Act I It's not the first image that comes to mind when you think of hip-hop's most fearsome figure. But here he is, all 6 feet 2 inches, 275-plus pounds, swiveling his hips, bobbing his head and twirling his dance partner to a techno-funk beat. We're out on the back patio of Moonshadows, a Malibu, Calif., beach bar with a mixed crowd of surfer types and tourists downing colorful cocktails at sunset. Right in the middle of it is Marion "Suge" Knight, a.k.a. Sugar Bear, wearing a short-sleeve peach shirt with blue jeans and white tennis shoes. Sans jewelry, save for one ...

“Hit him with the blue steel,” rapper Phonté says conspiratorially to his cohorts, Rapper Big Pooh and 9th Wonder. Rest easy, though. The only shots ...

The elevator stops on 29, but it’s the wrong floor. It’s actually the right floor, just not the intended destination. A healthy-looking sister in a ...

COVER STORY Heard ’em say He just might be the most feared and respected man in the world today. Suge Knight is a free man accused of ...

Up in the northern parts of Mississippi, buildings seem to spring fully formed from the earth. You won’t find them amid the strip-malls, where supermarkets, ...

It’s hot. Eighty-eight degrees at 6 p.m. hot. Jim Jones—independent recording artist, Dip Set capo and all-around renaissance thug—is Uptown. Harlem. A barely furnished apartment ...

It’s a sweltering June Sunday, and the world-renowned epicenter of sensory overload known as Times Square is characteristically abuzz with energy. “The Naked Cowboy,” a ...

COVER STORY big boy game He’s troublesome like 2Pac. Cocky as Jay-Z. Fiery as Eminem. And wants to be bigger than Biggie. 50 Cent’s new nemesis, ...

“You can’t get in such a huge vehicle like this and just expect it to fucking work for you all the way through.” Gene “Malice” Thornton ...