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The Big-Ass Timeline



More information than you could ever need, but if you do, it's probably here. I've included specific locations when possible, so you can re-enact or visit the sites. If you have any refinements you'd like to make in what I have, or have some dates to add, please write me.

Also, if you're going to steal all this hard-earned information for your own use, the least you could do is give me some credit and a link. Thanks.




1971

June 16
Tupac Shakur is born.



1979

October 10
Ian "Tha Man" Wallace is born.



1984

Suge Knight attends and plays football for El Camino Junior College in California.



1985-1986

Suge Knight attends University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and plays on the Rebel football team as a defensive end, but drops out shortly before graduation. Plays for a short time with the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL. After football, goes on to work as a bodyguard for Bobby Brown.



1987

October 31
Suge Knight is arrested at the Rancho Sahara Apartments at 1655 E. Sahara Ave. where he lives at the time. He is arrested on charges of attempted murder and grand larceny on Halloween night after shooting a man in the wrist and leg during an argument. Pleads guilty to a misdemeanor.



1989

November 3
Suge Knight and Sharitha Lee Golden marry in Las Vegas.



1990

Suge Knight begins promoting shows in Los Angeles.

June 6
Suge Knight is charged with assault after breaking a man's jaw outside a house in West Las Vegas. Knight later pleads guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon.



1991

Tupac Shakur featured on "This is an EP Release" album by Digital Underground.

"2Pacalypse Now" solo album released by Tupac Shakur.



1992

Suge Knight and Dr. Dre form Future Shock Records. A friend suggests Death Row Records, Suge buys the idea from him (because everyone on the label has had run-ins with the law), and the company that made modern rap is born.

Suge Knight receives probation on a nine-year suspended sentence for assault with a deadly weapon when two men entered a studio uninvited and Knight hit one in the head with a gun.

Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, of Ruthless Records, sues Suge Knight, claiming he used muscle and intimidation to do business. Knight apparently threatened Eazy with a baseball bat and pipe to force Wright to sign papers releasing Dr. Dre from his contract with Ruthless.

Tupac Shakur appears in film "Juice."

December
Death Row's first album, "The Chronic," by Dr. Dre, is released.



1993

Tupac Shakur appears in film "Poetic Justice."

Snoop and his bodyguard are involved in a shootout with a gangmember at a Long Beach park. The gangmember is killed. Critics say the crime was used to promote Snoop's upcoming album.

September
Death Row's second album, "Doggystyle," by Snoop Doggy Dogg, is released.



1994

Suge Knight gets probation on a federal firearms trafficking case.

"Thug Life" album featuring Tupac Shakur is released.

Tupac Shakur appears in film "Above The Rim."

Death Row's third album, the "Above the Rim soundtrack," is released.

Death Row's fourth album, the "Murder was the Case soundtrack," is released. It accompanies a 17-minute Death Row short film directed by Dr. Dre and loosely based on Snoop's murder charge, though it is denied.

November
Tupac Shakur's New York sex assault trial opens.

November 30
Tupac Shakur shot 5 times in Manhattan music studio lobby. He is also robbed of $40,000 worth of jewelry.

December 1
One day after being shot, Shakur is convicted of sexually abusing a woman he had invited to his hotel room. He is acquitted of sodomy and weapons charges.



1995

Tupac Shakur releases "Me Against The World" album while in jail.

Death Row's fifth album, "Dogg Food," by Tha Dogg Pound, is released. This album prompts corporate parent Warner Brothers to sell its share of Interscope Records under pressure from shareholders.

February
Tupac Shakur sentenced in New York to 4 1/2 years in prison for sex abuse to be served at Clinton Correctional Facilities.

February 9
Suge Knight is sentenced to 30 days in jail and 5 years' probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit a drug-related offense. This is the probation Knight later violates by beating Orlando Anderson the night of the Las Vegas shooting, leading to a nine-year sentence.

March 25
Eazy-E dies of AIDS.

