Customer Reviews

Have Gun Will Travel

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book leaves me with a lot of mixed feelings. There is a lot of interesting insight into Death Row that you probably don't know. It connects the different 'eras' if you will of Death Row, from the Chronic to All Eyez on Me and does a fine job of putting Death Row in its place in the rap game. It flows easily and is a very interesting read. However, it is not without flaws. First, Ronin Ro tends to repeat things. He'll tell the same anecdotes multiple times in the book, which really comes across as amateurish. Moreover, I think a lot of people are buying this to read more about 'Pac. I know that was a large part of my motivation. However, that is not a good reason to get this unless you're interested in the bigger picture. Ro paints a very unflattering picture of 2Pac (and just about everyone on Death Row in one form or another except Dre). And, if you want to hear the cricisms of the man, "Rebel For the Hell of it" is more direct on 'Pac. The strongest part of the book, however, is the looks into how Suge built his business which is really interesting. No one else would say all this about Suge, and I'm betting Ro will be moving to another country by the time Suge is set free. If you're a rap fan, get this book. If you're not, or you're more into just 2Pac, you might want to think a bit about it, although I think most anyone would enjoy this.

Before I start this review, I'd like to defend Ronin Ro for his writing. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the way this book was written: the author carefully weaved in each character who was essential in the Death Row scandal. I saw no editorial mistakes and it was organized sufficiently. If a reader does not like the experiences in the book, that's one thing; but to insult the writer is ridiculous, especially since this was such an interesting and well-researched book.

On to the book:
I'm not quite sure how the topic of Suge Knight came up between a friend and I, but we were both shaking our heads about the man being shot in the leg. With all the rumored hits out on him, we were thinking "How could the shooter have such bad aim?" She told me about this book and I am so glad she did. I knew Suge Knight was an alleged dangerous man, and from an interview I saw of him challenging a journalist on a Tupac documentary, it was pretty obvious that he liked to intimidate people. But I was not expecting it to be this dramatic.
Death Row had everything from gun fights, gangs, rape, holding people out of balconies, locked doors to hear desperate screams, drugs, disgruntled rappers, terrified employees, scared delivery people, Crips, Bloods, women being beaten, boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, boyfriend/boyfriend relationships, East Coast artists being forced into West Coast artists, "thugs" turning into grown men, grown men trying to figure out how to connect to the streets but be peaceful, business conflict, etc. Anything that could possibly go wrong in a business happened at Death Row. I didn't grow up in the safest neighborhood, so about half of this didn't even make me flinch, but when the story got into beating up women; jailhouse rapes; balcony scenes, etc., I was like "Okay, enough is enough."
Although it is commendable that Suge Knight gave back to his community with food and money to the homeless/lower income, it does not justify all of the things he DID do. Honestly, I'm extremely surprised he's alive today, and definitely understand why he rolled with such a thick crew. Had he not, he'd have been dead long ago.
While I was reading this book, I couldn't stop giggling thinking about the "Gangstalicious" episode of the "Boondocks." So much of what I thought was a mocking of 50 Cent seemed more like it related to Tupac, and the guy chasing Gangstalicous reminded me of Suge. Although there were definitely humorous scenes throughout the story (from my own morbid mind) and it was definitely an entertaining read, it was extremely disturbing to see so many grown men acting like teenagers. When is it time to decide to stand on your own two, fight your own battles ALONE, stop killing your own race, and bullying people every time you don't get your way? It's one thing to want to be a grown man; it's another to be a grown bully. I ponder over whether many of these people actually enjoy the lifestyle; or is it just a matter of survival in the ghettoes? I know so many young men who were BEATEN into gangs, and then forced to participate to show their loyalty. But how can you show loyalty to a group that you NEVER wanted to be a part of? Why would someone be so happy to get out of jail, if they were just going to return to the jail lifestyle regardless of the bars?
If anything, this book definitely relates to the streets and brings up excellent questions. It also brings more information to cases that were only browsed over (i.e. how Tupac became a part of Death Row, the REAL relationship between Tupac and Dr. Dre, the murder trial for Snoop Doggy Dogg, Puffy's relationship with Suge Knight, Biggie's murder, Biggie's relationship with Tupac, the incidents of Tupac's being shot, robbed, and killed, etc.) Ro touches on SO many topics that the news glossed over or magazines didn't pay enough attention to.

