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Around the same time that Harry O met Lydia in that Houston nightclub, LA’s Ruthless Records released the now-classic album, Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. Loaded with songs like “F**k Tha Police” and “Gangsta Gangsta,” the album eventually went triple platinum, made stars of Eric “Eazy E” Wright and O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, and changed the landscape of the music industry.

Thanks primarily to Eazy E, a street dealer who openly admitted he sold crack to finance the label, N.W.A. and Ruthless Records had a reputation for criminality. According to the documentary, Eazy E posted bail for a young man named Andre “Dr. Dre” Young on the condition he lay down tracks for the album in repayment. Dre would go on to become one of rap’s greatest producers.

Of course, Eazy E didn’t know this at the time, and made the mistake of not paying Dre for his work. As a result, Dre fell in with a local heavy named Suge Knight, a hulking 6’4” ex-NFL lineman who’d broken into the music business as a bodyguard for Bobby Brown, and had a thug reputation from a story that he had dangled Vanilla Ice over a balcony to force him to pay royalties. (Vanilla Ice denies Knight dangled him over the balcony, but says he paid up regardless.)

It was the beginning of Knight’s legend and a glimpse of the street gang business tactics to come.

According to a lawsuit filed by Eazy E, Suge Knight and some associates busted into the offices of Ruthless Records and physically intimidated Eazy and his partner Jerry Heller with baseball bats until they agreed to sign an artist release for Dr. Dre.

Meanwhile, according to Lydia Harris, Harry O had decided he was going to make her a star after hearing her sing over the telephone. To accomplish this he had her record a demo for a local producer with ties to Dr. Dre and Suge Knight. Harry O and Knight talked over the phone and the next day Lydia met with Knight at Solar Studios.

According to Harris, Knight seemed more interested in her husband’s money than in her music, but Dre listened to Lydia’s demo and told her he could remix it. The album was never to materialize. Instead, in late 1991, Suge Knight, Lydia and Michael Harris, along with the lawyer David Kenner, founded a company called Godfather Entertainment. Michael Harris bought 50 percent ownership of the venture with a $1.5 million investment.

“When we started Godfather Entertainment, Michael would always say, ‘Lyd, make sure you always document everything—you know, keep records of everything.’ And at the time I didn’t know anything about anything, really, so I just followed his directions. What paperwork I didn’t keep, David Kenner had on file for the company, as part of a good-faith agreement with us.”