Suge Knight was the co-founder and CEO of Death Row Records, the label that propelled 1990s gangsta rap to mainstream success with landmark albums like Dr. Dre's The Chronic (1992) and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle (1993). Before his music career, he played college football at UNLV and briefly appeared in the NFL as a replacement player during the 1987 players' strike. Knight is perhaps most infamous for bailing out Tupac Shakur in 1995 and signing him to Death Row, only to be driving the car when Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas in September 1996. After Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg left, the label declined, and Knight faced mounting allegations of using intimidation and violence in his business dealings, leading to several prison stints in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In September 2018, he pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for a fatal 2015 hit-and-run, and due to California's three-strikes law, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison, making him eligible for parole in October 2034.