May
Tupac Shakur marries longtime girlfriend, Keisha Morris.

October
After nearly eight months in prison, Tupac Shakur is released on $1.4 million bail put up by Suge Knight.



1996

January 2
18 year-old Gina Longo signs a $50,000 record deal with Death Row. Her father supervised Knight's probation for a 1992 assault, but was taken off the case when it was learned that Knight had been renting a Malibu home for $19,000 per month owned by the Longo family, leading to investigations for conflict of interest. He was later fired.

February
Death Row's sixth album, "All Eyez on Me," is released by Tupac Shakur. This is the first double album in rap history, and quickly puts both Death Row and Tupac on a higher level than ever before. It later becomes the highest selling real rap album in history.

February 28
After two and a half years of dealing with a murder charge, Snoop Doggy Dogg is found not guilty of all charges except for one, voluntary manslaughter, on which the jury deadlocked.

May
Suge Knight buys the Las Vegas house featured in the Robert DeNiro film "Casino." It is next Mike Tyson's home in a gated community, and Suge quickly paints and carpets everything red, including the pool. This soon fades to a shade of orange because of sun and chlorine exposure.

June
Dr. Dre leaves Death Row, completely relinquishing his half of the label he helped found with Suge Knight in 1992. Dre then goes on to start Aftermath directly under Interscope.

August 23
Snoop Doggy Dogg settles a $25 million wrongful death civil suit brought by the family of the late Philip Woldemariam, the gangmember killed by Snoop's bodyguard in 1993. Terms of the settlement are not disclosed.

Saturday, September 7
2:30 p.m.
- Tupac Shakur arrives by car in Las Vegas.

5:30 p.m. - 500 people start lining up at Club 662, 1700 E. Flamingo Road, where Tupac Shakur, Mike Tyson, and Suge Knight are to appear after the boxing match at a charitable event to raise money to keep children away from violence.

8:30 p.m. - People start leaving the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon fight that was held at the MGM Grand. Tupac Shakur attended the fight which started at 8 p.m. Tyson was declared the winner after 109 seconds.

8:45 - Shakur, Knight, and their entourage are involved in a fight with a man, later identified as Orlando Anderson of the Southside Crips from Compton, California, near the hotel's Grand Garden.

9:30-10:30 p.m. Suge and Tupac go to Knight's home to change clothes for the charitable event. In theory, this is what enables Orlando Anderson time to prepare for the shooting.

11 p.m. - Suge Knight was stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard by Metro patrol cops for playing his car stereo too loudly and for not having license plates on his vehicle. He was not cited and was released a few minutes later.

11:15 p.m. - Shakur and Suge Knight are shot at a red light on the corner of Flamingo and Koval. Knight is driving and Shakur is in the passenger seat of the 1996 BMW 750 sedan that was eastbound on Flamingo. Shakur is shot three times in the chest and once in the abdomen, and Knight's head is grazed by bullet shrapnel. 13 shots were fired at the BMW by a .40 caliber Glock from a white Cadillac with California plates carrying 3 or 4 black men. It is believed that Orlando Anderson, who was staying at a room at the Excalibur hotel, was the shooter and a man named Jerry Bonds was the driver.
After the shooting, Knight's car makes a U-turn and heads West on Flamingo. Police reach the car on the Strip where it is caught in traffic at Harmon Avenue. An ambulance then picks up Shakur and Knight, taking them to University Medical Center, where Shakur undergoes the first of three operations. His right lung is removed to stop internal bleeding.

Sunday, September 8
11 a.m.
- Knight is released from the University Medical Center.

6:20 p.m. - Shakur undergoes a second operation at UMC to repair damage from the bullet wounds.

Monday, September 9
8 p.m.
- Metro Police and about 20 friends and fans of Shakur are in an altercation over what police call a "misunderstanding." No one is arrested. Police patrol outside the hospital out of concern for retaliation after the shooting.

Wednesday, September 11
6 p.m.
- Knight speaks about the shooting to Metro Police for about an hour.

