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Suge Knight is known due to his career as a rap executive whose Death Row Records company produced for many stars like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. But did you know he was also an NFL player back in the day?
Knight tried to make it as a defensive end. Before turning into one of the biggest stars in the rap scene, he played college football at the highest level. He later signed with the Los Angeles Rams, playing a couple of games before deciding that he did not want to live under the NFL's tough rules. Let's rewind the clock to find out how Suge's NFL career worked out.
Why did Suge Knight quit NFL?
The rap mogul started out in football as a child, with his father taking him to games. Many big college football programmes were interested in him, but his high school coach told him to stay away from USC, which was close to his home, due to the distractions it could cause him.
He played at UNLV in Nevada for two years before going undrafted in the 1987 NFL draft. He signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams that year but was cut midway through training camp. He still played two games that season, as the league grappled with the infamous 1987 players' strike.
Knight decided to retire abruptly from the league due to a disagreement with his coaches regarding his playing time.
"Hell no (it wasn’t what I thought it would be),” Knight said in the Showtime documentary American Dream/American Knightmare. “The NFL is the worst muthaf—–g place you could be. Because the NFL is like a plantation for slaves. They treat you like a kid because when you’re big, it represents dumb, no matter that. And then the darker you are, the more stupid they think you are.
Where is Suge Knight now? Path from college football to rap mogul
Suge Knight later became a rap executive and signed many key rappers over the years. Although Death Row Records had a major reputation as a violent label, it still produced some of the greatest rap records of all time.
He's currently incarcerated due to a conviction of voluntary manslaughter in a 2015 incident, for which he was sentenced to 28 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2034.
