It appears that Suge Knight's luck has finally fun out. His record label and future business ventures were given what is essentially a death sentence after the Death Row CEO skipped a court hearing in Los Angeles.

It appears that Suge Knight’s luck has finally fun out. His record label and future business ventures were given what is essentially a death sentence after the Death Row CEO skipped a court hearing in Los Angeles. CNN reported that the hearing was dealing with Knight’s ongoing legal battle with the family of an incarcerated drug dealer, Michael Harris, who won a $107 million judgment versus the mogul. Harris has claimed that he fronted Knight $1.5 million to start the label, a statement which Suge has denied and has responded to by failing to show up for several other hearings. This final decision, however, may be the final nail in the coffin for Knight, as the court essentially seized control of all Death Row assets, including the famed catalogue, containing the recordings of Dr. Dre, Tupac, and Snoop Dogg. The catalogue will then be auctioned off to the highest bidder, taking away Knight’s final claims of to the glory days of his label. Meanwhile, Suge is attempting protection through filing for bankruptcy. His lawyer said simply, "Mr. Knight doesn't have $107 million…It remains to be seen what becomes of Death Row."

Meanwhile, what does this mean for the artists still found on “Tha Row?” The moves out West by Petey Pablo, Lake, and Kurupt were already questioned by critics prior to the collapse of the label. Each had to burn a number of bridges in the move, from Lake’s release of the Nas diss track “Why Nas” to Petey Pablo’s disparaging remarks toward Timbaland and Lil Jon. The futures of both artists appear to (at least temporarily) be as bleak as Suge’s. The label has been in shambles for years and has only released a small amount of music, little other than obligatory Tupac release or Chronic re-issue each year. It’s also doubtful that Knight will be in any hurry to release the two from their contracts, both of which were signed in shady circumstances and most likely gave Knight the majority of their publishing. The only artist with even a glimmer of hope is Kurupt, who has reunited with his former Dogg Pound brethren, Daz and Snoop Dogg. The group plans to release a reunion album together sometime this year on Snoop’s Doggystyle Records. Though he may be contractually obligated to Tha Row as a solo artist, and Suge has never be one to openly release artists from contracts (Remember the loss that Dre took to form Aftermath or that Snoop was almost bankrupt after The Doggfather???), Snoop may enough experience in the business to sneak Kurupt on to the DPG release. At least we don’t need to see any more ads in the Source for that Crooked I album any time soon!