The law may finally have caught up with Marion “Suge” Knight — he is, after all, on trial for murder — but for a period in the 1990s he seemed both genuinely untouchable and genuinely terrifying. The stories about his conduct while at the helm of Death Row Records are legion, and another has surfaced today — as per Yahoo! News, Eminem’s former bodyguard has alleged that back in 2001, Knight sent “henchmen” to rough up and maybe even murder the rapper. It’s worth noting that the bodyguard in question, one Byron “Big Naz” Williams, has a book to sell — he wrote Shady Bizzness: Life as Marshall Mathers’ Bodyguard in an Industry of Paper Gangsters, the publication of which pre-dates the incident in question (it was released in 2000.) And, of course, Knight is safely in jail, unable to either rebut the claims or send any more henchmen to, um, dispute them on his behalf.
Still, it’s a startling allegation — the head of one of America’s biggest record companies plotting against a man who was at the time quite possibly the biggest musician on the planet. It’s almost like someone should make a film out of it! Oh, did we mention that Williams is in negotiations to make a film version of Shady Bizzness? According to Hip Hop DX, “Big Naz says that he is in the process of getting the book made into a movie and is the ‘closest I’ve ever been’ to getting a deal in place.” Wow! What a time to remember a killer (ahem) story about Eminem, eh?