Friday, September 13
4:03 p.m.
- Shakur dies from his injuries.

7 p.m. - Coroner's medical examiner performs an autopsy on Shakur's body.

9 p.m. - Shakur's body is released to Davis Mortuary, which - at the request of Shakur's mother - cremates his remains.

Saturday, September 14
11 a.m.
- Shakur's remains are given to his mother, Afeni, who leaves Las Vegas the same day.

October 23
Suge Knight jailed for a parole violation that occured when Knight participated in the beating of Orlando Anderson the night of the Las Vegas shooting.

Tuesday, November 5
Death Row's eighth album, "The Don Killuminati The 7 Day Theory," by Tupac Shakur (Makaveli), is released.

Tuesday, November 12
Death Row's seventh album, "Tha Doggfather," by Snoop Doggy Dogg, is released.

Thursday, November 13
3:48 a.m.
- Yafeu Fula, a member of the Outlawz, was shot once in the head and killed in the hallway of a housing project in Orange, New Jersey. Two teenagers were arrested later in the drug-related crime.

November 15
Orlando Anderson testified that Suge Knight did not assault him but instead acted as a peacemaker in the hotel fight the night of the shooting. Anderson later recanted that testimony, saying that his life would have been jeopordized by incriminating Knight, making him guilty of perjury.

November 20
Woman wins $16.6 million lawsuit against Shakur estate after she was paralyzed after being shot in the back at a 1993 Tupac concert in a Pine Bluff, Arkansas nightclub. Ruling later overturned because Shakur estate didn't have opportunity to present defense. She later appealed and settled for $2 million.

Tuesday, November 26
Death Row's ninth album, "Death Row Greatest Hits," is released. A double album, it is the first Death Row release not to go double platinum.

December
Death Row's tenth album, "Christmas on Death Row," is released. It is the first Death Row release not to go Gold.



1997

February
Tupac Shakur appears in "Gridlock'd" film.

Death Row's eleventh album, the "Gridlock'd soundtrack," is released.

February 6
Snoop Doggy Dogg pleads guilty to one count of being an ex-felon in possession of a handgun, dating back to charges in July 1993. He is later sentenced to three years' probation and must pay a $1000 fine.

February 14
Suge Knight and lawyer David Kenner are sued by the American Express credit card company for unpaid bills totaling $1.67 million.

February 20
Snoop Doggy Dogg says that he will be a part of the summer Lollapalooza tour.

February 28
Suge Knight sentenced to nine years in prison for violating his 1995 probation. It includes time-served, making it essentially an 8-year sentence.

March
Death Row's twelfth album, "Necessary Roughness," by The Lady of Rage, is released.

March 9
12:35 a.m.
- Christopher Wallace, the Notorious B.I.G., is killed after being shot at 5 times while sitting in the passenger seat of a GMC Suburban after attending a Soul Train party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. It is thought that the shooters were Crips hired by Puffy for security.

March 27
Jacques Agnant, one of the co-defendants in the 1994 sex abuse case against Tupac Shakur, filed a $200 million libel suit against the estate of Shakur. Agnant says that lyrics in the track "Against All Odds" portray him as a police informant, and he now claims that he's been unable to get work and fears for his life.

April 21
Death Row sues the Shakur estate $7.1 million, demanding reimbursement for money allegedly advanced to Shakur. The Shakur estate files a counter-suit for $17 million claiming the Death Row failed to pay royalties to Tupac.

May 1997
Suge Knight is transferred to the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, California to serve out his nine-year sentence. He is later moved to the Mule Creek Penitentiary for the remainder of his sentence.

June 3
Snoop Doggy Dogg is sued by his former manager, Sharitha Knight (who is the estranged wife of imprisoned Suge Knight). Sharitha claims that she is owed 20 percent of the estimated $8 million Snoop has earned since August of 1993.

June 15
Snoop Doggy Dogg marries his longtime girlfriend and mother of his two children, Shontay.

