'Suge' Knight, Kanye West face off over lawsuit

[woof]

Battle-scarred rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight and volatile hip-hop star Kanye West faced off Friday over a beef involving a bullet - with a conference table between them.

The two rap titans were there for West to answer questions about a celebrity-packed Miami Beach party where an unknown gunman shot Knight in the leg. West hosted the 2005 fete at the posh Shore Club before the MTV Video Music Awards, held that year in Miami.

Knight - who promoted some of rap's biggest acts in the 1990s but has been beset by legal and financial troubles - has sued the Grammy Award-winning West and the Shore Club's owners, saying they didn't provide enough security.

Knight said Friday he had hoped a face-to-face encounter with West - and their lawyers - could settle the matter, but he got few answers.

"I figured I could sit him down, man to man, and get this resolved," Knight said after the six-hour, closed-door session at a Fifth Avenue office. "I'm disappointed."

West said he wasn't involved in the security arrangements for the party, said Knight's lawyer, Marc Brumer.

West briskly left the building afterward; his lawyers didn't immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages left Friday evening. In court papers, West and the Shore Club ownership have denied Knight's claims of negligence.

No one has been arrested in the August 2005 shooting, which erupted in a club full of partygoers, including Jessica Alba, Eddie Murphy, the Black Eyed Peas and Paris Hilton. At least six shots were fired, police said.

The shooting shattered Knight's femur and left him with $200,000 in medical bills, Brumer said.

Knight said in his lawsuit, now being handled in Miami federal court, that West and the Shore Club should have realized the party could produce a "dangerous environment" because of a widely known history of sometimes violent feuding among rap figures.

"My whole thing is: I'm not here to put nobody behind bars," Knight said Friday, saying he mainly wanted to put the specter of rap-related violence to rest.

"It's time for more positive now," he added.

The burly Knight, nicknamed "Suge" for Sugar Bear, founded Death Row Records and was one of the most powerful music figures of the 1990s. His stable of rappers included such superstars as Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, who was shot and killed in 1996 while riding in Knight's car.

At the time, the Los Angeles-based Knight was publicly clashing with New York-based Sean Combs' Bad Boy label. Bad Boy's top artist, the Notorious B.I.G., was gunned down months later in Los Angeles. Relatives of B.I.G. have accused Knight of being involved; he has denied it, and police have never named him as a suspect.

Knight, who was jailed for five years in the 1990s on an assault conviction, has continued to have brushes with the law in recent years. Most recently, Los Angeles police sought assault charges against him after he was suspected of pointing a gun at a man in May, but prosecutors declined to file charges.

Knight, 45, made millions in Death Row's heyday, but he filed for bankruptcy in 2006, spurring an auction of the label's assets and sale of his mansion in Malibu, Calif.

He's seeking more than $1 million in damages in his lawsuit, but he would have to share the money with a bankruptcy trustee and the Internal Revenue Service if he prevails.

West, 33, rose to become one of rap's biggest stars in recent years, though he also has become known for impolitic outbursts - including an episode in which he interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech during last year's MTV awards to say that Beyonce should have won Swift's award instead. West later apologized.

[V2DHeart]

What the desperate will do for money. Suge would have never went through these legal channels in the mid 90's

[BOX5 the best poster on this site yell]

wow wow! - ricc flair yell

[V2DHeart]

He wont win. He'll get compensated for court and legal fee's at the most and that's it. Poor guy.

Suge's coming round to mine next weekend to wash my car, and to take my dog (snoopy) out for a walk

[Young Dan Iza]

suge is just trying to get to kanye so he can get his career relaunched, definitely not gangster suge.

[Blasphemy]

"I figured I could sit him down, man to man, and get this resolved," Knight said after the six-hour, closed-door session at a Fifth Avenue office. "I'm disappointed."

Obviously the tendency is still in him  but since he couldn't be "Reached" Legality is all he's got left. lol I would say "how the might have fallen" but considering he's lost everything, but still has a Solid legacy in rap (for what it's worth). All I gotta say is bring on the next victim. 

[StrEiht Up Menace]

now kanye is gonna  make more music 

[OG Hack Wilson]

What the desperate will do for money. Suge would have never went through these legal channels in the mid 90's

the nigga would've had kanye killed within 2 days

[StevenQBosell]

wow wow! - ricc flair yell

LMFAO +1, that Ric Flair reference had me dying...

[V2DHeart]

What the desperate will do for money. Suge would have never went through these legal channels in the mid 90's

the nigga would've had kanye killed within 2 days

& without having to meet Kanye. A cardboard cut-out at his front door would have been enough to make him drop

LOL @ the guy asking about when is Kanye going to make more good music. None after College Drop Out

[mastdark81]

In other news I just heard Suge was in talks with Antoine Fuqua for making a 2pac film.