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For Harry O, incarceration was a major impingement on his ability to effectively run his new business. He had to rely on Kenner and his wife, who had little business experience. As a result, Lydia Harris says, Kenner was able to ingratiate himself as her confidant, and became integrally involved in the business while remaining the sole point of contact between Suge Knight and Michael Harris.

With the influx of money from his new investor, Suge refurbished a recording studio, founded Death Row Records as an arm of Godfather, and finished the label’s first album, Dr. Dre’s mega-selling masterpiece The Chronic.

To launch Death Row, Knight threw a glitzy party at Chasen’s in Beverly Hills. The party marked the beginning of a stupendous rise in fortune for Knight and Death Row Records. At the party, David Kenner, during a videotaped interview, raised his glass and said, “Special thanks to Harry O!” The tape was eventually confiscated by the FBI.