.
„Just shoot me in my head, make sure you hit me in my head for it can look good. That’s crazy,“ he said.
Knight said police have already questioned the man he believes is responsible for the shooting.
Knight also defended his actions just after the shooting. He immediately made a u-turn, away from any hospital.
„How many people you know, would get shot in the head, where it fractures their skull, and instead of just taking off driving and thinking about their buddy to make sure they’re alright, do you think any person who got shot in the head is going to say, ‚Well, lemme see the quickest way to get to the hospital‘? The average person I think would be dead.“
Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, has suggested Knight and Death Row cheated her son out of earnings from his records.
„When I was in jail I gave her a check for $3 million. Plus also you’ve got the paperwork right there … I think in four or five months Tupac spent $2.4 million, $2.5 million,“ he said.
Knight has said he would continue to oversee the record company, one of rap music’s hottest labels, while in jail.
