Suge Knight Says He Invested $500,000 into Deion Sander’s Rap Career When He Was Signed to Death Row

“So I go to Jimmy [Iovine], say, ‘Look, I paid for everything. The contract’s with me but could you put him out on Interscope.’ They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, [I’ll] do that—anything for you Mr. Knight.’ And so if Prime performing somewhere, I’m taking a private plane to make sure everything’s good. But not one day did anybody give me a dollar back.”

According to Suge, while Sanders was “only signed to Death Row,” it seems he worked with Interscope to sidestep any issues with Nike and Death Row. Suge drove home the point by telling Cannon that checks for Sanders’ breakout song, “Must Be the Money,” “have been coming this way.” However, per Forbes, Sanders released Prime Time through MC Hammer’s Bust It imprint, via Capitol Records.

Sanders signed with Nike in 1992 before things went awry. In a 2017 interview with Complex, Sanders revealed that he felt like he wasn’t fairly paid for his part in the creation of the original Diamond Turf shoe.