Tuesday, July 16
3:15 a.m.
- Suge Knight's girlfriend and mother of their 18-month-old child was robbed at gunpoint of $50,000 in cash and jewelry after walking in on a burglary at the Woodland Hills home rented by the jailed Knight.

August 4
Rap critic C. Delores Tucker files a $10 million lawsuit against the estate of Tupac Shakur and over 100 other media outlets claiming that Shakur's references to her in two songs on "All Eyez On Me" constitute defamation. The suit is later thrown out of court.

August 13
A Los Angeles jewelry company files a $1 million lawsuit against Death Row, claiming that it has never been paid for diamond and gold jewelry worn by Death Row employees and handed out as gifts to the label's performers.

September 1
The WorldWide Death Row Records Family (W.W.D.R.R.F.) is officially started by Ian "Tha Man" Wallace.

September 8
The poetry of the Tupac Shakur becomes the subject of scholarly debate at the University of California at Berkeley, where 100 students sign up to study the poetry that Shakur left behind after his death.

September 10
Orlando Anderson files a lawsuit against Tupac Shakur's estate, claiming that he suffered physical injuries and severe emotional and mental distress after a brawl with Shakur the night of the shooting.

September 16
Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni, files a wrongful-death lawsuit against Orlando Anderson, claiming that she can do a better job at proving his role in the shooting than the Las Vegas police.

Tuesday, October 10
Tupac Shakur appears in "Gang Related" film.

Death Row's thirteenth album, the "Gang Related soundtrack," is released. It is a double album.

October 22
The promoter of a Snoop Doggy Dogg concert in Virginia files a half million dollar lawsuit against Snoop, his ex-manager Sharitha Knight, and Death Row Records. The promoter says she had no idea that packages she was told to pic up by Snoop contained seven pounds of marijuana, and she was later questioned by a grand jury, but not charged.

Tuesday, November 25
Afeni Shakur releases "R U Still Down [Remember Me?]" double album.

November 14
Puffy begins "No Way Out" Tour. He decides to not visit Los Angeles, and does a cover of Tupac's "Hail Mary." My opinion: I wish he would have gone to L.A. (Notorious BIG all over again), and one of the most disrespectful things he could do is cover a Tupac song.

December 10
Tupac Shakur's biological father, William Garland, was blocked from receiving half of Tupac's estate as he sued for. It was determined that Garland only contributed $820 to Shakur's upbringing, a bag of peanuts and a ticket to the movie "Rollerball." Garland didn't see his son for 15 of the rapper's 25 years. Garland later appealed and settled for $890,000.

December 29
A former Death Row employee known as Neckbone, aka Roger Williams, goes to jail without bail after showing up late for sentencing in a drug case. Williams, who had a previous conviction for armed robbery, was stopped by Police after he was spotted driving erratically through Beverly Hills. Cocaine was found in his car and he was released on $25,000 bail.



1998

January
Interscope Records, at the direction of parent-company Seagrams, decides to cut connections with Death Row. Priority immediately steps in as a replacement distributor.

MC Hammer leaves Death Row to record strictly Christian music.

January 9
The University of Wyoming offers a course for 77 students that focuses on the Shakur's life, music, films, and poetry.

January 15
Snoop Doggy Dogg reveals to a Long Beach newspaper his plans on leaving Death Row. He claims Death Row has lost direction and he fears for his life.

February 2
Tupac bootlegs begin to circulate.

March 12
It's confirmed that two new artists have signed with Death Row. They are the Compton-based YGD, and Chocolate Bandit from Texas.

March 12
No Limit signs former Death Row artist Snoop Doggy Dogg. Death Row agrees to sell Snoop's contract for a six-figure amount and future profit-sharing off of Snoop releases.

Tuesday, March 30
Death Row's fourteenth album, "Retaliation, Revenge, and Get Back," by Daz Dillinger, is released. It has lackluster sales due to a nearly complete lack of promotion.

