COMING | Steve Whitney To Produce Suge Knight Biopic… Deal struck with incarcerated mogul.

It was reported today by Dateline that Producer Steve Whitney and his company TSW Films have consummated a deal and purchased Suge Knight’s life rights with plans to develop a biopic on the infamous music mogul, Whitney is reportedly bringing Nick Cassavetes and Andrew Thorne into the project to write the script.

Suge Knight, The former music exec born Marion Hugh “Suge” Knight Jr. co-founded the iconic label Death Row Records in 1991 and is credited with bringing the subgenre of gangsta rap from the underground into the mainstream after NWA’s second album, ‘Efil4zaggin’, broke ground as the first gangsta rap album to reach no.#1 on Billboard pop charts in 1991. Actually the steady drive and impact of Death Row over time actually made gangsta rap the mainstream over all other rap and hip hop.

When Death Row released Dr. Dre’s “The Cronic, Lp” in December of 1992, it ushered in a paradigm change already in motion that largely smothered much of black radio as we knew it and killed off much of the other forms of hip hop making gangsta rap, and specifically, West Coast G-Funk, the predominant genre that dominated the rap charts.

Beginning with the success of The Chronic, and followed by Snoop Dogg’s ’93 release Doggystyle, Lp which debuted at No.#1 on Billboard selling 800,000 copies in it’s first week before going on to quadruple-platinum, then followed by the release of Tupac Shakurs’ All Eyez On Me, Lp in February of 1996, we then saw the mainstreaming of hard-core rap acts begin dominating the airwaves and record charts, acts like the Geto Boys, DMX, Cypress Hill, Wu-Tang Clan among others.

Knight’s Death Row label had created a monster wave and was riding it, other G-Funk artists enjoying the swell created by Death Row were MC Eiht, Spice 1, MC Ren, and Ice Cube among others, though none of those named artists were signed to Knights label.

When Suge Knight, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur adorned the cover of Vibe Magazine in February 1996 coinciding with the release of Tupac’s debut ‘All Eyez On me‘ album, they became the face of hip hop.

Knight’s label had enormous success with over 50 artists and profits of over $100 million a year, but fell into bankruptcy after the departure of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog, the murder of Tupac and the 2018 incarceration of Knight on charges of voluntary manslaughter.

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Knight is currently incarcerated at San Diego’s RJ Donovan Correctional Facility after crashing his car into Heayweight Records co-founder Terry Carter and filmmaker Cle Sloan in 2015—killing Carter and severely injuring Sloan. While he pleaded no contest to the charges against him, he will not be eligible for parole until July 2037.  

Knight’s notoriety has seen him be portrayed over the years in numerous films, including Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story, Notorious, Straight Outta Compton, Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le and All Eyez on Me, along with the USA Network series Unsolved. He also was at the center of the 2018 Showtime documentary American Dream/American Knightmare, directed by Antoine Fuqua.

“During the golden era of rap and hip hop, all roads led through Suge Knight,” said Whitney. “That era helped define a new brand of music and culture that changed the world.”

Knight, regarding the deal was quoted in part saying… “I jumped off the porch in my neighborhood at a young age but never forgot where I came from. Most people try to ride for the hills, I made it and tried to bring as many people to the hills with me and feel that I was successful at it.”

Whitney has focused thus far in his career on bringing true life stories to the screen—including One Chance, a film about Britain’ s Got Talent winner Paul Potts, starring James Corden, which he exec produced with Simon Cowell. Additional credits include The Haunting in Connecticut with Virginia Madsen and the remake of The Amityville Horror with Ryan Reynolds.

Cassavetes is an actor, writer, director and producer who recently wrapped production on God Is a Bullet—a crime drama he wrote and directed, starring Jamie Foxx. His past credits include The Notebook, John Q and Blow. Thorne is a writer and producer whose credits include Tragedy Girls and After Exile.