Was Deion βCoach Primeβ Sanders a primetime rapper signed to Death Row Records?
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That seems to be the case thanks to a new revelation given by the former owner of the label, Suge Knight. Speaking in a phone interview from prison or the latest episode of Nick Cannonβs show, The Daily Cannon, the producer shared that back in the day, when Coach Prime wanted to be a rapper, he went out of his way to bring him onboard and invested βover half a millionβ dollars to get him started. But things didnβt ultimately didnβt go as planned when Prime allegedly decided that he didnβt want to deal with a Black-owned record company and instead wanted a deal with Interscope Records.
βI spent over half a million dollars of my own money. I put guys in the studio, I paid Dallas Austin, I did all these songs, I did everything.β
He added: βThen one day, he came to me and said, βWell, you know, Prime deal with Nike and Death Row is a Black-owned company. And we donβt really want to deal with a Black-owned company. Even though you paid for everything and we signed to you, put us on the Interscope brand.ββ
As we all know, Sanders famously released his debut album, Prime Time, back in 1994 but it was through M.C. Hammerβs Bust It Records and Capitol Records.
In addition to appearing on The Daily Cannon, Knight currently hosts his own podcast, Collect Calls With Suge Knight, which he launched on Halloween. The title is more than fitting seeing as how heβs serving out his 28-year prison sentence for a 2015 hit-and-run murder committed while filming of Straight Outta Compton. Created in tandem with Dave Mays, co-founder of The Source and the CEO of Breakbeat Media, the show reportedly already has five episodes banked up.
In a statement to TMZ, Mays said: βIβm so excited to be able to enlist the help of my longtime friend and one of hip-hopβs most formidable, pioneering, and fearless leaders to help Breakbeat continue to achieve this goal. βCollect Call With Suge Knightβ will awaken hip-hop fans worldwide and build bridges across multiple generations.β
Who know how many more interesting revelations are still yet to come.
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