Co-founder of Death Row Records Marion “Suge” Knight will be released from state prison next week after serving more than four years. Knight, who turns 35 tomorrow, has been serving time on a nine-year sentence since October 1996 for a probation violation.
He is currently at Mule Creek State Prison near Sacramento, Calif. and will be transferred on April 25 to an undisclosed federal facility to serve an additional 60 days.
The co-founder and owner of Death Row Records hopes to return to the label after his summer release. The label has had a dip in popularity (and profit) since the departure of several of its marquee acts such as Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. But the label has received a bounce, and not just from the news that Knight will soon be a free man. A posthumous Tupac Shakur album Until the End of Time is selling well, and a second CD featuring previously unreleased material is due out later this year.
Shakur was murdered in September 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. Knight, who was driving the car, was shot in the head during the incident.