I was very impressed with this book and think he did a great job for research--and is one brave guy for putting all this information out there. Be safe, Ro!

Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records-Ronin Ro. Ronin Ro is a bold, bold man. I say this because he had the courage to write a book, a rather unflattering one at that, about Marion "Suge" Knight, the former Los Angeles Ram and towering CEO of Death Row Records.

Have Gun, Will Travel chronicles the entry into the music business of a man with no real musical talent. No songwriting or singing skills to speak of. His greatest assets were sheer will and brute force, which he used in abundance, especially when it came to "claiming" artists from the rosters of other labels. Suge envisioned Death Row as a Motown of the '90s, and he apparently carried that wish out to the letter, down to ripping artists out of their royalties. But Death Row was never really about music. It was about power, and a way to legitimize his street thug life. Every story you've ever heard about him, from threatening to throw Vanilla Ice off a balcony to the growing feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers, is contained here, along with a few I never heard before. The book portrays Tupac Shakur as a melodramatic jerk, Sean "Puffy" Combs as a poseur who came from money but was otherwise harmless, and Biggie Smalls as, well, exactly what he seems, a crack dealer who also sold lots of rap records. The theories contained surrounding the hits on both Shakur and Smalls would send even Oliver Stone's head spinning.

The book is not very well written: It reads as if it was written in installments for a magazine and then compiled, rather haphazardly, for a book. But the story is equal parts fascinating and terrifying. Assuming half of it is true, that is: There seems to be a rebuttal to nearly every story printed. Whether that was done in the interest of unbiased reporting or Mr. Ro covering his butt, is unclear. But I would certainly understand him doing it for the latter reason. Knight is currently serving an eight year sentence for violation of his parole, and I wouldn't be surprised if the people brave enough to be honest about Knight in this book started disappearing upon his imminent release. Like the book Hit Men with much more Godfather mixed in, Have Gun Will Travel is a cautionary tale of what a little power will do to an already powerful person. It also made me grateful of two things: One, that I'm not a rapper; Two, that I will likely never meet Suge Knight. This man scares me. ***

I thought this book was great, it gave the 411 on the origins of the Infamous Rap Label and the inside conflict within the label as well. It covers every character in the Label, CEO Suge Knight, Co-ceo Dr.Dre, artist Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Kurupt, Daz, Nate, etc...It also lets the reader see how Suge wanted to turn the multimillion dollar music company into a sort of Rap Mafia, which was the downfall of Deathrow. I recommend this book to anybody who wants to know more about Deathrow, other than just what the media accounts for.

Ronin Ro's "Have Gun Will Travel" is probably one of the most entertaining books ever written on the subject of Suge Knight's Death Row Records. However, a good deal of the information in this book should be taken with a grain of salt. Ro paints Knight as a thuggish bully who used violent tactics to extort his way into the music industry and helped create a feared "gang presence" behind the scenes at Death Row. It explores his partnership with Dr. Dre, a talented music producer who Knight pulled from rival Ruthless Records only to knock out of the picture when he was able to acquire an even-larger artist, Tupac Shakur. It goes into detail about the reported beatings of Dre production assistant, Sam Sneed and the infamous boat party where Warren G and his crew were assaulted. Ro tends to have a personal vendetta with some rappers, most noteably Tupac Shakur and DJ Quik. Shakur is written as a loud-mouthed, arrogant gangsta rapper who was falsely praised as a "revolutionary" because of his mother's fabricated past as a member of the Black Panthers. Quik is also written about in a less flattering way as Ro takes a biased look at his feud with MC Eiht, accussing him of hiding behind gang tactics and using violent threats while Eiht attempted to reconcile the problem. It fails to mention that Quik's diss record was a lyrical retaliation to a series of diss tracks called "Def Wish" where Eiht verbally punked Quik or that following the death of Biggie, Quik began recording positive anti-gang records including "You'z A Gangsta" where he made a call to end his problems with Eiht. Still, the star of the show, Suge Knight, takes the brunt of the beating in an editorial assault that makes Michael Moore's portrait of George W. Bush in "Farenheit 9/11" look kind in comparison. When he's not being accussed of assaulting record executives, promoting violence within the recording industry, or setting up rappers to be murdered, Knight's sexuality is also questioned as Ro explores a "supposed" homosexual relationship between Suge and his label's R&B crooner, Danny Boy, who is also his adopted son. If you were even a slight fan of West Coast rap music in the 90's, "Have Gun Will Travel" is one hell of an entertaining read, though most of its information is more "National Enquirer" than LA Times.

