Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight sued by woman identifying as a Death Row Records co-founder and original vice president

Lydia Harris, a woman identifying as a Death Row Records co-founder, has filed a lawsuit against Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight, along with other industry personnel, including Interscope Records and Jimmy Iovine, on March 18, 2025. The lawsuit alleges the defendants conspired to keep her from acquiring a $107 million judgment.

The $107 million judgment was awarded to Lydia Harris in March 2005 for a default victory owing to Suge Knight's attorney constantly violating discovery rules. In a previous lawsuit, Lydia argued that she and her husband, Michael "Harry-O-Harris," invested $1.5 million in the launch of Death Row Records in 1989. However, they were denied a 50% share of the record label's profits despite Death Row's success in the 1990s.

Lydia's recent lawsuit mentions Snoop, given that he is the current owner of the record label after acquiring it in February 2022 from MNRK Music Group. In her filing, Lydia Harris accused the defendants of using bankruptcy filings like Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 to hide the record label's assets. She also claimed that they used "systematic misrepresentation and fraudulent telecommunications directed at the Plaintiff in Texas" as hurdles in the process of her claiming the lawsuit money.

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"You can't just let people take advantage of what you know you have built": Lydia Harris comments on lawsuit against Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight

While Lydia Harris has sued Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and others in a lawsuit, the one she filed in 2002 was only against Knight and Death Row Record, wherein she was awarded a $107 default judgment in 2005.

In the 2002 lawsuit, Lydia claimed Knight discredited her from the label after her ex-husband offered to cover Death Row Records' startup costs. She has often claimed to be the record label's co-founder and original vice president, saying the label wouldn't have existed without her.

As per Lydia Harris' story, her ex-husband, Michael R. Harris, connected her to Dr. Dre, aka Andre Rommell Young, in the early '90s. While the original plan was for Dre to remix an album for Lydia, she saw his studio and told her husband an investment would make it much bigger.

Recalling the situation at the time, Lydia said she and her ex-husband decided to invest in Death Row Records.

"So, he told his attorney that he wanted to get into the music business ... One thing led to another, I ended up putting my music career on the back burner and handling the behind-the-scenes stuff at Death Row."

After the judgment was in her favor, a debt collection company she hired claimed that Lydia concealed a bankruptcy from 1996, which waived her chances of collecting the $107 million in 2008. This was followed by a judge voiding the judgment against Suge Knight in 2019 at Lydia Harris' request, as she claimed her lawyers used her wrongfully to obtain the outcome.

However, a judge affirmed the $107 million judgment against Suge Knight in 2020, stating it was an "old case with big names and big numbers." As per Houston Chronicle's report dated March 18, 2025, Lydia Harris said she was encouraged to motion to void the 2005 judgment by Suge Knight's attorneys, adding:

"That's a big part of the reason why we're accusing them of conspiracy and fraud. People were making all these legal moves all these years after the case, and I just realized they were basically out to save themselves."

She continued:

"I just want to let people know that don't give up on your dreams. You can't just let people take advantage of what you know you have built."

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Lydia Harris also mentioned that she considered suing Death Row and the others after Snoop Dogg bought the label. She expressed that she thought since the record label was indebted to her, the person who acquired Death Row should take care of the money they owed.