Suge Knight, the co-founder and CEO of Death Row Records, apparently called Eminem the greatest lyricists and told Crook that their creative partnership would be good for him.
Crooked I had a difficult t time looking for a good record deal at the beginning of his career. After Virgin Records disbanded their urban division leaving Crook out of the deal, he went into talks with Aftermath. However, seeing that the label focused all its energy on upcoming releases from Dr.Dre and Eminem, Crook signed the solo deal with Death Row Records, the first home for Tupac, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg.
Little did he know that with Suge Knight in and out of jail, complicated label politics and the company in troubles, he would leave the label with only a mixtape and plenty features released, his two recorded albums would be locked in the Death Row vaults. Even when Crook went independent and started working on his album – Death Row was legally blocking him from doing so.
Recently KXNG Crooked sat down with On The Line podcast where he talked about this time, among other topics. He admitted that the time with Death Row hurt his career, however, he said, he had never made round on the media, badmouthing Suge Knight and dragging their beef into the spotlight. “He gave me a shot, and I appreciate that”, said Crook. He also said that they had an open conversation about their differences and maintained a civilised relationship after, running into each other at parties before Suge got his last sentence.
However, once they had an interesting conversation that involved Eminem, revealed Crook.
[Suge Knight] called me one day when I was at Eminem’s studio standing in the kitchen. And he like, “Yo, Crook, I heard you’re with the white boy”. That’s what he called him, you know. “I’m glad you’re with the white boy”, he said. “I’ll never stand in the way of any progress in your career”. He said: “Eminem is one of the greatest lyricists, and so are you. And he’s gonna understand what to do with you. So stay over there rocking with him, and it’s all love”. I hung up the phone, told Marshall.
This is quite a revelation. The last thing Suge Knight publicly said about Eminem was his intro to Nick Cannon’s diss recorded over a phone call from prison where he serves 28 years for the hit-and-run killing.
Watch the video below:
