The 'Untouchable' Death Row Records Web Site

Use the links below the book covers to purchase and read further reviews. Star ratings are taken from Amazon.com except for those with (Personal rating) written, where I have given my own opinion after reading the book.

Title: Have Gun Will Travel - The Spectacular Rise And Violent Fall Of Death Row Records Author: Ronin Ro

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No one more epitomized the world of gangsta rap than Suge Knight, the often brutal CEO of Death Row Records. Author Ronin Ro shows courage in detailing the frightening means used by Knight to corner the market on the most hard-core of urban music. It's a tale that reads like it was written by the bastard offspring of Horatio Alger and Quentin Tarantino. Knight's forceful style and legal entanglements have been the stuff of legend for years. Most music reporters, coming face to face with the thugs who enforced the rules at Death Row, have been afraid to tell the story. With Knight safely behind bars and Death Row in disrepair, Ronin Ro finally has the chance to put this violent soap opera in print.

Star Rating (out of 5) (Personal rating) Price: $16.77

Title: Chosen By Fate: My Life Inside Death Row Records Author: McKinley Lee Jr.

In 1992, the gangsta rap of Death Row Records pumped through every 'hood in the nation. That's when McKinley Lee "Malik" signed on as Snoop Doggy Dogg's bodyguard. Malik made headlines when he killed a man while protecting Snoop. Then recording artist Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas and Notorious B.I.G in LA. Read about the inner workings of the most lucrative and dangerous rap label in history.

Click here to buy

Star Rating (out of 5) Price: $10.36

Title: Tupac Amaru Shakur 1971-1996 Author: The Editors Of Vibe

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The real story of Tupac's murder may not ever emerge. This may be the only lasting testament to the many faces of Tupac Shakur--of a life lived fast and hard, of a man cloaked in contradictions. A young man who was just starting to come into his own. "I believe that everything you do bad comes back to you. So everything that I do that's bad, I'm going to suffer for it. But in my heart, I believe what I'm doing is right. So I feel like I'm going to heaven."

Tupac Shakur, June 1996

Star Rating (out of 5)
(Personal and Amazon rating) Price: $12.80

Title: The Killing Of Tupac Shakur Author: Cathy Scott

Who did it and why? Tupac Amaru Shakur was the most popular rapper in the world. No one symbolized the violence at the heart of gangsta rap more than Tupac, and he ultimately fell victim to that violence, gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at age 25. This raw, no-holds-barred account discloses new information, including exclusive photo evidence, about the unsolved murder of Tupac: the failed investigation, the rap wars, the killing of Biggie Smalls, the Bloods-Crips connection, and the many possible motives leading to the murder that rocked the music world.

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Star Rating (out of 5) Price: $4.79

Title: Rebel For The Hell Of It - The Life Of Tupac Shakur Author: Armond White

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Tupac Shakur has been deified as a Renaissance man in gansta rap. Paralleling his fame were a series of court and jail appearances and physical attacks which ended when he was gunned down on a Las Vegas street. In this first, full-length biography of the rapper, critic Armond White attempts to make sense of Shakur's life and death, examining the larger issues of rap and ghetto culture, exploitation in the music industry, and the black struggle for self-expression.

Star Rating (out of 5)
(Personal rating) Price: $11.16

Title: Got Your Back: My Life In Tupac's Last Year Author: Frank Alexander

This dispatch from America's favorite frightening subculture explores that most necessary component of the gangsta-rap-star lifestyle, the body guard. Alexander was Tupac Shakur's bodyguard during the last year of his life. That may not be an ideal professional credential, but it does lend him the authority to present, with the help of a freelance writer, the gangsta life from the perspective of, uh, security. His contribution to the literature of that wastrel lifestyle's excesses is significant for its lucidity and for his informed musings on the thug lifestyle in general and the death of Biggie Smalls in particular. Conjecture about shifting relationships in the big-money, bitter-rivalry gangsta world gains more credence when delivered by an insider, even or especially one who, like Alexander, professes no bitterness toward past or present rivals. In the welter of books about gangsta, Got Your Back stands tall, not to mention its packing slightly more ordnance than the others.

Click here to buy

Star Rating (out of 5) Price: $16.07

Title: Tough Love: The Life & Death of Tupac Shakur Author: Michael Datcher

Click here to buy

I was disappointed because this book was not about Tupac Shakur, but uses the death of Tupac as a metaphor, for the problems of young black youth in America. An " I told you so." , documentation, that I personnally disagreed with, but more importantly, this book had no facts about Tupac's life, music, upbringing, etc. It simply used a tragic, sad and hurtful incident, to get it's own point across and Tupac's name to sell books. If you are a 2Pac fan, you will be very disappointed and waste your money. If you just wanted to learn more about the rap artist, you will still be disappointed. Since, there is no information about Tupac Shakur in this writting.

Star Rating (out of 5)
Price: $12.95

BACK 2 HOMEPAGE

Title: Have Gun Will Travel - The Spectacular Rise And Violent Fall Of Death Row Records	Author: Ronin Ro
Click here to buy	No one more epitomized the world of gangsta rap than Suge Knight, the often brutal CEO of Death Row Records. Author Ronin Ro shows courage in detailing the frightening means used by Knight to corner the market on the most hard-core of urban music. It's a tale that reads like it was written by the bastard offspring of Horatio Alger and Quentin Tarantino. Knight's forceful style and legal entanglements have been the stuff of legend for years. Most music reporters, coming face to face with the thugs who enforced the rules at Death Row, have been afraid to tell the story. With Knight safely behind bars and Death Row in disrepair, Ronin Ro finally has the chance to put this violent soap opera in print.
Star Rating (out of 5) (Personal rating)	Price: $16.77

Title: Chosen By Fate: My Life Inside Death Row Records	Author: McKinley Lee Jr.
In 1992, the gangsta rap of Death Row Records pumped through every 'hood in the nation. That's when McKinley Lee "Malik" signed on as Snoop Doggy Dogg's bodyguard. Malik made headlines when he killed a man while protecting Snoop. Then recording artist Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas and Notorious B.I.G in LA. Read about the inner workings of the most lucrative and dangerous rap label in history.	Click here to buy
Star Rating (out of 5)	Price: $10.36

Title: Tupac Amaru Shakur 1971-1996	Author: The Editors Of Vibe
Click here to buy	The real story of Tupac's murder may not ever emerge. This may be the only lasting testament to the many faces of Tupac Shakur--of a life lived fast and hard, of a man cloaked in contradictions. A young man who was just starting to come into his own. "I believe that everything you do bad comes back to you. So everything that I do that's bad, I'm going to suffer for it. But in my heart, I believe what I'm doing is right. So I feel like I'm going to heaven." Tupac Shakur, June 1996
Star Rating (out of 5) (Personal and Amazon rating)	Price: $12.80

Title: The Killing Of Tupac Shakur	Author: Cathy Scott
Who did it and why? Tupac Amaru Shakur was the most popular rapper in the world. No one symbolized the violence at the heart of gangsta rap more than Tupac, and he ultimately fell victim to that violence, gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at age 25. This raw, no-holds-barred account discloses new information, including exclusive photo evidence, about the unsolved murder of Tupac: the failed investigation, the rap wars, the killing of Biggie Smalls, the Bloods-Crips connection, and the many possible motives leading to the murder that rocked the music world.	Click here to buy
Star Rating (out of 5)	Price: $4.79

Title: Rebel For The Hell Of It - The Life Of Tupac Shakur	Author: Armond White
Click here to buy	Tupac Shakur has been deified as a Renaissance man in gansta rap. Paralleling his fame were a series of court and jail appearances and physical attacks which ended when he was gunned down on a Las Vegas street. In this first, full-length biography of the rapper, critic Armond White attempts to make sense of Shakur's life and death, examining the larger issues of rap and ghetto culture, exploitation in the music industry, and the black struggle for self-expression.
Star Rating (out of 5) (Personal rating)	Price: $11.16

Title: Got Your Back: My Life In Tupac's Last Year	Author: Frank Alexander
This dispatch from America's favorite frightening subculture explores that most necessary component of the gangsta-rap-star lifestyle, the body guard. Alexander was Tupac Shakur's bodyguard during the last year of his life. That may not be an ideal professional credential, but it does lend him the authority to present, with the help of a freelance writer, the gangsta life from the perspective of, uh, security. His contribution to the literature of that wastrel lifestyle's excesses is significant for its lucidity and for his informed musings on the thug lifestyle in general and the death of Biggie Smalls in particular. Conjecture about shifting relationships in the big-money, bitter-rivalry gangsta world gains more credence when delivered by an insider, even or especially one who, like Alexander, professes no bitterness toward past or present rivals. In the welter of books about gangsta, Got Your Back stands tall, not to mention its packing slightly more ordnance than the others.	Click here to buy
Star Rating (out of 5)	Price: $16.07

Title: Tough Love: The Life & Death of Tupac Shakur	Author: Michael Datcher
Click here to buy	I was disappointed because this book was not about Tupac Shakur, but uses the death of Tupac as a metaphor, for the problems of young black youth in America. An " I told you so." , documentation, that I personnally disagreed with, but more importantly, this book had no facts about Tupac's life, music, upbringing, etc. It simply used a tragic, sad and hurtful incident, to get it's own point across and Tupac's name to sell books. If you are a 2Pac fan, you will be very disappointed and waste your money. If you just wanted to learn more about the rap artist, you will still be disappointed. Since, there is no information about Tupac Shakur in this writting.
Star Rating (out of 5)	Price: $12.95