Three decades ago, Suge Knight was planning to upstart Death Row Records, alongside Papa G and others in the west coast. However, before the label was officially off the ground, he needed financial help and got linked up with co-founder Michael ‘Harry O’ Harris.
Mr. Harris, who got convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping, was serving serious time in prison and helped fun the imprint from his cell with a $1.5 million-dollar investment.
This week, reports have surfaced that the 57-year-old is set to get released from California prison soon; coincidentally months after Big Suge was sentenced to multiple years behind bars.
Before getting locked up, he had public ties to multiple Blood sets and Crip camps under the Rolling 60s umbrella; where he started selling crack at the age of 20. This expanded from Los Angeles to other cities like New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Gary, Houston, Phoenix and throughout Florida.
While serving time, he came up with the music label’s name, while temporarily housed on Death Row in San Quentin State Prison.
Although Harry O is a changed man these days, we would assume his story would get told on a much larger platform, in comparison to books (see: Straight Outta Compton and All Eyez on Me).