Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Sharitha Knight, a stout woman with short dark hair, is a producer in the music industry.
- She is known best as someone who was part of the music company Death Row Records & became part of the controversy surrounding the death of famous rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996.
- Sharitha married Suge Knight in 1989 and gave birth to one daughter with him.
- After their divorce, she got remarried to another individual & took the last name Golden. She now has 2 more young children, and they all continue to live in California.
Professional Life & Net Worth : Death Row Records
- Death Row Records was founded in 1991 by rappers Dr. Dre and The D.O.C. and producer Suge Knight, who was Sharitha’s husband at the time. While she wasn’t one of the official founding owners, she worked as a producer, and as the label grew, she obtained a percentage of the company.
- Death Row Records became famous for signing multi-platinum artists like Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, MC Hammer, and Lady of Rage.
- The label focused on West Coast artists, specifically from California’s inner cities.
Death Row Records Controversies :
- In 1995, Suge began bringing in his own friends to sign for the label. While the nature of hip hop at the time encouraged diss tracks & feuds between artists, Suge’s friends took it to a more literal level, and Death Row Records became a place that fostered violence.
- The D.O.C. and Dr. Dre soon left the label, and the company began to crumble.
- At this point, Knight had approximately half of Death Row Records’ equity, but her husband was becoming increasingly difficult to work with and used violence to keep his staff in line.
- The label’s major artists, 2Pac and Snoop Dogg began working on their albums without Suge.
- On September 7, 1996, Tupac was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting. He had been in the backseat of Suge’s car & they were stopped at a stoplight. Suge was hurt by a ricochet but was not targeted.
- There were alleged rumors that Suge was involved in 2Pac’s death.
Alleged Involvement :
- While Sharitha was working for Death Row Records, she kept a relatively low profile as she produced albums for some of hip hop’s greatest artists.
- After 2Pac’s death, she tried to continue working but ultimately had to leave the label, which had begun to fail.
- In April of 2017, Suge came forward while talking to the producers of a documentary surrounding 2Pac & said that it was Sharitha and a Death Row staffer Reggie Wright Jr. that were behind 2Pac’s death.
- Suge said that Sharitha was trying to kill him to get control over the label but hit 2Pac instead.
- Knight has vehemently denied these allegations, citing that the label was worthless without 2Pac & she had no motive to kill either of them. She even considered suing for defamation.