Suge Knight isn’t buying into the hype around Drake’s 2Pac chain—literally.
Speaking from prison in a recent Art of Dialogue interview, the Death Row Records co-founder claimed the piece Drake flaunted on Instagram this week isn’t authentic.
“Well, I’m quite sure it’s not true,” Knight said around the 40-second mark of the clip. “When I came up with the idea to make the Death Row chain—one, it had never been done before. Two, it was like wearing your flag, your rag. You can’t tuck it. It means something.”
Knight insisted he was the only person who ever handed out official Death Row chains, recalling that the very first went to Snoop Dogg, who later swapped it for a custom paw logo to avoid controversy. Dr. Dre and a handful of insiders also had theirs, but Knight stressed that even The Dogg Pound (Kurupt and Daz Dillinger) never received official Death Row pieces.
When 2Pac was released from prison in 1995, Knight said he promised him a chain of his own—but Pac declined, preferring to wear Knight’s personal diamond-encrusted piece instead.
“He’s like, ‘Shit, you my big bro. Let me wear yours, that’s more important. I don’t want a first one, I want to wear the one you got,’” Knight recalled, adding that Pac wore it straight out of jail.
For that reason, Knight dismissed Drake’s purchase outright. “That’s not 2Pac’s chain. It’s not a Death Row chain. Whoever sold you that chain, Drake, you need to go beat his motherfucking ass. Crazy,” he said, urging the rapper to link with people who truly represented Pac instead of “weirdos” who were “jealous and hating.”
Meanwhile, Drake—currently on tour in Europe—showed off the disputed piece earlier this week on Instagram.
A closer look at the chain reveals an engraving on the back that reads, “All eyez on YOU 1996.”
Drake’s deep admiration for 2Pac’s legacy—especially his jewelry—has been well-documented. Back in 2023, he dropped over $1 million at a Sotheby’s auction to secure Pac’s iconic crown ring, later flexing it on Instagram before rocking it in public. That same ring even got pulled into his feud with Kendrick Lamar, who took a jab during his Pop Out – Ken & Friends show with the line, “Give me 2pac ring back and I might give you a little respect.”
Before that, in 2020, Drake had already paid homage by commissioning two diamond chains inspired by Pac, each worth around $300,000.