Ro writes an entertaining and at its core credible account of the behind the scenes Death Row Records. Giving enough context and reference to make it click with an audience who are most likely fans of the genre. This was a story that had to be told. However, Ro's account of events and assertions beg to be countered or corroborated by other accounts. No offense to Ro--he had his hands full with this one--but this book is really a primer, it will only make you hungry for more information. If you can look over his at times awkward sentences, "Jive-talkin'" quotations and occasional grammatical errors, Ronin Ro has written a good book about great material.

Ronin Ro spins out an interesting tale of beat-downs, scare tactics, murder and other crimes and misdemeanors. This book details the rise and fall of Death Row, but in particular Marion "Suge" Knight. It details his brilliant move to get into the rap business by becoming an intermediary into the dispute between Andre "Dr. Dre" Young and Eric "Easy E" Wright. Once he gains the trust of Dr. Dre, he convinces him to form a company with him named "Death Row". The rest, shall we say, is history. Death Row went on to gross millions and millions of dollars with artists such as Snoop Doggy Dog, Da Dogg Pound, Tha Lady of Rage, and others. All the while, you had Suge ruling over this vast empire with an iron and thuggish hand. Many, many tales of people not being paid for work on albums that grossed millions; senseless beatings and public humiliations are detailed throughout the book. It also details the violent fall of Suge, which included the senseless death of Tupac Shakur (perhaps the most intellectually sound rapper of all-time). Many of the "lucky" ones were able to escape unharmed but not necessarily unscathed. Dr. Dre is still riding high on the success of The Chronic 2001 and his successful label Aftermath records. However, Suge continues to spread vicious rumors about Dre being gay. Snoop Dogg engineered a slick defection to No Limit Records in New Orleans. Suge, who is still serving time for violating probation, insists that Snoop is a complete "sellout" and can never show his face again in the ghetto. For fans of the golden era of gangsta rap (1988-1994) this is an excellent read. Given the pending release of Suge, one can't help but wander what await those who crossed Suge during his incarceration. It could get ugly folks.

When I first heard about this book last year it was much hyped and anticipated. Then when I got the book last christmas I knew why. Once I had started reading I could not put it down. It goes into much detail about Suge Knight and his role at the label, how he ran it and how he always got what he wanted. Also it tells you about the gang lifestyle Suge and his artists, including Tupac Shakur, seemed to be living daily. A brilliant account of a bad lifestyle.

I have been a fan of Ro's since his days at The Source, when he was the first writer in America to speak with Dre about Death Row, right before Dre formed it. Then he tackled the Death Row issue in his book Gangsta. But nothing he's written compares to this book. It's good to see Ro complete the Death Row story: he goes where no other music writer has gone before, and offers us facts about Death Row no one else in the media could get. Those who speak out against this book must be gangsta rap fans, or upset with Ro's accurate depiction of the life of Tupac Shakur. For anyone interested in the real story, and in reading for the first time anywhere, the secret history of Death Row (when it was called Future Shock Records), this is the book to read. Ro's book Have Gun Will Travel is one you'll never forget. I can't wait to see the movie!

Ronin Ro picked an interesting subject to write about. There has been so much weird sh*t going down at the Deathrow Camp for the past few years. The book is for the most part chronological and details how Deathrow started by "stealing" artists and producers from other labels like Ruthless Records. For the most part the stories told in the book are amusing and interesting and the book is fun to read if you are into hiphop and want to know more about the East/West war and the Tupac/Biggie feud.

However, there are many simple details that are incorrect and this makes me wonder how many of the spectacular events portrayed in the book are true. For instance, Ronin writes that Mobb Deep did a song called LA LA, which is incorrect. There are other annoying details in the book and it seems that Ronin usually got his info from one source only without double checking the facts with a second source. The structure of the book is also disappointing, several facts and stories are repeated and sometimes don't even match. The book is OK but could have been good if Ronin would have cleaned up his facts, structured the writing and cut about 100 pages. If you read magz like Vibe, the Source are into Hip-Hop you will not find anything new in this book. Strictly for non hip hoppers and light weights who listen to Will Smith and Salt'n'Pepa type stuff . . . Now when will we get the REAL behind the scene details, told by someone who was on the inside???