April 2
A Beverly Hills jeweler sues the estate of Tupac Shakur for $93,000, claiming that the rapper ran up a tab for jewelry and never paid for it.

May 30
3 p.m.
- Orlando Anderson is killed in a shootout at a Compton carwash that left two others dead in what is believed to be a dispute over money.

July 7
A judgement against the estate of Tupac Shakur for $210,000 is awarded to a Georgia state deputy sheriff shot by Shakur in 1993.

Tuesday, August 24
Death Row's fifteenth album, "Hung Jury," by Michel'le, is released. A lack of promotion causes the album to sell poorly.

August 25
Tupac Shakur is remembered in a stage version of his life in a play, "Judgement Day and the Search for the Invisible Man."

November
Daz leaves Death Row to help form Mobstyle Muzik with Suge's permission. Part of the conflict was that Daz wanted to split up Tupac's vault of music into over 700 songs, and Suge refused to dilute Tupac's work.

Tuesday, November 24
Death Row's sixteenth album, "2Pac Greatest Hits," by Tupac Shakur, is released. It is a double album, and acheives the greatest sales numbers for any Death Row release, outpacing Tupac's "All Eyez on Me."



1999

March
C-Murder of No Limit blatently covers Tupac's unreleased "When We Ride on our Enemies," trying to pass it off as a tribute song.

April
Daz returns to Death Row, signing under the branch DPG Records. He comes back after realizing that Mobstyle Muzik was an unsuccessful venture.

Chocolate Bandit leaves the company, primarily because of his unwillingness to be confrontational with Row enemies.

Rage officially leaves the label after hinting for months that she would stop rapping to focus on an acting career.

Suge Knight denounces No Limit and C-Murder for stealing Tupac's image in an interview from jail. He also warns former Row artist Daz that he should watch who he's working with after Daz helped to collaborate on No Limit releases.

April 15
Puffy attacks Nas' manager after seeing a Nas video featuring Puffy in an unapproved scene on MTV. He is charged with assault.

April 21
Investigators begin investigating Suge Knight for connections in Biggie Small's 1997 death.

Tuesday, May 4
Death Row's seventeenth album, "The Chronic 2000," is released. It's main purpose is to highlight new Row artists in an attempt to go into the millenium fresh and with less ties to the "old" Death Row.

July 21
Dr. Dre sues Death Row for using the term "Chronic" on "Chronic 2000." This despite the apparent agreement reached between Death Row and Dre a month before the album's release.

August
New artist Crooked I is signed to Death Row.

Friday, August 20
Former Row artist Bad Ass sues Death Row and Afeni Shakur for $500,000, claiming that he wasn't paid properly for his work on "The 7 Day Theory" song, "Krazy."

Sunday, October 17
11:40 pm
- Daz and Kurupt's bodyguard, Dwayne "Draws" Dupree, is shot and killed while the rappers are working at LA-based Echo Sounds Studio. Also shot and injured is Death Row artist Jevon "Tha Realest" Jones and another man.

Tuesday, December 15
Death Row releases its eighteenth album, "Still I Rise," by Tupac and the Outlaws.



2000

Tuesday, October 3
Death Row releases its nineteenth album, "Too Gangsta For Radio," a compilation.

Tuesday, October 31
Death Row releases its twentieth album, "Dead Man Walkin'," by Snoop Doggy Dogg.



2001

Tuesday, March 27
Death Row releases its twenty-first album, "Until the End of Time," a double album by Tupac Shakur.

Tuesday, July 31
Death Row releases its twenty-second album, "2002," by Tha Dogg Pound.

Monday, August 6
Suge is freed from prison after serving five years of a nine year sentence for a parole violation incurred after beating Orlando Anderson in Las Vegas the night of Tupac's shooting. With promises of revamping the label and returning to the fresh ghetto sound that made Death Row a force in the industry in the nineties, only time will tell if his return will spark success once again.



2002 and Beyond

God only knows...





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